Dwarfs!?

Dwarfs!? - Dig deep, panic hard.

Dig! Dig! Dig! Manage the small underground Dwarf base and make it as rich as possible before they meet their inevitable doom.

Story

The story is minimal. In Dwarfs!?, you take on the role of an overseer of a dwarven mining operation in the fantasy world of Mount Digdeep. Your primary responsibility is to manage an ever-growing and somewhat reckless population of digging dwarfs who constantly dig tunnels in search of treasure, minerals, and glory.

Gameplay

Dwarfs!?" is fast-paced, chaotic, and highly reactive. It's a 2D real-time strategy and management game with elements of tower defense and puzzle-solving, where you guide dim-witted miners through a perilous underground world, reacting to disasters and trying to keep things from going hilariously wrong. A key part of the game is reacting quickly to what they uncover.

In your role as Overseer you spend gold to:
Place walls to stop flooding.
Build bombs to clear paths or destroy monsters.
Hire warriors to fight threats.
Control digging by placing directional commands (more costly than letting dwarfs dig freely).
Use spells like "Dig Faster" or "Freeze Water" to manage crises.

The real challenge comes from hazards such as:
Floods from water or lava if a dwarf digs into a pocket.
Monsters that spawn in caves and attack your base.
Uncontrolled digging that creates chaos.

Game modes:
Arcade Mode
Core gameplay mode with real-time management and endless survival focus.
Includes difficulty levels and a scoreboard.
Campaign Mode
A series of humorous tutorial-style missions with story bits and increasing challenges.
Tower Defense Mode
You place towers to fend off waves of enemies, using resources mined by dwarfs.
Sandbox Mode
Customize your game settings for a more relaxed or chaotic experience.
Challenge & Rush Modes
Time-limited or scenario-specific modes for leaderboard competition.

Environment

The game is set entirely underground, in a sprawling, procedurally generated network of tunnels and hidden dangers beneath the dwarven homeland of Mount Digdeep. The environment is 2D, grid-based, and revealed as your dwarfs dig.

Maps are randomly generated for each session (except for specific campaign missions). This means the location of caves, lava, water, and resources changes every time you play, ensuring some replayability.

The terrain includes:
Rock (diggable).
Gold & minerals (collectible).
Water and lava pockets (dangerous if breached).
Caves with enemies.

Visual Design & Sound Design

The game’s cartoonish art style and quirky audio perfectly suit the game’s tone and humour. Colors are bright and saturated, helping key elements (like lava, water, and monsters) stand out clearly.

One of the game’s most distinctive features is its sarcastic narrator, who mocks your successes and failures in a tongue-in-cheek way. The voice acting is intentionally over-the-top, leaning into the comedy. Sound effects are cartoony and exaggerated. “Thunk” sounds for digging. Gurgling or bubbling for water/lava. Explosions and sword clashes during combat. They do a good job of signaling what's happening without needing to watch every corner of the map.

Constructive Criticism

The game is fun for a while, but then the gameplay becomes a bit repetitive. Dwarfs dig, disasters happen, you respond, repeat.

Simplicity is both a strength and a weakness. The game focuses too heavily on quick decision-making rather than deep strategy.

UI can feel clunky in the middle of fast-paced disasters. Placing walls or directing dwarfs can be awkward, especially under pressure.

Disasters can spiral out of control quickly, and the randomness means you can get unlucky and lose early due to things beyond your control. This happened to me many times, especially when you are new to the game.

The Verdict

The reason I played this game was because there is an achievement in Killing Floor that is tied to an achievement in this game. To my surprise, this game was actually a lot of fun, at least the first few hours. It's simple to learn and designed for short bursts of intense fun with a good dose of humor and disaster.

Rating: 6/10

Mindless dwarf digger farm with hazards, slow pacing, glitchy achievements, boring, infuriating controls

Very arcade/basic game, wish there was a Dwarfs!? 2 which expanded the game play loop/maps.

A Dwarf Struck Water!
A Dwarf Struck Water!
A Dwarf Struck Water!
Lava Has Burned Through a Wall!

++Average game of Dwarfs!?++

This game has one of the most aggressively ugly main menu's I have ever seen in my life. Don't let that put you off; once you get past that this is a solid game with perfectly serviceable visuals & fairly fun & unique gameplay.

it was pretty fun

It aint easy! Thats for sure. Dwarf life! Cant believe I still play this here and there, only reason I got it was for Killing Floor over a decade ago. Now I'm old.

It's a fun little game, I just wish they would have managed to reach me in some other way than via cross-promotion achievement in KF1.

Endless fun!

This is a game that always calls me back, no matter how long it's been. The gameplay is simple and easy to learn. Easy 30hrs with another glorious 30 ahead.

I played the Free to Play Version years ago and loved it - Very keen to see if I can get back into this now!

gg

i use to play this game back in high school when it first came out, still just as fun as i remembered it

base defense is good