Even as it achieved fractal complexity by modeling feline alcohol poisoning, procedural bardic traditions, and delayed-action thermonuclear dragonfire, the creators of Dwarf Fortress—brothers Tarn and Zach Adams—have maintained still loftier ambitions for their legendary fantasy sim. In recent years, that effort has been guided by one goal: Creating magic. Procedural, universe-specific magic, interwoven with the unique cosmology and mythology modeled each and every time the player clicks the "create new world" button.

For a game already setting a high watermark for simulational complexity, it's an incredibly ambitious endeavor. It's taken a decade. It's demanded a complete scripting overhaul, aided by the heroic effort of Bay 12 Games' first non-Adams programmer, Putnam. Frankly, it's almost strained believability. And it'll start arriving later this year.

Tarn Adams confirmed that Dwarf Fortress' first Myth and Magic update will land before the end of the year in a short announcement video, embedded above. His goal, he said, was to create "procedural magic systems that go beyond combining spell effects and go straight to the fundamental cosmological makeup of the universe," enabling "magical situations that you cannot get any other way."

It's a notion Adams has shared as we've spoken with him about his Myth and Magic ambitions for years, going back to 2017 : By creating a procedural magic system that's anchored in each world's simulated creation myths and cosmology, Dwarf Fortress wouldn't be generating world variations to play within—it would become an entire fantasy setting generator, conjuring universes with their own emergent forms of magic that are as fundamental as the laws of physics.

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