Caves of Qud

Genre: Open-World Turn-Based RPG / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Caves of Qud is an Open-World Turn-Based RPG and Roguelike released in 2024 on PC and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2026. This is a game inspired by classic games in the genre like NetHack and Dwarf Fortress, with visuals designed to imitate the ASCII-based visuals of those games.

While the visuals are simple 2D pixel-based graphics with a very retro-styled look, it’s not quite accurate to say that this game’s visuals are ASCII-based, just that they evoke the look. Likewise, the sound design doesn’t feel the need to restrict itself to the limitations of the machines that played the games that inspired this, using instrumental music that gives the game a serene tone that works well with the game’s world and gameplay.

Speaking of that world, while the game uses a lot of medieval fantasy tropes, its world is a post-apocalyptic one where players choose to play either as mutants who grow new mutations as they level up, or as “true kin” who use cybernetic enhancements. Players are given a brief tutorial and then set loose in the game’s dangerous world, where they must choose their own path.

Honestly, I feel like Caves of Qud is going to be intimidating for most players due to the combination of archaic visuals and lack of hand-holding here. In the first town you come to, you can opt to take on a few quests, but you’re only given vague indications of what you’re looking for and where to find it, and I quickly found myself unsure what I was even doing. It doesn’t help that the simple visuals make it difficult to tell at a glance what anything is, making it even harder to find the needle in the haystack I was looking for.

While I was frustrated by this game, I respect that for many players this will be absolutely thrilling. The amount of freedom caves of Qud offers players, and its huge world to explore, with complex factions to navigate and intricate game mechanics to figure out… I can see how this can all be really enticing. But I feel like many players will have the same difficulty I had – staring at a screen full of vague little ASCII-esque rectangles and trying to figure out which of them represented what I’m looking for, or trying to figure out what it even was I was looking for.

It doesn’t help that the game’s controls and menus are unnecessarily confusing. As an example, comparing two pieces of equipment requires navigating to the right menu and holding down the ZL and ZR buttons. And when I see two stats on a piece of armor and have no clue what the second one means… well, I have to just guess, I suppose.

Again, I can see how for some people, having to decipher everything in this game will be an absolute dream. And I respect that for some people, Caves of Qud may well be a true delight. But for me, this game is a blend of confusion and frustration, presenting me with a massive world that truly does house a lot of depth and complexity, but a depth and complexity that’s highly inaccessible to anyone who isn’t willing to fully pour themselves into it. And I have to say, that person just isn’t me.

tl;dr – Caves of Qud is an Open-World Turn-Based RPG and Roguelike featuring gameplay inspired by games like NetHack and Dwarf Fortress, with a presentation that evokes the ASCII-based look of those classic games. This game offers an absolute ton of depth, but it’s also extremely inaccessible to most players, a combination that means this game is sure to be loved by a small portion of gamers, but doomed to be so highly niche that most players will find themselves frustrated, confused, and outright lost trying to play it. If you’re willing to learn the ins and outs of this game’s complexities you may well find it deeply rewarding, but I expect most players will want to skip it.

Grade: B-

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