After 15 years of development, this old-school roguelike will finally launch next year

After starting development way back in 2007, the universally acclaimed roguelike Caves Of Qud is fully launching next year. 

Caves Of Qud is a science-fantasy roguelike with some retro-futuristic flavours thrown in for good measure. The game places you in the strange jungle of Qud and promises that you can do “Anything and everything” within its world. That’s probably thanks to 70 mutations and 24 castes for you to throw onto your character, as you can also equip funky wings, dual heads, four arms, or gain the power to clone yourself. The trailer below gives you a taste of the other possibilities like… turning into a door?

Adding to the wild customisation are the weapons on display, which include poisonous stingers, a hypnotised goat, and a plain old rifle which seems mundane compared to the other funky offerings. Caves Of Qud’s Steam page teases that you can create alliances with over 60 factions, such as the crabs, robots, and other “highly entropic beings.” Although every enemy you encounter is as fully simulated as your weird adventurer, so you can take foes' equipment and even their body parts after killing them.

Developers Freehold Games began working on the procedurally generated roguelike almost 15 years ago and finally released it into early access in 2015. The team has now announced a new publishing partnership with Kitfox Games, the company that also published gems such as Dwarf Fortress, Six Ages, and Boyfriend Dungeon. Kitfox Games are helping to bring the game across the finish line, as Caves Of Qud is set to leave early access in 2024. You can grab Caves Of Qud’s early access build on Steam for £15.50 / $20. 

Otherwise, why not check out the upcoming indies for 2023 and beyond?