That screenshot of Arena mode might not look like much, and it might seem strange to be so enthusiastic about a Dwarf Fortress mode that strips out its farming, its resource management, and its long, emotional character arcs. Arena mode works for me without all those things, because one of the core pleasures of Dwarf Fortress is reading combat descriptions. Various kinds of fantasy mammal will claw, bite, lash, slash, stab, slice, cut, grapple and tear at one another, and the consequences are described in grimly vivid detail. Arena mode therefore lets you try out various what-if scenarios in TABS style - eg. what if one dragon fought twelve elephants - and then read the results play out. It’s exciting, and it’s a lot easier than getting at the juicy battle scenes via the normal fortress mode. There are other changes detailed in the full patchnotes. Underground crops now have sprouting textures, and various other textures have likewise been amended; a handful of crash bugs have been fixed, alongside fixes for audio issues; and, as is dwarven tradition, there are some patch notes which are just fun to read. For example: If you’re wondering how Dwarf Fortress has done since being released on Steam, the answer is extremely well. Publishers Kitfox have also now published their own retrospective of the development process and the response so far.
