Dwarf Fortress adventure mode preview shows off menu for grabbing enemies by their teeth

Bay 12 and Kitfox have released a new preview for Dwarf Fortress' upcoming revamped adventure mode, the classic top-down RPG side of the famous colony builder slash fantasy world simulator. The preview itself focuses on the combat menus and actions, with Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams taking the viewer through the basics of the UI and how it works.

The preview shows off a party of three adventurers—Dwarf, Human, and Wombat-Man—out to battle a camp of goblin bandits harassing local trade.

An image of an in-progress screenshot of graphical adventure mode for Dwarf Fortress. An opened menu includes choices for grappling including individual fingers and teeth.

(Image credit: Bay 12)

Of especial interest for those entertained by how detailed Dwarf Fortress is would be the menu for wrestling, popping up at about six minutes, that shows off a pretty exhaustive list of things to grab on the bad guys. Normal stuff like their hand, their weapon, and the like of course, but also very, very specific things. Things like the individual fingers, for example, or perhaps specific teeth. Nothing like ripping out a goblin's molars to start your day.

On a more serious note the preview also shows how you control your team in tactical mode, where you're able to give each member of an adventuring party orders and have them play out at the same time. It seems pretty good, having you jump back and forth between your little heroes as they need input—picking how you want to block an attack, for example.

The video has some of Adventure Mode's more dynamic and ambient sound effects, but Kitfox notes that those are still very much a work in progress.

The release of adventure mode for Dwarf Fortress' graphical Steam version will come later this year. You can keep up with its development over at the Dwarf Fortress Steam page.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.