After nine public beta hits, the roguelike adventure mode of the hugely influential colony simulator Dwarf Fortress will launch fully on Steam on January 23.
Adventure Mode, if you’re unfamiliar, offers an alternative way to explore the ridiculously deep, procedurally generated worlds of Dwarf Fortress, swapping out the usual colony management for a roguelike RPG, complete with procedural quests, NPCs, and battles. in turns.
Dwarf Fortress’ Adventure mode is nothing new, of course. It’s been available as part of the free (and almost two decades old) ASCII version for years, but wasn’t included when the game made the jump to Steam as a noticeably sleeker paid version, featuring sprite-based visuals. a mouse-controlled UI and Steam Workshop support, coming in 2022.
That changed last May when developer brothers Zach and Tarn Adams launched a public beta of Adventure Mode for Dwarf Fortress on Steam. At the time, the duo noted that the beta was missing “a few bits” seen in the ASCII version, ranging from additional graphics and sounds to carnage, crafting and trading, which would be implemented before its full release.
And now, after nine months of beta access, Adventure Mode’s full release is officially scheduled for January 23rd. “Thank you to all the urists who participated in the beta and left helpful feedback,” the Adamses wrote in the announcement on Steam. “The mode has come a long way since it was first released in beta and we couldn’t have done it without your help!”
“We’re excited to refocus on Fortress Mode very soon,” the announcement continued, “but this isn’t the end of Adventure Mode development either. Many updates will be applied to both modes in the future and there’s still more to add.” Adventure Mode in the future Like everything in the development of Dwarf Fortress, everything will come in due time.”
Ahead of Adventure Mode’s full release on Steam (and itch.io, where the Premium version is also available), the Adamses released what will likely be one of the mode’s last pre-release beta updates, featuring a long list of improvements. and additions, as detailed in the latest patch notes.
