A Game of Dwarves

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 66 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 66
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 66
  3. Negative: 12 out of 66

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  1. RedMattis
    Nov 12, 2012
    3
    If you're reading this hoping for a challenging sandbox survival game, look elsewhere. Enemies appear only in air pockets dug out by the player, and keeping a good supply of resources is just a matter patience of not getting careless along the way (forgetting to make farms). This is the fundamental problem with the game if you're looking for a survival challenge.

    Aside of these problems    If you're reading this hoping for a challenging sandbox survival game, look elsewhere. Enemies appear only in air pockets dug out by the player, and keeping a good supply of resources is just a matter patience of not getting careless along the way (forgetting to make farms). This is the fundamental problem with the game if you're looking for a survival challenge.

    Aside of these problems a number of other major issues and a significant lack of polish plague the game.

    [Combat]:
    Enemies lack proper patch finding and will when encountered instead wildly teleport around the level until they find a dwarf to beat up. Your own dwarves cannot be controlled (aside from teleporting them) and soldier dwarves will simply bullrush your enemy they can patch-find their way to, even if they are on the other side of the level and have 1% of their maximum health available (no way to prevent this aside from sealing them in).
    Enemies teleporting makes traps useless, and since you can't stop your dwarves from blindly rushing into battle the only factor is having more and higher level dwarves than the enemy monsters.

    [Resources]:
    Certainly better than the combat, but basic resources are surprisingly rare, while 'rare' resources when found can buy you immense quantities of these resources, which leads to situations where the best way to get "stone" is to find an unholy rock and sell it for a few thousand rocks. Unfortunately you also need to mash the "buy rock" button a few hundred times since you can only buy very small stacks. Aside from this you have a few minor issues like resources sometimes permanently disappearing from your resource tab if they reach 0.

    [Graphics & Sound]:
    The sound and graphics for the game are both nicely done and get the point across. Aside of a few minor issues designing a good looking dwarf fortress is both possible, fun and fairly easy to do.

    [Summary]:
    A few major design flaws and a severe lack of polish across the board prevents this game from reaching its full potential. Perhaps the game will change later on, but as the game is now I do not feel that I can recommend it to anyone. 3/10 (note that I consider 5 to be an average game)    … Expand
  2. Diswin
    Dec 7, 2012
    4
    I'm really disappointed in this game. Dwarves - proud builders of monumental Khazad-dum stone halls, unmatched smiths were diminished to some ugly digging moles (or rats if you like). Which dig, dig, dig and dig and dig again. Game is boooring and too plain compare to other strategic games with indirect-control. Building options are too limited, traps and doors are pretty useless, watchingI'm really disappointed in this game. Dwarves - proud builders of monumental Khazad-dum stone halls, unmatched smiths were diminished to some ugly digging moles (or rats if you like). Which dig, dig, dig and dig and dig again. Game is boooring and too plain compare to other strategic games with indirect-control. Building options are too limited, traps and doors are pretty useless, watching over dwarves is not fun at all.… Expand
  3. philthymcnasty
    Dec 11, 2013
    0
    the game had potential, but instead of focusing on game play, the focused on micro transactions. They charge 10 dollars for what should be "free to play". Its buggy, flawed, and boring. you are better off playing gnomoria (which is in alpha and has "retro" graphics) instead of this crap.

    Don't waste your time with it.
  4. vomov
    Jun 21, 2013
    2
    And ANOTHER cheap dwarf fortress ripoff. With a fraction of the depth, a load of bugs, and weird design choices, this is not a good game. No challenge whatsoever, and the cutesy design starts working on your nerves real quick.
  5. gameshadow
    Oct 15, 2013
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I must admit I had some preconceived notions about this game after having played Dwarf Fortress for so long. But the two games are really very different. With Dwarf Fortress being superior in many ways. A Game of Dwarves is entertaining, but not fun. The game basically has two modes: campaign and sandbox. The campaign is really not very exciting with objectives like: find room X, or kill monster Y.

    I then tried the sandbox mode which consists of growing trees and selling them so that you can buy the other resources that you need. That really sums up the game. Here is my good/bad list for the game:

    Good somewhat fun, but gets boring very quickly. I didn't run into that many bugs and the graphics/music were adequate. So that bumps the score up a few points.
    Bad Repetitive, lackluster campaign mode, lack of freedom in sandbox mode, the game forces you to take the same actions to advance.

    Overall score: 3. Would not recommend the game.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Games.cz
    Apr 14, 2013
    60
    A decent management strategy game that is charming because of the managerial strategic principle, its unusual environment and humour. However, it suffers because digging to another floors is badly transparent, the game is not variable enough and it does not offer as much as the similar titles.
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  2. CD-Action
    Feb 6, 2013
    70
    It has a low budget feel to it but decent length of the campaign and low price combined with deficit of similar games make A Game of Dwarves worth your time. [CD-Action 02/2013, p.44]
  3. PC Gamer
    Dec 27, 2012
    66
    Mildly rewarding, but largely unremarkable. There are better options for the management- minded out there.
    Read full review
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