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An update many have been waiting for, Caves of Qud, one of the best roguelikes ever has a Beta available that includes a huge overhaul to the UI. Much better for gamepad and Steam Deck players.

Caves of Qud is a science fantasy roguelike epic steeped in retrofuturism, deep simulation, and swathes of sentient plants. Come inhabit a living, breathing world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Decide: is it a dying earth, or is it on the verge of rebirth?

They said this transformational UI design works fully with mouse or gamepad (on top of keyboard) and is much prettier. It's not entirely done with some more polish to come but it's fully functional. Also added in this update are Steam Cloud saves, good for those hopping between systems, they've refreshed the starting town, there's hundreds of new sound and visual effects plus new narrative touches, big bug fixes, & performance improvements.

More in the update notes.

Caves of Qud has Native Linux support and is Steam Deck Verified.

You can buy it from:

GOG

itch.io

Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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9 comments

prosoor May 16
I track this game to buy it but they always give discount of only 10%.
The game is interesting for a relatively small niche of nethack fans, so I don't understand the price.
It should cost less.
anewson May 16
Quoting: prosoorI track this game to buy it but they always give discount of only 10%.
The game is interesting for a relatively small niche of nethack fans, so I don't understand the price.
It should cost less.

Niche isn't always cheaper, but I feel your pain. It's 100% worth it though, they've been adding content for free for like a decade. I think is the the fourth UI they've made since I bought it, and each one is a little better than the last.
Chrisznix May 16
Quoting: prosoorI track this game to buy it but they always give discount of only 10%.
The game is interesting for a relatively small niche of nethack fans, so I don't understand the price.
It should cost less.
You might look at it with a different metric: how much hours of fun will it might give you, how deep a story might have an impact on you etc. For example, Rimworld is, if you want to be bold, a 2d DF-like game, why did i pay 30 bucks for it? For me, i played about 500 hours to this day. And it was great. It could have cost 100 bucks, it would still be really really worth it. IMHO it´s not what it is, its what it gives you.
Quoting: Chrisznixa 2d DF-like game
Over the last few years I have been gradually acquiring a pet peeve about the use of acronyms for this kind of thing. The assumption that everyone will get it is generally not accurate (e.g. I have no idea what DF is here). Probably some of the people who don't get the acronym would still not get it if the actual words were used, but some would, and the ones who didn't would be able to fire up a search engine and look it up, something the use of an acronym prevents because they're bloody unsearchable.

(And on the other hand if the assumption is that not everyone will get it and that's the point, I'm even more peeved because I hate that kind of leet garbage)
Phlebiac May 16
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Chrisznixa 2d DF-like game
Over the last few years I have been gradually acquiring a pet peeve about the use of acronyms for this kind of thing. The assumption that everyone will get it is generally not accurate (e.g. I have no idea what DF is here).

I assume it refers to Dwarf Fortress; that seems to be a "big name" in the genre.
Quoting: Phlebiac
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Chrisznixa 2d DF-like game
Over the last few years I have been gradually acquiring a pet peeve about the use of acronyms for this kind of thing. The assumption that everyone will get it is generally not accurate (e.g. I have no idea what DF is here).

I assume it refers to Dwarf Fortress; that seems to be a "big name" in the genre.
That's plausible. And since I do in fact know what Dwarf Fortress is, I'm a case where actually saying the words would have conveyed much more information.
Nezchan May 16
Much as I enjoy the game (although it's a little newbie-hostile even now), I think I'll skip the beta and wait for the changes to hit the main branch.  I'm here to play, not to playtest.

As to content, it's a pretty big game overall. Although outside of the primary quest there aren't all that many smaller stories to pursue, at least in the earlier parts of the game. I do recommend roleplay mode if you're going for the story and not just trying out a variety of cool builds though. Otherwise go for the dailies to get the hang of it, where you get prebuilt characters that you see how far you can get with. I've reached
Spoiler, click me
Golgotha
twice this week, which is pretty good for me.
Chrisznix May 16
Quoting: PhlebiacI assume it refers to Dwarf Fortress; that seems to be a "big name" in the genre.
It is, sorry. Dwarf Fortress has been such a big thing for me that i have forgotten that it is indeed quite unknown. And abbreviations are not really helpful most of the time, agreed.
EduAAA May 18
I like the idea of building a base or explore a always randomized world, rpg, turn-based but without needing to read a manual, guides, and still have no idea the fk you doing cuz they use graphics you can find artistic, but other don't understand shit, with an UI that seems it's done extremely difficult on purpose, also makes it impossible to play with a controller even on steam deck.

Zomboid could be the game I'd like to play but isn't turn based and it's always changing graphic engine, I'm waiting to play a version that has a bit of a plot, a purpose, not just surviving because yes with out any kind of quest etc...

A better example of a game I like kind of roguelike is Battle of brothers but bigger, with quests not just contracts, npcs you can interact, open world, crafting game, class bassed, turn bassed, controller friendly if possible and newbye friendly, it can be hard but at least I have to know tf is happening, how I failed. ETC

I've played Neo scavenger, survivalist but it's too clunky, I always end finding the same games. If you can share your knowledge, oh, it has to be single player.

Sheltered, like that game, it could be done much better and the second is worst they say, with more content, Stay of decay kind of the same. "Guess I'll blow my brains, but first I'm gonna get drunk"
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