 The game received attention mainly because of its emergent gameplay, text-based graphics, complexity, poor interface and difficulty, with some reviewers describing playing the game from start as a steep learning curve — with the meaning of a difficult learning process. It has been compared to other simulations games like SimCity and The Sims, Dungeon Keeper and roguelike games like NetHack. The game has not had much influence on the gaming industry because of its non-commercial nature. It being a two-man self-sustaining project, and Adams' independence and capability to follow his own ideas were highlighted. Gamasutra said, "There have been few indie gaming success stories as big as Dwarf Fortress" and Wired magazine, following one of its updates, described it as an "obtuse, wildly ambitious work-in-progress mashes the brutal dungeon crawling of roguelikes with the detail-oriented creativity of city-building sims."
