Caves of Qud Reviews

No game has sucked me in this quickly in ages. The best way I can describe this game is like this: the setting is reminiscent of Fallout if it were set somewhere in the 5th dimension. The lore is excellent because it is randomly generated and unique to your playthrough. There is so much depth and detail to this game it is staggering. People complain about the graphics, but they are perfect (charming IMO) for what this game does. The game already makes my Steam Deck run slowly as is. I wouldn't want to see what would happen if it tried to run the same simulations with higher fidelity graphics. The soundtrack is all bangers. I find myself humming the tunes from this game constantly. This is by far the most in-depth, complex CRPG I have ever played. The sheer amount of things you can do with the insane number of items in the game adds a level of gameplay depth you don't often see. This makes Baldur's Gate 3 look simplistic, and that takes a lot of work. This does have downsides. Such as getting a disease, and then having to track down a book with randomly generated cures, then having to track down the multiple rare ingredients needed, all also randomly spawned - all while having no tongue and not being able to turn in quests. While I had a true sense of achievement when I cured myself (and also got a Steam achievement apparently only 5% of people have), I never want to do that again. I would advise anyone getting in to the game to play the tutorial, and to play on Roleplay mode. Classic is fun but it is a meat grinder if you don't know anything about the game. I highly recommend this game, and say it is well worth whatever is being charged for it at the time you read this review. I see myself spending hundreds of hours to come in the caves of Qud.

nethack was my favorite game for many, many years. caves of qud takes everything good about nethack and builds on it. the mechanical operation of the game is fluid, and i'm so impressed with the flexibility of the controls. the environment and worldbuilding are rich and detailed. the procedural generation is balanced with beautifully handcrafted elements; it's fascinating to see what stays the same and what changes from one run to the next. can't imagine getting tired of this game anytime soon

Randomized chaos, insanely fun. A true roguelike experience where you always wanna go for one more and you can make anything work. Every run is a million times different and the dept is insane. High tech, Sniping, Ranged combat, hacking off limbs and eating them, Being a diplomat that just walks through every enemy in the game, Buying your way to immortality, Remind me of noita. However, much like noita, you will instantly die to a lot of things that you may consider BS - therefore play on roleplay mode (But consider deleting your character if you can live with it. New runs are fun.) 8.8/10. Screw chute crabs.

Came back and sunk hours and hours into CoQ. I will always remember how this game carried me through the dark moment of unable to purchase new games during paypal / payment processors / Collective Shout fiasco.

This is a GOATed Roguelike. There's a lot that can and should be said about it, in terms of gameplay, art design, lore, story, and writing. Instead, I'll just list some important bits of info: - Roguelike: There is a "Roleplay" mode that gives you unlimited lives, but you can only save your checkpoints from the safety of a friendly settlement. - Hugo Award winning prose and fluff -Huge amount of content both static and procedurally generated -Easily one of the best in the genre

Do not let the graphics fool you into thinking this game is not worth the money. This game took 17 years in the making and it plays way better then most AAA games.

Caves of Qud is an amazing RPG that I wish I had gotten ages ago. There's so much to share & praise, I'd need to write a small book to cover it all; and I've hardly scratched the surface of the whole game so far! It clicks with me so well. Caves of Qud is a post-apocalyptic world with sci-fantasy. If you're thinking "Fallout/Mad Max + Tolkienesque fantasy" that's not it at all and if it was I wouldn't be writing this Recommend review. Caves of Qud is so imaginative and unlike much of modern tropes. First is to note that while this is a DEEP RPG with many systems, that doesn't mean it's not approachable. Don't be daunted; it's easy to get into. While it can be a hardcore classic Rogue type of game, that's just one mode. You can start a character in the "roleplay" mode which saves the game every time you're in a village. (I also have a mod that lets me make a save every time I set up a campfire, which is anytime I want anywhere if there are no hostiles nearby.) It plays like Rogue in that nothing happens/moves/attacks until you take an action. This way it can be a pretty chill game; no time pressure at all. There is a lot of lore to read, and conversations to be had with NPCs. As it's all text, there are no voice overs and NPCs will use your character's name in their dialogue (love that from the era before voice acting was in everything). It lets you increase the UI & text size! I love making varied character builds in RPGs, and Caves of Qud gives you so! many! options! Do you want to be a many-armed mutant with a sword/axe in each hand and focus on leveling your strength stat? Go for it! I like my mutant with laser blasts, dual revolvers, and chain lightning as a melee attack. There are many mods, and I've only installed graphic ones (animated monsters, Choose Your Fighter to select my player tile, add some more color to tiles) plus a couple of little QoL ones (such as the aforementioned campfire saving one), as I don't like to massively alter a game until I know it inside-out and backwards. Interestingly, I prefer to play with a gamepad (or on my Steam Deck) rather than with a mouse. It seems more "immersive" that way or something. I expect fans of Elder Scrolls games will enjoy this as a refreshingly different take on a fully-realized RPG world, if they're down with the Rogue gameplay style & pixelated graphics.

This is one of the best video games ever made in my opinion. I figure I should write a review. First of all I have been playing for over 500 hours all in classic mode, except the first couple hours which I did in roleplaying mode just for learning purposes. Classic is the mode I'd suggest simply because I love it so deeply and completely. The other modes are probably good too to start. But the difficulty and setback associated with the constant threat of perma-death really gives the world an extra coat of meaning. The world of the game is very artistic and engrossing and intricate. Each zone looks and feels different and original and the sound design is right on. Blasting a creature out of existence with akimo overoaded sturdy hand rails sounds like it should, and so does hacking off an enemies arm with a freezing crysteel battleaxe. The graphics are true to the old school roguelike genre in their simplicity but at the same time expressive and even transportive. The ambiance of the Moon Stair for instance (the highest level area of the main map) is absolutely top tier. There is lore in the form of delightful little short stories poems and essays scattered throughout in the form of books, so you can pause your life and death struggle for as long as you wish in the turn based battle system to educate yourself on the finer points of Hindren social customs. The systems are as complex and intricate (or more) as any MMO or RTS out there. Tinkering is an escpecially interesting and rewarding form of item modification. The game holds my attention in a way that previously only multi-player online games have done. As for negatives, like everything great its not for everyone. The initial complexity probably makes it easy to bounce off of, and if you don't like difficult games, you prefer more cinematic stuff, or you don't find the roguelike gameplay loop interesting or rewarding it will probably be harder to enjoy this, but honestly I'd still give it a try anyway. This is an awesome game that fully rewards any effort you put into it.

Something about games with minimal art style that really let your imagination fill in the blanks. The games flavor text is always worth a laugh.

Caves of Qud is an easy recommend from me but there's a couple qualifiers. If you enjoy experimenting with stats and character builds along with piecing together your own narrative based on emergent gameplay then I think you'll like what's available here. Those who enjoy coming up with their own stories while playing games like Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, or Kenshi would probably like Caves of Qud. It also helps if you have a somewhat high tolerance for "older" looking games, although the QoL features available are superb. I never thought I'd be able to play a traditional roguelike with a controller and actually enjoy it. In my approximately 50 hour run in Roleplay mode (a mode where permadeath is turned off - highly recommended for your first run), I started off as an axe wielding maniac that specialized in dismembering enemies. Later, my character mutated and grew a tail that could sting enemies, causing them to get confused, and allowed me to get into a good rhythm of charging an enemy, cutting off a random body part of theirs, disorienting them with my stinger, and then backing off while I watch them stumble around until they bleed to death. Midway through the game, I encountered a particularly tough enemy that, unknown to me, also specialized in dismembering foes. I was able to defeat him but not without having my actual face cut off in the process. Thankfully, I was able to regrow my face with the help of an item, circle back and pick my old face up off the ground, and equip it on my newly regrown face like I'm Hannibal Lecter. I then learned that wearing someone's dismembered face gave a pretty good charisma boost and that this boost was proportional to the level of the enemy who dropped the face, so I would wander the world dismembering foes, occasionally ripping their faces off and wearing them as my own. Towards the end of the game, I stumbled onto a lucrative way of producing a near-infinite amount of cloning potion. Each time I drank it, up to 3 clones of my character would grow out of me, all with the same stats, and all disturbingly proficient at dismembering enemies. The end of the game consisted of my character commanding an army of nearly 20 identical Hannibal Lecters all armed with axes and scorpion tails, ravaging the landscape and indiscriminately chopping off body parts. One of the more unique experiences I've had playing a videogame.