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http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html
You can always download the existing game for free. The paid version will be basically the same thing but with fancy graphics. Aka the comforts of modern gaming will not be there. Caves of Qud is another game in a similar vein as well, aka has 'modern' graphics but is very much "old school" controls
Rimworld is sort of a spiritual successor to DF. And its more accessible via modern QOL things
Dwarf Fortress is sort of in development hell, is rather incomplete, and a developer who has politically policed his community before. (Might have contributed to this need to go onto Steam)
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But Dwarf Fortress is going to be free, it is worth playing a few times. Its biggest issues is that it never thinks through its gameplay.
Rimworld has less "Content" but it uses that lack of fluff to focus on a great experience.
My tip for Dwarf Fortress is: Read a guide... it will just... be a lot less painful. You don't HAVE to read a guide for Rimworld for a smooth experience though.
So far, Rimworld doesn't have any single player adventure nonsense. Dwarf Fortress has done a really good job, even letting you explore the "ruins" of your old fortress mode saves. The mods and community are also different.
If you're looking for micro-managing stuff but are new to this sort of genre, Rimworld.
Dwarf Fortress is good for if you're ready to advance and have terrible, terrible things happen to you.
Minecraft is a good contender if you just like the idea of building elaborate hedge mazes for things to walk in and die to.
They each have pretty different meta. Rimworld is actually more difficult to me, but I hide behind many traps!
(Still, the scale and complexity of Dwarf Fortress is just unmatched)
Played properly Dwarf Fortress is far far easier. So don't worry about that, just do what the community does and hug the guides.
Most of the difficulty comes from execution.
You can create worlds with a 1000 years of history, with millions of historical events and artifacts that you can track from owner to owner with their own stories.
At the moment it's problem lies in its intricacy, because of bugs and a development focus that is still on adding systems and content, in stead of optimization or UI refining for example. Still, I find it very playable, most game breaking bugs get fixed, but you just have to invest some time in learning the game. If you get through that, play time and enjoyment you can get from DF is limitless in my opinion.
Personally, I was kinda done with Rimworld pretty quickly weirdly enough, whilst it's a great game.
RIMWORLD!!! Flat out Rimworld!
"You can create worlds with a 1000 years of history, with millions of historical events and artifacts that you can track from owner to owner with their own stories."
Yes but as always the issue is Dwarf Fortress can simulate a billion years of things, but zero things of significance. It makes the thing Dwarf Fortress does best noise.
Someone has no games to play.
Dwarf Fortress is pretty much the origin of the genre. Minecraft, Prison Architecht and Rimworld itself all cite it as inspiration. It aims to be a complete fantasy simulation, simulating every minute detail. If you want the more in depth experience, Dwarf Fortress will give it.
At the same time... I recall hearing a friend say, paraphrased, "Tarn Adams needs to be hit over the head with an interface design book". All those options, which are accessed using numerous menus and submenus, all of which using keys. When I last played it, several years ago, mouse support was minumal to non-existant.
Rimworld, while having fewer features, has a decent interface, actual graphics, and music (well, more than one song on continous repeat). This release here will change two of those, admittantly.
My view is that Dwarf Fortress has more features, more ways to go wrong, more !!FUN!! (Dwarf Fortress motto; losing is fun. !! denotes something on fire). At the same time, you will need to consult manuals to figure out how to do things. Rimworld will be easier to get into, but provide less options. Rimworld is also a complete game, currently at version 1. Dwarf Fortress is said to not be complete for the next 20 years. Both are playable, however.
I guess it would depend on how hard you want your first intro into the genre to be. Rimworld will be easier to get into, while Dwarf Fortress will provide complexity and content. Another point is that this version of Dwarf Fortress has no official release date yet. They are going to finish the next release, then implement the required changes, so it will likely be a few months yet at minimum.
I'd also argue that DF feels more feature-complete even in the middle of its 30-ish year development map than RW does in its "finished" state. Version numbers are only numbers, development time and aptitude are much muddier factors than "0.44.12" can really sum up (although, Toady's aptitude definitely isn't in interface design). Just look at Factorio.