Caves of Qud

This is the best rogue-like that exists. The game is so deep and narrative that you can forget what the main story line is. You can forget that there is a main story line. You can forget that there are caves in the Caves of Qud and spend hours just wandering around, meeting people, getting in adventures. Water is the currency in the game because it is rare. But it is actually really easy to get, just really heavy when you carry a lot. So you want to use gems to carry your wealth. But that isn't really wealth. Secrets are wealth. The game is full of traps but you walk into each one with clear warnings that you are walking into a dangerous trap. You can always walk (or sprint) away and do something else. Each death you die is your own fault. This game builds on a timeless genre and would be timeless itself if they stopped development today. They are still making improvements and expanding the story. It deserves every award it gets. Live and drink

>Axe wielding maniac that can cut off body parts >Went for Chimera and full unstable Genome to get extra body parts >Found 2 random items that allowed me to make copies of myself early on >Send the murderous versions of myself against anything scary >Meet a creature that also creates copies of things and lose multiple body parts in a single turn from my evil self, but I live and regenerate my arms,legs,faces,heads I lost and all is good >Learn the hard way that even though I might be 100% fire resist my items are not >While trying to equip a highly explosive liquid as fuel, fumble it and almost die >Get crushed by a hydraulic press and somehow survive >At this point paranoia is an irl mutation for me with all the close calls from random things >Fast forward to later, 9 hands 8 for axes 1 for a shield, faces all over my body, 4 heads, roots, stinger. At this point I am a complete freak. I can call upon 7 copies of myself as well. >Have epic finally, win game for first time! It was worth it.

A highly entropic being was disappointed in me because I unequipped their non-unequippable item by going back in time before I equipped it, then they made the reality glitch and the Joppa puddle and Mehmet exploded because of it (rip sweet angel). 1h later, I died by fighting slugs and snails during an overdose. This is one of the best games ever.

this game has consumed my life for hte past week or two, id say its for a very niche audience, but by god when it hits it hits

This is a game with a grand promise and lacking execution. It promises you the ability to do anything in a post-apoc sandbox, and that part isn't a lie. You can do anything, but most of what you'll do is die. Unfortunately, learning through death is exhaustingly time consuming. You encounter a new creature, you die, you need 5 hours to get back up to level. You get a decent build, you like it, you encounter something new, you die. New character. Go into a new biome. See a weird guy. He uses Sunder Mind on you. He and the borders of the zone are both more than 10 tiles away. Die. What'd you learn? Oh, never go to this biome, it has a 2% chance to execute you. As you learn each system, the fun vanishes. At first water management is hard. Then realize you can just hold beaded bracelets and copper ingots to have tons of money in lightweight format. Now you have $500 or $1000 in dram. Money and water are no longer factors. Do Golgotha a few times. Learn that the "right" way to do it is to stuff specific foods to make yourself immune to poison and disease (or just break down walls and skip the entire dungeon!). Try more mutations. Learn that precognition lets you fish for effects and defeat the RNG. The whole game is this way. Its a puzzle to be solved, but with each solved piece you no longer have any reason to try anything else - but you still have to go through the motions of the puzzle! The game promises a wide open field, and it is. Unfortunately, that field has two states: invulnerable godking mashing attack to wade through endless enemies, and "oh, that's new, I wond--and I'm dead". Time to go do the first 5 hours of the game. Again. Looking at steam achievement rates, only 1% of players have actually finished this game. Given the hundreds of hours of experimentation necessary (or more realistically, all the reading guides to find out the handful of staggeringly OP builds and then rerolling until you land on one), the relative unimportance of the story, and the late-game enemies that will just delete you until you find their workarounds, I understand why only 10% of players even make it to Golgotha and so few bother finishing up.

[TL:DR] Lacking in QOL features and with poor early quests, Caves of Qud morphs into a cool experience with constant frustrations. But there is a depth and complexity here that respects (laughs at) my intelligence, and I wish more games followed this example. Like, seriously mate [hr][/hr] [h1]PROS [/h1] - Deep world map and environments - Interesting NPCs who lay down meaningful truths about the world - Range of items, skills, and builds - Cool reputation mechanic that I still don't understand - WALLS of text filled with LORE. Literally mate - You can turn into a dog - I appreciate that the dev included the option of ROLEPLAY (checkpoints) for people who don't want to grind another 28hrs after an unfair death, albeit checkpoints that can be quite far back [h1]CONS [/h1] - Quality of life features: 1: No mass disassemble of ALL scrap 2: No loadouts. Because it's really fun equipping the drill and then re-equipping weapons + backpack + shield every time 3: No mass recharge energy cells 4: Awkward inventory/trade screens. The picture icons at the top are minuscule and hard to distinguish. The faded text of the inventory headers is hard to spot at a glance 5: Not knowing which vendor sells which item (like in Grit Gate where NPCs have the same model and shuffle around the map). Sometimes I just want to buy ammo without clicking 10 people before finding the dude I need. There is a feature to find a specific person but it would be useful to see at a glance what type of trader they are 6: The trivial things that the game should just explain, that lead to unfair deaths (or maybe I'm just salty) --{ Fine }-------------------------------

Caves of Qud is an amazing open-world roguelike with a great story/lore, though the early game is very punishing and made me drop the game for a few months when I first got the game. I think the best part of Caves of Qud is that any problem has multiple ways to solve it, for example, if you need to get an item from a goatfolk camp but can't fight them head-on, you could: recruit allies to fight them, buy a nuke from a sentient plant and use it, cook a meal that gives you the phasing ability, fly above them, summon plants to fight them, befriend them, see the future and rewind if necessary, or use countless other items/strategies also you can be a plant :)

If you enjoy games like CDDA, you'll likely enjoy this. Not sure if it's just me sucking at the game but near the end-game it is a bit grindy and gets very hard/tedious, thankfully mods and using the command console aka 'wishes' doesn't disable achievements... I just didn't feel like hacking a 1,500 HP turtle to death over the course of an hour for the 100th time. Still enjoyed it immensely though, wish there were more games like this.

This is frankly one of the best games I've played in years. It achieves a level of immersion that shouldn't be possible with it's tile based graphics. It's world, it's systems, it's gameplay, all incredible. Even the steep learning curve is somehow part of the charm. While it's not for everyone, I have to recommend it to those who like something unique, something special, something challenging.

Really great game, amazing adventures. But, only if you have as little respect for you lifetime as the developers do. Too bad I'll never be able to finish it, because even after almost 300 hours in this game I did not have a single run that wasn't ruined by some game breaking bug in the main story line. Just thought I'd dig it out one more time, cause not only is the game "done" now but also received many more bugfixes after. Nope, another beautiful run, another 30h of my life later and I find myself with another game braking bug, right towards the end. This is it. I will uninstall this disrespectful piece of garbage, watch the rest of the game that I never go to experience in a stream and then I will never waste another thought on this ever again.

This is an extremely cool game with some incredible mechanical depth regarding tinkering/cooking/character skills. I can't praise it enough for what it's accomplished in those areas and I look forward to seeing what Freehold games does in the future. They should be extremely proud of what they've made. But, I feel comfortable leaving a "negative" review as a flag for other players like me, since it won't make a dent in the review score: This doesn't really succeed as a "story generator", if you were brought here by reviewers who described it as such. if I were to compare it to Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi, or RimWorld, I think those succeed as story generators because of the dynamic which exists between the characters in your party. Even in cases like Rim or DF, where the proc-gen is front and center, it's the relationships between the characters that allows your imagination to fill in the blanks and see the "story" they all share emerge. Someone gets kidnapped? You now have a mission to rescue them. Two friends, but one dies? Everything the survivor does will be imbued with that sense of loss. Unfortunately due to CoQ's single-player character focus, the narrative (even imagined one) of that character relies entirely on their interaction with the world and it's inhabitants. NPCs don't really offer a lot in this regard and are quite static, and since you can't build a party or anything, you either survive, or die. There's no room for a story outside of: "you fight and die, or your fight and live". A lot of the examples reviewers give serve as a good overview of the games true variance; they all offer the illusion of variety, but all ultimately boil down to players having the same experience with slight differences of the same mechanics. "I transformed into [object] and fell in love with an [object]" "I was [mechanic] and then [mechanic], then I died" It's really interesting and cool as what is it; a series of mechanics, but as someone that came here for what I was told was an RPG story generator, I was let down by the proc-gen world, proc-gen lore, and proc-gen books. Those do well in DF because I'm then shaping a new colonies story to add to those, whereas I don't get that experience here. I felt no real value or adventure in auto-exploring identical ruins, fields, forests, and jungles, complete with multiple randomly placed doors and copy pasted enemies. I felt little difference from area to area (besides the incredible soundtrack) and ultimately, I didn't feel like an adventurer discovering the secrets of the land, I felt like a gamer, watching numbers go up - and that was all. No environments outside of the scripted ones ever gave me the feeling of history or life, just populations of things to either slaughter or trade water with.

I love this game, if for no other reason than the sheer madness of its world. I saw someone describe it as feeling "not worldbuilt, but as if the developers plucked out an intrusion to another reality" and I'd say that's accurate.

After dying four times one general thing I will say without spoiling things. Is early game the RNG can dramatically change how start out around the starting point. And each time you play you will get better and better at taking the best advantage of each situation. So far I like this game very much. Also I don't see it in hotkeys in manual in game but: '<' and '>' let you go for stairs. Also:'~' heals to max.

This game is an incredible value, there's so many layers to it that it's the 7-layer dip of traditional roguelikes! I also recommend the Pets DLC or getting the pets through Patreon, as it's great to have a weird lil' guy/chair/fish-in-a-jar-with-a-laser-gun following you around.

Seriously, 4 hours into the game and I got frozen solid at -900 degrees.

It's like if Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun became a video game. The experience of playing Caves of Qud is one-part the actual hitting buttons and playing the game, and one-part your brain extrapolating a gripping narrative from the impressionist breadcrumbs in the text and the visuals. I always find my time with it impressive and enjoyable.

If you find the idea of roguelikes intriguing, but you're also intimidated by them... this is the one. Has a great setting, great writing, fun creative builds. Highly recommended.

Absolute masterpiece of a game, takes a moment or so to get into if you're not a big fan of older graphic styles, but the art style is very unique and beautiful, and the world building in this game is like none other. One of my top 5 games of all time.

Any old-timers out there remember ADOM? A roguelike, but with lots of dungeons and an overworld full of NPCs and interesting lore? This is that, only on ten times the scale.

This is an awesome game! So much re-playable and very deep RPG mechanics. I've had a great time just learning how-to play and creating characters/builds. I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes deep system driven RPGs. The art style might not be for everyone, if you give it a chance though you'll see that it works really well for this type of game.

This game is amazing and unique. Very nostalgic. Too bad I suck at it.

That is just the best real classic style roguelike fusion with finest quality of life enhancement... beautyful (in case visual minimalist approach doesnt scares you away)

Deepest RPG I ever played. Very fun exploration and customization. Mutation are very interesting. Very Retro Aesthetic, Not for everyone, but go past the look and there is an infinite replayability game with dept like very few.

Generates fun stories. Very RPG. Great atmosphere/setting

Very fun game, The dev's have taken a lot of time and dedication for this game and you can tell! Don't get me wrong the game is very hard but there is a lot of love that was put into it.

found a weird hostile clam tried to attack it get teleporter to bumfuck nowhere tried to run got lost in the jungle died to some goats with guns 10/10 will qud again

Something really charming about this game and I'm enjoying the skill and mutation system. I've played almost 40 hours and only explored like 10 percent of the map MAYBE. If I had anything to add I wish we could play as other races besides mutated human and true kin. LET ME BE A SENTIENT OOZE!

I was skeptical at first due to the graphics but this game is an absolute blast. Ive only played a tiny amount compared to others I see leaving reviews but I can see myself playing this for hundreds of hours. I came from other "sandboxy" style games like Rimworld and this scratches a very similar itch for me personally. 10/10 - would get killed by a rock throwing baboon again.

One of the best games of all time. I played without looking anything up, and had an excellent time. Every run is a story, and I enjoyed all of them.

I haven't beat the game yet; I keep getting distracted with side goals. It's fun though.

Steep learning curve, but once it clicks it's the GOAT

I love Path of Achra, and this is like a cozy version, while I curl up with my mutant 7 arms, 2 faces, and stinger. I recommend you play on Roleplay after you die the first few times to learn the game since sometimes you only learn something after death. One of my top 3 games in the last few years I think.

I really like most of the game but dear god why does the lost mechanic have to exist, I have gotten lost a tile away from Grit Gate and the game still said I was lost despite me knowing exactly where I was and how the game should have known where I was when I am at a major landmark. JUST LET ME OUT OF THE CAVES.

I havent managed to get very far. Still trying a bot-mancer build and havent survived long enough to make any bots. Haha. Haven't tried the game any other way. But it's cool, the world has its own interesting feel about it. I appreciate the original fantasy biology herein. A negative (for me, not for everyone) is that some of the writing is so abstract that I find it ventures into rambling; sometimes the writing can feel like it's written by a 16 yr old who's trying to impress me rather than to communicate. It's a bit 'artsy-fartsy'. But some of it's good; like descriptions of items from the perspective of someone who lives in such a world. Other times, it just feels try-hard, no offence. Perhaps it's a stylistic choice. Anyway, it's cool, and I think there's a lot of content in this game that i'm looking forward to discovering.

A niche game, but an unparalleled masterpiece in that niche.

Some highlights: * Punch myself in the gut to trigger my on damage phasing effect, and walk through a boulder. Realize later I have a jackhammer and could have just destroyed it. * Found a large source of fresh water. Got so excited I accidentally empty a waterskin on myself. Waterskin contained cloning draught, which shortly after produces a friendly clone. Named him Toasty Jr. * Think "That fall looks like it could kill me." Look into the future, and confirm jumping down the hole would kill me. Later return and cook a meal that reduces fall damage. Fall 4 floors and skip an entire dungeon. * Get ambushed by a large predatory fish. It manages to bite off both my hands. Regenerate them before I've even run out of the water. Hunt the fish by projecting a hologram of myself into the water, and shooting the fish when it attacks.

A labour of love. Caves of Qud is different. The developers made it to be played. No shareholders. No suits. No one told them no. It shows.

One of the all time greatest games ever. First game in a while that is still absolutely blowing my mind

10/10 would have my face chopped of, eat it, and then die in an explosion of steam again

I'm probably going to continue this game but i'm slowly enjoying it less and less as time goes on The difficulty is all over the place, one second I can easily take on 10 enemies like it's nothing, one tile later there's some super god turning my screen to goop and two hitting me and it's just not a fun experience to have. My god the UI is horrid too and navigating it makes my eyes glaze over, It's going to sound super harsh but this game does not deserve its overwhelmingly positive reviews, I feel like i'm still playing an early access title.

Have I finished the story/main questline? No. Do I still have a 100+ hours in it and still love it? YES! Caves of Qud is a fantastic rogue-like, with simple but charming pixel graphics. I was worried about the simplicity of the graphics at first, but I later ended up enjoying it. They're easy to read too, so not much visual confusion! You can either play as a mutant with several mutation variations or a cyborg that improves by adding tech to their body. Which leads to lots of replayability. There's also a reputation system. You can increase a reputation by doing quests for a creature/faction/village or by doing a water ritual with them. The downside being that if another faction dislikes them, you will lose reputation with them when you do the water ritual. The standard game experience is permadeath, but the game also has different options for those who do not enjoy this mechanic. Overall there's so much good I can say about this game, but I'll leave this review short. It's a 10/10 from me.

in game menus are incomplete and I had to read a reddit post on how to complete a transaction. 0/10

TLDR: A good game tainted by the political gods the dev worships. After engaging with the main quest and the Barathrumites I expected based on the way they talked about the Putus Knights for the quest to open up to multiple factions. Only to find that this is impossible, that only one faction can be sided with thus rendering the rest as a backdrop. The totally OC Donut steal self inserts clearly got all the dev time while other factions are completely barren. Putus Knights aside I would like to see the other factions get a tie into the "main quest" because as is it feels extremely rail roady and defeats the purpose of open world part of the game. Like let me lead a warband of Snapjaws or the Girsh for example.

its just a weird game nothing make sense , i pressed a random button and got stuck in the world map i pressed every button on the keyboard only to not get out , than i restart new character i accepted some quest talked with everyone in joppa, click on quest log and find its empty but on my right side it says i accepted several quest

Amazing experience thus far. 40 hours in and I feel like i'm still just scratching the surface. I hope to comeback to this review and give a more in depth response but I will say "It's been a while since I got sucked in".

Steep learning curve, but excellent game.

If you're into classic rogue-likes you're gonna have a great time, and if you're curious about them it's a tough but great way to start

made a door turn alive became the door fell down a pit died 10/10 got all of mutation points got lots of glimmer attacked by 10,000 esper hunters, kill them all walk 10 feet away 10,000 more esper hunters cry kill them all walk 10 more feet 10,000 more esper hunters used normality gas can not teleport away get mauled die 10/10 later playthough got a nuke made the nuke differant phase than me made a lot of them phase out toss nuke killed everything win life found evil version of me i was out of phase got nuked died 10/10

very awesome either have 1000 limbs or ascend beyond corporeal realm

A little jank, but the new gold standard for traditional roguelikes