Caves of Qud is a masterful roguelike by Freehold Games that has been working its way through a long stint in Early Access. The game originally released all the way back in 2015, and it has been steadily updated ever since.
Development has been speeding up of late, after the devs signed with Kitfox Games, the publisher behind Dwarf Fortress (they’ve been busy this week, I just wrote about DF’s Adventure Mode).
The most recent evidence of Caves of Qud’s progression is the release of The Creatures of the 7th Plague, a huge content drop that includes a bunch of really cool stuff. This “cool stuff” includes the next chapter in the main quest and fully native Steam Deck and controller support. Oh, and there are mechs!
The Creatures of the 7th Plague Update
The update is out now, so I’ve put the highlights for you below for your convenience. However, there are far more in-depth patch notes on Steam if you want to get lost in the details.
Arrival of the Girsh Nephilim, 7th plague of the Gyre, mythic beings whose cradles are tucked throughout the caves of Qud as five new dungeons
Next leg of the main quest: a climactic battle with the Putus Templar at the foot of the Spindle
Finalized, fully native gamepad and Steam Deck support
Hundreds of new visual and sound effects
New UI for the hotbar & Abilities screen and new icons for every ability
New creatures (mechs!), skills, furniture, items, implants, and more
Another interesting tidbit is the news that this is the last major update to the game in Early Access. According to their post, the studio is shifting “focus completely to the 1.0 release.”
If you cast your eyes below, you can see the trailer that dropped alongside the announcement. Then, once you’ve watched that, you should head over to the best roguelike games feature and see which other games are there alongside Caves of Qud.
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Still with us? Of course you are! If you want to keep reading about great hand-picked rogues, the following articles represent a huge collection of the best roguelike games ever made.
Next, there are genre-specific lists that delve into the best roguelike games of all types. I’ve pulled out the best examples from each category, alongside the links to more in-depth articles!
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all. There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
