Single-player games like Dwarf Fortress
Below are 16 single-player Steam games similar to Dwarf Fortress, ranked by player overlap. Every pick carries Steam's Single-player category, so multiplayer-only titles or always-online games don't sneak in. imho.run pulls the category data from Steam directly — Single-player here matches what the store labels.
Want the full alternatives list (paid + free + Steam Deck + cheaper picks)? See the parent games like Dwarf Fortress page.
Ranked picks
- 1
RimWorld
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
A sci-fi colony sim driven by an intelligent AI storyteller. Generates stories by simulating psychology, ecology, gunplay, melee combat, climate, biomes, diplomacy, interpersonal relationships, art, medicine, trade, and more.
- 2
Kenshi
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
A free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors.
- 3
Caves of Qud
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Inhabit a deeply-simulated science fantasy world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Build a character from over a hundred mutations and cybernetics. The award-winning sandbox roguelike & RPG full of robots, deep lore, and sentient plants.
- 4
Oxygen Not Included
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Simulation with Dwarf Fortress.
Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony simulation game. Deep inside an alien space rock your industrious crew will need to master science, overcome strange new lifeforms, and harness incredible space tech to survive, and possibly, thrive.
- 5
Banished
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.
- 6
Prison Architect
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Only the world’s most ruthless Warden can contain the world’s most ruthless inmates. Design and develop your personalized penitentiary in Prison Architect.
- 7
Timberborn
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Humans are long gone. In a world struck by droughts and toxic waste, will your lumberpunk beavers do any better? A sandbox city-building game featuring ingenious animals, vertical architecture, water physics, and terraforming. Contains high amounts of wood.
- 8
KeeperRL
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Simulation with Dwarf Fortress.
KeeperRL is a retro dungeon simulator with roguelike and RPG elements. Take the role of an evil keeper and build a formidable dungeon. Recruit sinister minions, equip and train them to explore the world and fight the forces of good.
- 9
Songs of Syx
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Songs of Syx is a fantasy city-builder with vast battles simulating thousands of citizens and soldiers. Start off as a small village and build, scheme, and fight your way towards a mighty empire. The mechanics are deep and true to life, where tiny events can spiral into the collapse of kingdoms.
- 10
Project Zomboid
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Simulation with Dwarf Fortress.
Project Zomboid is the ultimate in zombie survival. Alone or in MP: you loot, build, craft, fight, farm and fish in a struggle to survive. A hardcore RPG skillset, a vast map, massively customisable sandbox and a cute tutorial raccoon await the unwary. So how will you die? All it takes is a bite..
- 11
Factorio
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.
- 12
Noita
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie and Simulation with Dwarf Fortress.
Noita is a magical action roguelite set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated. Fight, explore, melt, burn, freeze and evaporate your way through the procedurally generated world using spells you've created yourself.
- 13
Elin
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Successor to the roguelike RPG "Elona". Adventure, survival, crafting, home-building, myths passed down, and stories of humans and Elea spun. What scars will you leave on the land of Ylva?
- 14
Shadow Empire
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Simulation with Dwarf Fortress.
Shadow Empire is a deep turn-based 4X wargame with a unique blend of military focus, procedurally generated content and role-playing features. Players take the seat of the supreme ruler of a small nation, with the goal of reconquering a devastated planet.
- 15
UnReal World
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Strategy and Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
The cult classic open-ended wilderness survival roguelike taking place in the ancient North, iron-age Finland. Throughout the years, UnReal World has been praised for its incredible depth, realism, atmos and immersion. Lose yourself in the most intricate, detailed and enchanting iron-age game world.
- 16
Tales of Maj'Eyal
Single-player alternative to Dwarf Fortress — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie with Dwarf Fortress.
Tales of Maj’Eyal is a roguelike RPG, featuring tactical turn-based combat and advanced character building. Play as one of many unique races and classes in the lore-filled world of Eyal, exploring random dungeons, facing challenging battles, and developing characters with your own tailored mix of abilities and powers.