Caves of Qud is a science fantasy roguelike epic steeped in retrofuturism, deep simulation, and swathes of sentient plants. Come inhabit an exotic world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Decide: is it a dying earth, or is it on the verge of rebirth?
Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a pure-strain descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes—the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the Holy City; the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul; or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon.
Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a pure-strain descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes—the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the Holy City; the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul; or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon.
Who are you?
Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a pure-strain descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes—the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the Holy City; the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul; or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon.
You arrive at the oasis-hamlet of Joppa, along the far rim of Moghra’yi, the Great Salt Desert. All around you, moisture farmers tend to groves of viridian watervine. There are huts wrought from rock salt and brinestalk. On the horizon, Qud’s jungles strangle chrome steeples and rusted archways to the earth. Further and beyond, the fabled Spindle rises above the fray and pierces the cloud-ribboned sky.
Caves of Qud Key Features:
1, Assemble your character from over 70 mutations and defects and 24 castes and kits—outfit yourself with wings, two heads, quills, four arms, flaming hands, or the power to clone yourself—it’s all the character diversity you could want.
2, Explore procedurally-generated regions with some familiar locations—each world is nearly 1 million maps large.
3, Dig through everything—don’t like the wall blocking your way? Dig through it with a pickaxe, or eat through it with your corrosive gas mutation, or melt it to lava. Yes, every wall has a melting point.
4, Hack the limbs off monsters—every monster and NPC is as fully simulated as the player. That means they have levels, skills, equipment, faction allegiances, and body parts. So if you have a mutation that lets you, say, psionically dominate a spider, you can traipse through the world as a spider, laying webs and eating things.
Caves of Qud weaves a handwritten narrative through rich physical, social, and historical simulations. The result is a hybrid handcrafted & procedurally-generated world where you can do just about anything.
Assemble your character from over 70 mutations and defects, and 24 castes and kits — outfit yourself with wings, two heads, quills, four arms, flaming hands, or the power to clone yourself; it’s all the character diversity you could want.
Explore procedurally-generated regions with some familiar locations — each world is nearly 1 million maps large.
Dig through everything — don’t like the wall blocking your way? Dig through it with a pickaxe, or eat through it with your corrosive gas mutation, or melt it to lava. Yes, every wall has a melting point.
Hack the limbs off monsters — every monster and NPC is as fully simulated as the player. That means they have levels, skills, equipment, faction allegiances, and body parts. So if you have a mutation that lets you, say, psionically dominate a spider, you can traipse through the world as a spider, laying webs and eating things.
Pursue allegiances with over 60 factions — apes, crabs, robots, and highly entropic beings, just to name a few.
Follow the plot to Barathrum the Old, a sentient cave bear who leads a sect of tinkers intent on restoring technological splendor to Qud.
Learn the lore — there’s a story in every nook, from legendary items with fabled pasts to in-game history books written by plant historians. A novel’s worth of handwritten lore is knit into a procedurally-generated history that’s unique each game.
Die — Caves of Qud is brutally difficult and deaths are permanent. Don’t worry, though — you can always roll a new character.
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| CPU | 1GHz or faster. SSE2 instruction set support. | INTEL 2 GHz Dual Core |
| CPU SPEED | 1 GHz | |
| VRAM | 128 MB | 1 GB |
| RAM | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| OS | Windows XP SP2+ | Windows XP SP2/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 |
| Graphics Card | Graphics card: DX9 (shader model 3.0) or DX11 with feature level 9.3 capabilities. | |
| Direct X | 9.0c | 9.0c |
| SOUND CARD | DirectX Compatible | DirectX Compatible |
| HDD Space | 2 GB | 2 GB free |
| Game Analysis | Caves of Qud is a Science-Fantasy Roguelike adventure that offers a deep simulation in an unpredictable environment. You could play through as a turtle-shelled gunslinger or perhaps even a telepath with amnesia. There are currently over 70 Mutations and 24 Player Castes and Kits like these to choose from. Dig through thousands of years of ancient civilizations as you explore a procedurally generated world. Caves of Qud is currently in Early Access so the System Requirements are subject to change. | |
| Minimum System Requirements | ||
| CPU | 1GHz or faster. SSE2 instruction set support. | |
| RAM | 4 GB RAM | |
| OS | Mac OS X 10.11+ | |
| Graphics Card | Graphics card: OpenGL 3+ and DX9 (shader model 3.0) or DX11 with feature level 9.3 capabilities. | |
| HDD Space | 2 GB available space |
| Minimum System Requirements | ||
| CPU | 1GHz or faster. SSE2 instruction set support. | |
| RAM | 4 GB RAM | |
| OS | Ubuntu 12.04+ | |
| Graphics Card | Graphics card: OpenGL 3+ and DX9 (shader model 3.0) or DX11 with feature level 9.3 capabilities. | |
| HDD Space | 2 GB available space |
Emerging from a salt desert of roguelikes, Qud differentiates itself by having rich world building, a science fiction theme and a lively and engaged development team. Although still in development, it can already provide more than most finished games can. (Jan ’18)
Look – Coming in a classic ASCII or stylish graphic tiles, the colors used are tightly connected to the game world and feel right at place. With the ease with which new tiles can be modded in, you can easily make it yours.
Sound – Although most of the game has no sounds to speak of, the soundtrack is unique and adds to the atmosphere immensely.
Gameplay – It is a roguelike with all that it entails, but with a very easy and accessible UI, an optional permadeath feature and great replayability.
Story – A deep and engaging world influenced by Dune among others, with procedural lore creation which ties into the gameplay, Qud almost has it all, except it’s main storyline is not finished yet in the current state of the game. (Jan ’18)
Note – The game has an outlandish feeling where everything feels possible, often comical, but never tragic, except of course the myriad of ways your character can die.
Conclusion: All in all, it will probably be a superb game when it’s finished. For the time being, supporting its development is more than worth it.
“Live and drink, friend.”