Pilot Brothers 2
Pilot Brothers 2
Game
Game2011
Dwarfs!?
Developer Power of 2
Dwarfs!? is a 2011 real-time strategy game developed by Power of 2 and published by Tripwire Interactive. In the game, the player acts as the overseer for an underground Dwarf colony, as the player must defend them by doing things such as building walls, solidifying rock, and bombing holes as they mine for resources. The game features multiple game modes, which range from an arcade mode, where the goal is getting… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
218 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
77
LovedLoved
133 positive · 39 negative
95% range 71–83%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 133 | 39 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 28 | 0 | 16 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
582 of 754 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 135 yes, 40 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 175 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (841 of 1,082 positive).
Players praise Dwarfs!? as a nostalgic, addictive strategy game with simple yet engaging gameplay. [1][2][3] Some reviewers find the game tedious or boring after a short time, citing slow pace and repetitive mechanics. [4][5][6] A few players criticize the developer's political stance, calling the game trash due to support for a Texas law. [7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Dig Dig Dig. Let me warn you but don't fall for this marketing catchy phrase for this game. I am not here to over criticize the game , But it just doesn't allude to me. The dwarfs dig the blocks of square to excavate gold coins and minerals worth some value but nah, turns out that even if you enjoy the game for some moment, it quickly gets boring, not to mention the game is pretty slow including but not limited to …
- [1]
My history with "Dwarfs!?" goes back all the way to 2011, when the late legendary YouTuber TotalBiscuit uploaded his video playing the game, introducing me to it. Back at the time it was my dream to play "Dwarf Fortress", but since I was too stupid, "Dwarfs!?" seemed like a nice arcade-like distraction that could fulfill my dreams of controlling dwarfs. At first I pirated the game, since buying games on Steam wasn't …
- [12]
(Note: Dwarfs!? F2P and the full retail version of Dwarfs!? are separate titles that share stats and achievements but not all achievements will transfer from the retail version to the F2P version and the Not-A-War-Hammer can only be unlocked in F2P then subsequently transferred here). A simple yet polished and addictive action game that's like whack-a-mole had a baby with a RTS. There's a slight learning curve but …
- [2]
I usually stay away from RTS games, mostly because they don’t seem interesting or entertaining enough for me, but Dwarfs!? managed to reel me in and got me hooked! I never would have thought that one day, I’d enjoy pretending to be a semi-god, keeping everything in check occasionally so that things run smoothly. It’s a tower defense, colony sim, whatever you want to call it. One thing’s for sure: it does its job …
- [3]
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.
Summarised from 34 of the 218 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Dwarfs!? talk about nostalgic and addictive gameplay loop; those who didn't talk about gameplay gets boring and repetitive quickly. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Dwarfs!? won the "Pwnage Award" at the 2010 Gotland Game Awards and was named the "Game of the Year" at the 2010 Swedish Game Awards. Upon release, editors of The A.V. Club praised the game as a "distillation, assembling the best parts of more complex games, and filtering out everything else". Dwarfs!? sold over 100,000 copies by November 2011 and more than 250,000 by November 2017. The game's success led Paradox Interactive, a Swedish video game publisher, to partner with and invest in Zeal Game Studio, which Flodin had founded in 2011 and ran as chief executive officer. Tripwire Interactive added the "Dwarfs!? Axe" as a weapon to its game Killing Floor in December 2012.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 218 · most liked firstFantastic game on the weekend! 2,5k of #highelves and #dwarfs clashed in #theoldworld The longbeards could hold the center but the white lions could rout a flank with their Chracian great weapons, ensuring a narrow victory for the pointy ears #warhammer #WarhammerCommunity #nerdlings
positive · AI labelView post →Another great game of #warhammer #theoldworld ! Bretonnians and Wood Elves allied against Chaos Dwarfs to fight for an abandoned tower, which was inhabited by a troll! The lady saved my general from being beheaded 😱 #warhammercommunity #warhammerfantasy #tabletop #nerdlings
positive · AI labelView post →Great Game of #theoldworld yesterday, Dwarfs manage a close win against Tomb kings #warhammercommunity #warhammer #tabletop #tabletopgames #nerdlings
positive · AI labelView post →#MusicChallenge #WrongDisneySong ▶️ Day 1 🎞️ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Chris Isaak - “Wicked Game” youtu.be/jd-qI62gNJM?...
neutral · AI labelView post →[CLOSED] [STEAM] Christmas Steam Key Giveaway -- Part 3. Okay, some really good games in this batch! As before, send me a list of up to 5 games, and at the end of the day I will try to fairly distribute the keys. (I marked my own favourites with 🎅, but your tastes may be different.) Also check out [Part 1](https://lemmy.ca/post/35563409) and [Part 2](https://lemmy.ca/post/35607838), which still have many keys left. - Damned - ~~Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble~~ - Dark Angels:…
neutral · AI labelView post →Dwarfs clash with Goblins over a river crossing in the mountains! Today’s Midgard Heroic Battles game using @tomwd68.bsky.social and @tabletopmog.bsky.social ‘s fab figure collections. Brilliant fun with a nail-biting finish in the final turn! #wargaming #nerdlings #spreadthelard #miniatures
positive · AI labelView post →Tonight was Mordheim night for me down at the Clubhouse. Tonight's game was against a gang of Chaos Dwarfs, new arrivals in the city. My veteran mercenaries made short work of them, but the disparity between the two warbands meant the Chorfs gained a significant amount of experience.
positive · AI labelView post →Orcs and Goblins v Dwarfs in my first ever Midgard game!
positive · AI labelView post →Great Game at the Club, Cathay breaks an alliance of Chaos Warriors and Chaos Dwarfs, as they were building siege weapons to break the great Bastion! The Jade dice were brutal and crushed the forces of evil on all fronts 🐉🐲🐉 #warhammer #warhammercommunity #theoldworld #nerdlings
positive · AI labelView post →Dwarfs just make more sense with guns. I was watching a video of that brawler game Absolum and the Dwarf has a blunderbuss as one of his moves and it just feels right.
positive · AI labelView post →This year's #ClogLard was so much fun! 1. Game: Sharp Practice was exciting with plot twists and a grand climactic duel scene 2. Game: Midgard Heroic Battles Dwarfs vs Orcs was also great fun with lots of high pitched fights. Thanks to everybody for organising, hosting and participating!
positive · AI labelView post →Just on the train back home from another excellent club night at the Clubhouse in Newcastle. This time we were playing Foray @sixdiceskills.bsky.social Orcs v Dwarfs. First shot of the game from my newly painted doom diver took out his Gyrocoptor. David like big boom 💥
positive · AI labelView post →Had a great game of #Warhammer The Old World today! My Bretonnians came out victorious against the Dwarfs.
positive · AI labelView post →Game vs Chaos Dwarfs yesterday. They got to take Hackflem through inducements and the combination of dwarf toughness and that speed just meant if he managed to get the ball it was in my endzone before I could stop him. It took three turns of fouling with the Vargheist but I got that rat. Lost 3-1.
neutral · AI labelView post →Dig Dig Dig. Let me warn you but don't fall for this marketing catchy phrase for this game. I am not here to over criticize the game , But it just doesn't allude to me. The dwarfs dig the blocks of square to excavate gold coins and minerals worth some value but nah, turns out that even if you enjoy the game for some moment, it quickly gets boring, not to mention the game is pretty slow including but not limited to only map in arcade mode and slow pace of digging dwarfs (even when there is a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lovely weekend playing Warhammer Old World against lovely opponents. Took my number of games up into double figures and had my Renegade Crowns do rather well. Played against Dwarfs twice, Orcs once and got severely eaten by Beastmen. #warhammer #oldworld #oldhammer #warhammertheoldworld
positive · AI labelView post →2x Arcane Journals New TK minis Slayer list Border Princes list Small game/multiplayer/linked battle rules Cathay+Empire Vs Chaos …and some very handy AOS Chaos Dwarfs.
neutral · AI labelView post →Some shots of my second game of Warhammer Old World. 1k Points of Dwarfs vs Orcs and Goblins. Incredible game, the Fanatics and and my Shaman on Wyvern did a lot of work. Incredibly swingy, we both had a few hundred points flee the table. 523 to 499, just barely an Orc victory!
positive · AI labelView post →Mixed. I found it tedious, maybe others will not. Some of the additional game modes were interesting, but not enough for me to want to keep playing. Mixed, but I do not think I would recommend this game. It is a puzzle/card game with a weak story, and mostly uninteresting gameplay. Additional Details Operating System Ubuntu Linux 14.04 x64 | 18.04 x64 CPU AMD FX-8350 | Ryzen 5 1500x GPU GTX 750 | GTX 1050,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dwarfs are so handsome, if a game let's me be a Dwarf I love it!!
positive · AI labelView post →I am definitely fan of Burning Banners - we played one my favorite Campaigns - where Army of Night is allied with Empire against Dwarfs & Vikings. Cool game and tremendously climatic ending. If you want to learn more about that great game, check my materials on it: youtu.be/B42-La4s0iM
positive · AI labelView post →The progression for an increasingly messy game of my Dwarfs versus my Bretonnian opponent today. Nice to have two fully painted armies on the table. #WarhammerCommunity #WarhammerTOW #WarhammerTheOldWorld #Dawiposting
positive · AI labelView post →Steam needs to add the Dwarf tag already.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like Deep Rock Galactic if it was made for zoomers who watched the Yogscast in 2010
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Altdorf Ducks vs. Zharrduk Anvilborn I played Imperial Nobility, my friend played Chaos Dwarfs. Came down to the wire; chorfs missed the win by a single failed 3+ dodge on the last turn of the game. #warhammer #warhammercommunity #oldworld #bloodbowl #nerdlings
positive · AI labelView post →Dragon Rampant - Dwarfs v. Orcs in the Valley of Jeff #Nerdlings #Wargames #Wargaming #DragonRampant youtu.be/Kznr62ts5Bo
positive · AI labelView post →I. Do. Not. Need. More. Dwarfs. But they are nice. And I have some proto-rules for a dwarf troll-hunting game.
positive · AI labelView post →❗Hi #Everyone , Dwarfs Desent is new to Bluesky!❗ Come check us out, Download the game and share a wishlist. Everyday I will try to post updates and screenshots of and about the game. Thanks for checking out the game! store.steampowered.com/app/3150790/... #indiegame #indiedev #solodev #gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →Trash game from a trash team supporting the forced pregnancy law in Texas.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got out to play some Warhammer Fantasy yesterday! First time for this match up, my Chaos Dwarfs vs actual normal non-chaos Dwarfs. Super fun game! Pretty close match for most of it, but I got some big wins in the latter part of the battle and almost ended up sweeping him completely.
positive · AI labelView post →Dwarfs?! is a little game about managing an increasing amount of mining dwarves. You have direct control over every dwarf, but while not commanded they move and mine on their own in random directions. This can lead to dwarves mining into water reservoirs, pools of lava and uncovering monsters, which will require manual control to… get the situation under control. The idea of the game is to distill the RTS genre into its component parts. The game starts slow, as you only start with one miner…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My history with "Dwarfs!?" goes back all the way to 2011, when the late legendary YouTuber TotalBiscuit uploaded his video playing the game, introducing me to it. Back at the time it was my dream to play "Dwarf Fortress", but since I was too stupid, "Dwarfs!?" seemed like a nice arcade-like distraction that could fulfill my dreams of controlling dwarfs. At first I pirated the game, since buying games on Steam wasn't something we kids in elementary school usually did, but now, 14 years later, I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Won my game of Kings of War today by one point! Undead are scary to fight but the dwarfs prevailed! #KingsofWar #Dwarfs #Undead
positive · AI labelView post →Dwarfs!? is a top-down strategy game about managing dwarves as they dig, fight, and protect your base. I initially got it to unlock a Killing Floor achievement but ended up enjoying it enough to complete all of its achievements. The full version provides a complete experience with more content and challenges, making it much more rewarding. Fun, unique, and still enjoyable despite its age. Recommended. 7/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has the honor of being the oldest "last played" date in my library sitting at April 8 2014 and now I feel old
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Pro-Life Gamer" is such a cringe inducing term Wish i had never bought this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Last week I had a practice game playing against Chaos Dwarfs. My first ever game of Warhammer the Old World. My poor elves were massacred Last Samurai style, but it was still great fun!
positive · AI labelView post →I only want to play this just to get an achievement for Killing Floor 1 to get new weapon but ends up playing this game for hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun little strategy game that gives you a cool Axe in Killing Floor 1. The game gets old pretty fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay gets really old, really fast - plus Tripwire are pro-fascism so there's that
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had a fantastic game of The Old World against Dwarfs today. 2k points, and I lost by a mere 5. #warhammer
positive · AI labelView post →Rock and stone, in a slightly more cursed dimension. It’s weird, short, kind of janky... and somehow, I loved it. Definitely gave me off-brand DRG vibes, like a dream you’d have after too many missions and not enough beer. Would dig again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tripwire Interactive recently forced their CEO and co-founder John Gibson to resign for "coming out" as someone who is pro-life and supports the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that limits abortion to fetuses that have not developed to the point that their hearts are beating. Now I am not a pro-lifer, but I am an American and I highly value our constitutional rights. Abortion is a topic that has been discussed here for over a century, it is wrong to deny someone their constitutional rights…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After collecting dust in my library for years, I finally started up this game. It's enjoyable at first, but quickly becomes tedious. In Arcade mode, which seems to be the main mode of the game, matches become more painful the longer you last as you struggle to furiously scroll the screen back and forth to find your outposts and keep track of threats. The UI is not optimized for playing long games. The gameplay itself suffers at higher difficulties where the costs of neutralizing threats are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(Note: Dwarfs!? F2P and the full retail version of Dwarfs!? are separate titles that share stats and achievements but not all achievements will transfer from the retail version to the F2P version and the Not-A-War-Hammer can only be unlocked in F2P then subsequently transferred here). A simple yet polished and addictive action game that's like whack-a-mole had a baby with a RTS. There's a slight learning curve but the game gets more enjoyable and rewarding the more you play. Basically, you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing a Battle March game today, finally taking the Chaos Dwarfs for a test drive! 🔥
positive · AI labelView post →If you like Dwarfs and messing around in dark tunnels, check out my game on both those subjects 👍
neutral · AI labelView post →A Dwarf Struck Water! A Dwarf Struck Water! A Dwarf Struck Water! Lava Has Burned Through a Wall! ++Average game of Dwarfs!?++
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Final game of 2024. A “friendly” Chaos Dwarfs v Dark Elves. #bloodbowl #chaosdwarfs #darkelves #friendly
neutral · AI labelView post →Dwarfs!? is a strategy game hoping to spring off the popularity of Dwarf Fortress by offering a kind of cartoony dumbed down complex strategy experience. Which may seem contradictory, and that's the problem. The game features a helpful tutorial and in-game manual which is needed, because despite being a dumbed down Dwarf Fortress that eschews open world freedom for a kind of tower defense/strategy/puzzle thing, the game also feels like it needs to be complicated in a completely needless way.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Streaming Every Day Until My Mind Breaks Day 888: DWARFS DWARFS DWARFS!!! …but not the dwarf game you’re thinking of twitch.tv/smuglittlebug #malevtuber #twitchstreamer #Varietystreamer #VTuberEN
neutral · AI labelView post →Little Nostalgia Game for Yogscast Watchers. Takes only a few hours to 100% if you're into that.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I usually stay away from RTS games, mostly because they don’t seem interesting or entertaining enough for me, but Dwarfs!? managed to reel me in and got me hooked! I never would have thought that one day, I’d enjoy pretending to be a semi-god, keeping everything in check occasionally so that things run smoothly. It’s a tower defense, colony sim, whatever you want to call it. One thing’s for sure: it does its job almost perfectly. You have a base that constantly generates miner dwarves, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If it's going cheap it's a fun game to kill time with; it's a simple game you can play on repeat with low requirements, games can be as quick as you want, it's simple. I'd put it on par with Vampire Survivors type of arcade game, except it's a strategy game rather than action
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So that game was a ton of fun and I might be eyeing the Iron Hills Dwarfs. Any tips for MESBG with dwarfs? #nerdlings #warhammercommunity #warhammer # lordoftherings
positive · AI labelView post →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.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i use to play this game back in high school when it first came out, still just as fun as i remembered it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dig! Dig! Dig! Enjoy few hours RUN AWAY!!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun lemmings-like (protect the stupid villagers from killing themselves while trying to build) game. Would recommend (on sale) if it wasn't broken. An achievement is broken requiring playing the F2P version to unlock. The F2P version then has additional achievements locked behind paid DLC. So, you can either have 1 missing achievement in this game or 100% in this game and several missing achievements in the F2P version (or you can buy the game twice (this and the F2P DLC) just to get the game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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