And now for something completely different.

Back to more of the norm, then: a post not about food! Don't worry, foodie readers, I'm sure I'll come back to it. I still have an entire spellbook - I mean, cookbook - full of notes to ramble on about. But today's post is going to be about something else close to my heart.

That's right, I mean Dwarf Fortress. It's an awesome game. I don't just like it, I love it. While the graphics may be simple, the game itself is dangerously complex. Dangerous I tell you!

Okay, so crazy ranting aside (making this a rather short post!) it's a fun game for those who can get past the ascii art graphics. The amount of fun you can have with the game, and in what different ways, is spectacular. The main idea and goal is to use the small number of dwarves that you're given in your expedition to create and keep up a stronghold in a randomly generated fantasy world. The world isn't pre-generated (although you can get some that are if you'd like), instead they're procedurally generated each time you decide you want to make a new one. Don't feel like ever making a new world? The one you already have is persistent, and everything you do in it stays, in one way or another. Things even down to the legends of heroes gone are generated for the world's backstory. The world generation alone makes it one of the most complex games I've ever played. But it doesn't end there.

Your dwarves can master tons of skills, make things as simple as copper picks and as complex as drawbridges that lift with the pull of a lever to magma pumps to bring molten hot rock up to the surface to melt the faces off of kobolds at a whim. There are no set rules for the game, no boundaries, nothing to follow but your own very whims.

Therein lays the problem of the game, though: I've already started three fortresses, and lost one, and I'm still trying to get all the way through the tutorial! There is quite a learning curve on the game, and that's probably (this is all speculation, mind you) why they've kept the graphics so simple. Not only to make it so that the complexity of the game is the forefront, not the looks, but also to help dissuade any who might be looking for just some simple easy thrills (for that, I suggest Unreal or maybe even The Sims if you're looking for a similar genre).

TLDR? If you're ever looking for a good way to waste hours of your life with something very complex but incredibly fun, download Dwarf Fortress.