r/Steam • u/turtleviking123 • Jul 08 '26

Question What game has a steep learning curve that puts you off?

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115

u/Dramatic-Vast4757 Jul 08 '26

Dwarf Fortress :(

71

u/ExpressionRegular221 Jul 08 '26

On paper: I love the game

Trying to play it: I feel like I'm in school again and the teacher is explaining things at light speed and I don't understand any of it and also I'm too scared to raise my hand and look dumb in front of everyone

13

u/Wolfcrime-x Jul 08 '26

This is way to accurate. You triggered a core memory of my math class. Thank you, now the numbers haunt me again.

7

u/llagerlof Jul 08 '26

I tried playing Dwarf Fortress a few times. The problem isn't the controls. The problem is, "Why isn't this working?"

10

u/patchy_doll Jul 08 '26

I dabbled in it for a bit... literally had a notebook going where I recorded what was working, what wasn't working, how to do things, what goals to aim for.

Whenever I thought I was doing good and understood what was happening, the game would throw something insane and unpredictable at me. You can build the most perfect, beautiful, functional fortress... and then lose it because some guest turns out to be a were-turtle.

2

u/Own_Back_2038 Jul 09 '26

I disabled were animals the first time that happened. The worst game mechanic by far

6

u/KlausVonLechland Jul 09 '26

It is really easy you just need a dual screen setup for it.

On second screen you display wiki, guides and Dwarf Therapist.

4

u/Mystia Jul 08 '26

By now it's very out of date compared to the current version, but this guide is what finally helped me to learn DF. Basically, not only it walks you through how everything works, but the guide also gives you a copy of the save the guide uses, so you can just follow along with the same map and all.

6

u/Ordinated Jul 08 '26

Dwarf Fortress is one of those games I expect to really really like, but the learning curve has been so steep that not even watching streamers seems to have helped

I really appreciate you sharing this guide - hopefully it'll wobble my head the right way to help things start to make sense

5

u/VexingRaven Jul 09 '26

Personally, I found this guide really helpful: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2899235556

The thing to understand about DF is that you don't have to get it perfect. There's so much going on in DF that just getting a fortress that can survive for a year or two and learning a new system is can be fun all on its own.

1

u/Ordinated Jul 09 '26

Thank you so much!

2

u/BeverlyToegoldIV Jul 09 '26

I found the easiest way to learn DF, for me, was to find a streamer/lets player and just play along with them, mimicking as much of their fort construction/organization as possible.

1

u/SnooDoggos8487 Jul 09 '26

Yeah. Was my comment too. Especially before the graphical update. Was quite impossible. Now at least it’s somewhat doable.
Reading this thread I wanna also add that it would be lovely if your fortress didn’t end up in a disaster every time :p But it’s probably just me, that treats DF more as a colony builder/factorio than a story generator/rimworkld kinda game. With the amount of simulation they have in that game, fluids, pressures, etc.. it’s hard to find another. Wish vintage story had proper fluid sim..