The enhanced Steam and Itch.io release of the 16-year-old ASCII resource management city-builder has been a massive success, with impressive sales metrics straight out of the gate.

The details:

The updated version of Dwarf Fortress has finally arrived on Steam and Itch.io, three years after Kitfox Games’ trailer announcement. The game features brand new graphics, user interface, and quality-of-life features to bring the cult classic up to today’s standards.
When the family of the original developers, Zach and Tarn Adams, began dealing with serious health issues, the pair decided to work with Kitfox Games to re-release the title to help them cover medical costs. The game is currently priced at $29.99 on both Steam and Itch, with the revenue being split between the storefront, publisher, and developers.
The estimated sales figures pre-release were around 160,000 copies during the game’s first two months. In just 24 hours, the game has managed to surpass that figure and land at number #1 on the Steam best-seller charts.

Why is Dwarf Fortress so popular?

Dwarf Fortress is the inspiration behind popular titles today such as RimWorld, Terraria, and, most notably, Minecraft. It’s a game that you can’t win due to there being no set conditions in place, making it highly replayable — just like the aforementioned titles.
Despite the game being free since its original release, some players couldn’t look past the old-school ASCII graphics and stopped playing for that reason. Now that this new, enhanced release has upgraded its visuals, however, that group of players can happily jump back in.
The game also has a passionate, cult-like following, with a total of 138,000 members on the game’s subreddit alone. This fun screenshot of a Steam discussion shows how invested some of its community really is.

Dwarf Fortress’ new release sells over 160,000 copies in its first day