Shameless Plug! · 1:59am Oct 23rd, 2012
Play Dwarf Fortress! It's the best!
Seriously, I can't recommend this game enough. Yes, there are a few issues with it. It's still in alpha right now, which means it's a bit buggy, and it's pretty processor-intensive. It's also mind-bendingly complicated, and takes serious commitment to learn. If you're willing to look past these shortcomings, however, you'll find Dwarf Fortress to be unlike anything else you've ever played.
DF (Dwarf Fortress) is a real-time construction sim/sandbox game, displayed in ASCII graphics from a top-down perspective. Your goal in this game is simple: survive. You start out with a group of seven dwarves (insert Snow White/Lord of the Rings joke here), a wagon full of supplies, and a world that's out to get you. From there, it's up to you to get your dwarves underground, to the relative safety offered by your walls. Sounds simple enough, right? There's a catch, however; you don't actually control your dwarves. Instead, you assign tasks to be completed, which will be taken (or not) by a dwarf with the appropriate skills. It's an odd system, made frustrating by your subjects' invariable tendency to make the worst possible decision every time.
It's important to note at this point that no two games are the same. The world is randomly generated before you play, as are the dwarves and animals you encounter. Each dwarf has his/her own personality, determining how he/she will react to certain events. Some are social, while some love music, and still others have strong senses of duty.
There is another key thing you should know about Dwarf Fortress: Losing is Fun. There is no "win" condition in DF. The game keeps going until you lose. The real fun comes in finding out all the new, imaginative ways your fortress can fall. Maybe all your dwarves will be ripped apart by a Bronze Colossus (in graphic detail; DF tracks individual digits and layers of tissue, giving it a hilariously brutal combat system). Perhaps a miscalculation in your plumbing system will flood your tunnels, leaving all your dwarves to drown. Danger lurks everywhere, from giant spiders to dragons and from badgers (seriously) to giant sponges (yep). You will lose your first fortress. And your second and third. There's no other possibility.
It's also very realistic (as far as a low-fantasy game with necromancy and dragons can be realistic). Seriously, you could probably use it as an educational tool for geology; ores and minerals are where you'd expect them to be, and materials have accurate stress-strain values and melting/boiling points. As has been previously mentioned, creatures are modeled in extreme detail, down to individual organs and major arteries. Medical care is also, by extension, handled pretty well. Even so, because DF is so graphically simple and reliant on procedural generation, the file size for the entire game is only (at time of writing) 10.5 MB.
The real charm of DF is the player community. The game is single-player only, but the website has a very active forum. I've never seen a community more accepting of newcomers (even beating out the bronies). Questions are never discouraged, and you'll never be insulted for asking the obvious. If you come across a new problem and no-one has an answer (unlikely, but possible), they'll direct you on how to find out for yourself, and encourage you to report back with your results, for !!SCIENCE!! (the more flammable, dwarven version of science).
If you're still not sure about DF, I urge you to check out some of the stories of fortresses past. Boatmurdered is the most famous, but you should also check out Headshoots, Syrupleaf, Battlefailed, and many others. They'll give you a good idea of what to expect, and whether or not it's the right game for you.
I read the title as shameless pug
This sounds really fun though, and the appearance of the game based on the screenshots is pretty nifty. Reminds me of playing Lord of the Rings and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventures on my uncle's computer when I was around 7.