Dwarf Fortress story The Queen is now available and you should listen to it

Thanks to its scope, Dwarf Fortress diaries trend towards being huge and epic undertakings . The Queen, by writer and game designer Ste Curran , is different, and it shows how dramatically the game's simulated stories can scale. It's touching and bittersweet. In fifteen minutes, it deftly encapsulates the drama, difficulty and abstraction at the heart of this frighteningly complex collection of ASCII. You should give it a listen.

Originally performed for games writing live event Reads Like A Seven , this recording of The Queen has been made available as part of an experiment in self-publishing. "If you enjoy it and would like to hear more," Curran writes , "please buy the downloadable high-quality audio file (it's £1, just so you know) ... If it gets more than 300 downloads I'll record INT#2, and work from there..."

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.