Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress
Been playing (at least trying to figure out what I’m doing) in this incredibly ambitious simulation of a dwarf fortress by Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games. First read about this unique game in the Jan 2007 issue of PC Gamer Malaysia.
You start with a band of seven dwarves to build an outpost. Assign your dwarves tasks and watch over their needs like lodging and food and raw materials to expand your settlement. Create new equipment and weapons to advance your settlement into a real fortress with traps, workshops and fortifications – I sure hope my outpost will reach that stage eventually 
The overall gameplay seems like a very detailed combination of Settlers II’s economy and Dungeon Keeper’s exploration and expansion. It takes time to get into the game (especially for players not used to rougelikes as the interface entirely keyboard driven) but my opinion is that this game will really pay off for players who put enough time into the game.
The manual included in the game is pretty useful and it is definitely essential to anyone who wants to really get the most out of this game. I should know that because I’ve been re-playing the same world the second time because I managed to build a total mess of a settlement the first time by skipping the manual By the way, the worlds can be either be randomly generated or you can download pre-generated worlds.
There are also two other modes of play that I haven’t tried yet. The one I described above is Dwarf Fortress mode and there’s another mode Reclaim Fortress where you can wrest control of a fallen dwarven fortress back from the enemy with a band of warrior dwarves as well as Adventurer mode where you play a single adventurer and travel in the area that you created in the Dwarf Fortress mode.
All in all, it’s a pretty unique game although it may not be for everyone. Download it at Bay 12 Games if you want a truly different strategy game experience.
Below is a screenshot of my second attempt. Almost time to restart as my dwarves have run out of food supplies
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