I can tell there's depth here, I just can't get far enough into the game to explore it. You die really, really fast, and even the non-permadeath options tend to force you to replay multiple levels worth of material, over and over again. It could be a skill issue, but I don't have this problem in dwarf fortress, nethack, stone soup, ADOM, etc.

The game's setting and writing style is also just strange enough that there's a learning curve before you start figuring out what's going on -- which can be fun, if the gameplay is enough to pull you through the slow part. ...but if the story starts off rocky *and* the gameplay starts off rocky, then the whole game starts off rocky. There's nothing to tide you over until you get your bearings.

I'm still picking slowly at this game, bit by bit, but I'm at the stage where I'm enabling immortality and save-anywhere cheats, and each play session only lasts about five to ten minutes before I need to take a break and regroup.

My most recent play session, I started a new character in the hopes of fixing some problems with my build and grabbed a few quests around town. I was then spontaneously prompted to ritually name my shoes, which was baffling but pleasantly intriguing, and figured out the minigame quickly enough to succeed on my first try! -- but the game then froze. Everything in that play session was lost, including the entire character. I hope my next try will at least make it out of the starter town, but two of the last three haven't.

On the flip side, the game seems to very smoothly support characters with dynamic and changing numbers of limbs, a reputation system with dozens of factions, and has some amount of crafting/cooking/site-building survival gameplay in there somewhere.

I just... really am looking forward to actually managing to try any of it.

brettygood

One of the greatest games of all time. Part simulation, part roguelike, part RPG, overall: very hard to describe.

I recommend playing with a controller. The controls are much improved and streamlined that way. I did remap a few things based on my preferred way of playing.

What I like most about this game is the sheer variety and insane depth. You really can play out whatever insane design you like, and the only limit is your own knowledge and capabilities. If you can come up with clever solutions, you can solve almost any problem. I know a lot of games talk about "oh you don't have to choose violence to win". This is not that. This is like, if you only use violence alone it won't be enough to truly excel. So you'll get creative and when you realise it the first time, you'll feel awesome.

All I can say is play this game. It's very good.

Gud

This is an amazing systems-based game. The open ended style really makes the player feel in control in a way very few other games manage to emulate.

A wonderful adventure with great characters and items. The MUD I always wanted. It just keeps getting better over time.

Amazingly unique game, great lore. Takes time to get in to but definitely worth the effort. If you're looking for a recommendation for sci-fi or trad roguelike or open world, this is it. If you're looking for all three, you've already bought it.

I strongly recommend Caves of Qud. It's one of the most unique roguelikes I've encountered, hell it's one of the most unique games in general. If you're sick of the seemingly endless corporate-generated drivel that is a lot of gaming these days, give your support to a product made for the love of the genre.

buy it

I've dabbled in Caves of Qud for the past year or so but after the big UI update I was getting ready to start sinking some major time into this game. As a huge gaming nerd I like to get fully immersed before really jumping into a game which means reading beginner guides, watching youtube game play vids, joining the Discord and connecting with other players...

As I typically do, I devoured a bunch of guides and write ups and then went to jump on their Discord. I was put in a queue and was told to wait for approval. Okay, that's fine. After a few days I received a message that I was a poor community fit...? Say what?? I didn't really know what that meant so I went to Google to see if this was a normal thing. Come to find out the devs only allow you in if you are a proven communist/anarchist/extreme-left ideologue? It's beyond me why a persons personal political leaning would factor into a game discord, or why any dev would want to alienate their own playerbase. My longtime experience with official game servers is people just talk about, ya know, the game... and the few and far between toxic people get booted.

In my younger years I probably wouldn't have cared too much but as I've gotten older I consider how a dev team treats their playerbase just as important as the game itself. I wish the dev team would have put on their steam page that only people with certain political leaning are accepted in their community, then they could have saved me 20 bucks and saved themselves from a negative review.

Edit: response to dev comment - It's clear that's not the case. I saw the tweet you made shortly after this review, so for clarity sake my Discord profile doesn't have a bio and never has, I'm not a kid (if my 19 year old steam account isn't a dead giveaway) and I don't have a pikachu as my profile pic.

Outside of this, the game itself seems pretty stellar so kudos on that. Best of luck to your team.