It was inevitable
In games it’s often a delight to be proven wrong.
It’s certainly one of the most influential.
Those two alone would qualify DF as important, but its indirect influence is incalculable.
A lot of those took that particular lesson way too far, but that’s one for another day.
It’s also because most of it isn’t a game.
That’s not a dig.
I’m not being the jeb in the steam forum of every visual novel ever.
Simulator/game hybrids not meant to be won or completed, but playedwith.
Sounds familiar, right?
It’s not just the subject matter though, it’s the spirit.
More than anything, DF is an exploration of what games cando, not merely render.
It is still entirely unique because of that.
I don’t mean “depth” as in “lots of stuff”.
Recent versions even have a partially-implemented system for giving individual creatures their own subjective interpretation of objective events.
Because the things it’s been outdone at are the things it wasn’t reallyabout.
If you fight off 10 attackers, they’ll send 25 next time.
In its final version the game aims to track even wild animals to this degree.
It is a life simulator, and as such most of it goes utterly unrecognised.
But it’s still happening even if you don’t see it.
I still have many criticisms.
Now more than ever its an influential design, a cultural touchstone, and a philosophical inspiration.
People will tell you theres a proper way to build a fortress, but not really mean it.
