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Caves of Qud cover

Caves of Qud 2024

Role-playing (RPG) by Freehold Games, published by Kitfox Games.

Linux PC (Microsoft Windows) Mac Nintendo Switch Role-playing (RPG) Simulator Strategy ESRB: E10+ Steam Deck Verified
94
Critics
aggregate score
88
Players
IGDB rating
95%
Very Positive
12,014 Steam reviews
394 playing now
on Steam, 495 peak today
2 awards won
5 nominations

About

On Steam, 95% of 12,014 player reviews are positive (Very Positive). 394 people are playing it on Steam right now, with a peak of 643 in the last 30 days. It is Verified on Steam Deck. It won 2 awards, including Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work and Independent Games Festival Award - Excellence in Narrative.

Caves of Qud is a science fantasy roguelike epic steeped in retro-futurism, deep simulation, and swathes of sentient plants. The game weaves a handwritten narrative through rich physical, social, and historical simulations. The result is a hybrid handcrafted & procedurally-generated world where you can do just about anything. Assemble your character from over 70 mutations and defects, and 24 castes and kits - it’s all the character diversity you could want. Explore procedurally-generated regions with some familiar locations - each world is nearly 1 million maps large.

Story

Come inhabit an exotic world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Decide: is it a dying earth, or is it on the verge of rebirth? Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a pure-strain descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes - the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the Holy City; the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul; or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon. Follow the plot to Barathrum the Old, a sentient cave bear who leads a sect of tinkers intent on restoring technological splendor to Qud. There’s a story in every nook, from legendary items with fabled pasts to in-game history books written by plant historians. A novel’s worth of handwritten lore is knit into a procedurally-generated history that’s unique each game.

What is happening now

Caves of Qud is a turn-based roguelike with procedurally generated worlds, tactical combat, and permanent consequences for failure. The game launched on December 5, 2024, across PC, Mac, Linux, and Nintendo Switch. Since its release, Caves of Qud has been recognized among the stronger entries in the turn-based roguelike genre, appearing in roundups alongside comparable titles. The game has also drawn attention from the modding community, with developers finding ways to port it into unexpected environments - most notably, a mod that runs Caves of Qud inside the original Doom engine. These projects highlight the game's flexibility and growing presence within indie gaming circles.

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Awards

2 won, 3 more nominations
Other awards 2025
Won: Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work Nominated: D.I.C.E. Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Independent Games Festival Award 2025
Won: Excellence in Narrative Nominated: Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Golden Joystick Awards 2025
Nominated: Best Indie Game

Media

Caves of Qud screenshot
Watch trailer 1 Watch trailer 2 Watch trailer 3 Watch trailer 4 Watch trailer 5

Releases

Platform
Date
December 5, 2024
December 5, 2024
December 5, 2024
December 5, 2024

First release date; per-platform dates are not in the database for this game yet.

PC and Steam Deck

Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified works great out of the box

Minimum
OS
Windows 10 21H1, Windows 11 21H2
Processor
1GHz or faster. SSE2 instruction set support.
Memory
4 GB RAM
Graphics
Graphics card: DX10, DX11, DX12 capable
Storage
2 GB available space

Will it run on my PC?

Your numbers stay in this browser.

Requirements and Deck status as listed on Steam, checked Oct 28, 2026.

Caves of Qud player count

concurrent players on Steam
394playing now2h ago
495peak today
64330-day peak
643highest we have seenOct 25, 2026
Oct 23: 517 Oct 24: 581 Oct 25: 643 Oct 26: 572 Oct 27: 570 Oct 28: 477 Oct 29: 479 Oct 30: 508 Oct 31: 538 Nov 1: 599 Nov 2: 503 Nov 3: 495
Oct 23daily peak, last 12 daystoday

Players counted on Steam every one to six hours; the daily peak is the highest count of the day.

Caves of Qud achievements

150 achievements on Steam

Rarest

Sound Sleeper Wake peacefully from twenty dreams.
0.1%
Imagine a Rubber Sheet Dash yourself on the crags of spacetime.
0.1%
Klanq Puff at Sun
0.1%
Dream within a Dream Enter a waking dream from within a waking dream.
0.2%
Wander Darkling in the Eternal Space Lose your will to live.
0.2%
Heat Death
0.2%
All 150 achievements by how many players unlocked them
Byevalve Enter 100 giant clams.
0.3%
I- Wink out of existence.
0.3%
The Tillage of the Noosphere
0.3%
Delight in the Abundance of Peace
0.3%
Leap, Frog. Convince a frog to teach you how to jump.
0.4%
Token of Gratitude Be gifted a 10-pointed asterisk.
0.4%
The Narrowing Sky Wear each of the six Faces of the sultanate.
0.4%
Become as Gods Bestow life to 20 inanimate objects.
0.4%
Non-Locally Sourced Cook a meal with an extradimensional limb as an ingredient.
0.5%
Dayenu Give the repulsive device to all four children of the Tomb.
0.5%
The Laws of Physics Are Mere Suggestions, Vol. 2 Exploit wave-particle duality to clone yourself.
0.5%
My Many Facets Eat the Crystal Delight.
0.5%
Zayin
0.5%
Tourist Visit 100 generated villages.
0.6%
Jeweled Dusk
0.6%
Ungyre
0.6%
Two Cats Are Better Than One Clone Ctesiphus.
0.7%
Clonal Colony Share the map with 30 clones of yourself.
0.7%
From Thyn Heres Shaken the Wet and Olde Lif
0.7%
Vav Defeat six of the Girsh nephilim in a single playthrough.
0.7%
Bricks Can Be Thrown, Too
0.7%
Else
0.7%
Seraphic Covenant
0.7%
tsk tsk Disappoint a highly entropic being.
0.8%
Dalet Defeat four of the Girsh nephilim in a single playthrough.
0.8%
He Defeat five of the Girsh nephilim in a single playthrough.
0.8%
The Dusted Cosmos
0.8%
Feast Upon the Goat Hearts! *cheers* Perform the water ritual with Mamon Souldrinker.
0.9%
Seraphic Heresy
0.9%
Surprise! Eat the Cloaca Surprise.
1%
Gimel Defeat three of the Girsh nephilim in a single playthrough.
1%
On Second Thought Eat a serving of humble pie.
1%
Love at First Sign Fall in love with a sign.
1.1%
The Woe of Joppa Become hated by the villagers of Joppa.
1.2%
Peekaboo Become loved by newly sentient beings.
1.2%
Close the Loop Recover Kindrish.
1.2%
Total Makeover Pour a dram of pure warm static on yourself.
1.2%
You Are What You Eat
1.3%
Sultan of Salt Invent 100 recipes.
1.3%
Belong, Friends Help the slynth find a new home.
1.3%
The Psychal Chorus Drink 20 drams of brain brine.
1.3%
Bet Defeat two of the Girsh nephilim in a single playthrough.
1.3%
Swollen Bulb Consume 10 drams of sunslag in a single playthrough.
1.3%
Get in the Robot Infiltrate a temple mecha.
1.3%
Gemini Wield Caslainard and Polluxus.
1.4%
The Woe of Apes Kill Oboroqoru, Ape God.
1.4%
The Recitation of the Drowning of Eudoxia by the Witches of Moonhearth
1.4%
Lair Cake Discover 100 lairs.
1.5%
Ten-Sludge Monte Kill a decasludge.
1.6%
All Those Who Wander
1.6%
Aetalag
1.6%
The Laws of Physics Are Mere Suggestions, Vol. 3 Prove the information paradox by causing your surroundings to glitch.
1.6%
Cubic and Wisest Human Activate a time cube.
1.7%
On the Rocks
1.8%
Lottery Winner Gain a mutation from a gamma moth's mutating gaze.
1.8%
In Contemplation of Eons Perform the water ritual with Oboroqoru, Ape God.
1.9%
Then
1.9%
We Are Starfreight
1.9%
Friend to Fungi Host three different fungal infections at once.
2%
Reclamation
2%
Arconaut Descend 50 strata deep.
2%
Caves of Qud Beat the game.
2%
Was It Something I Said? Invoke the Chaos Spiel.
2.1%
Rainbow Reading
2.1%
The Quasar Mind
2.2%
Glimmer of Truth
2.3%
Go on. Do it. Wield the amaranthine prism.
2.4%
Cosmo-Chrononaut
2.4%
The Golem
2.4%
Aleph Defeat one of the Girsh nephilim.
2.5%
You Became
2.6%
Pyramid Scheme Kill a chrome pyramid.
2.8%
Mechanimist Reformer Convince the High Priest of the Stilt to join your party.
2.8%
Donation Level: Kasaphescence Make an offering at the Sacred Well of an artifact worth at least 200 reputation.
3%
Me, Myself, and I Share the map with 10 clones of yourself.
3.2%
Biographer Learn the complete history of a single sultan.
3.4%
Five-Sludge Monte Kill a pentasludge.
3.4%
All the Leaves are Grey
3.4%
The Tragedy
3.4%
Goat Simulator Project your mind into a goat's body.
3.5%
Footloose
3.5%
Aaaaaaaaargh!
3.6%
A Clammy Reception
3.7%
Tomb of the Eaters
3.7%
To Thine Own Self Be True Wear your own severed face on your face.
3.8%
Hole Like a Head
3.8%
Rocket Bear Equip the Flume-Flier of the Sky-Bear.
3.8%
The Spirit of Vengeance Recover the Ruin of House Isner.
3.9%
Star-Eye Esper
3.9%
0 for 2
4.4%
Love Thyself Fall in love with yourself.
4.5%
Absolute Unit Successfully cook a meal with neutron flux as an ingredient.
4.5%
You Recame
4.5%
*gulp*
4.6%
Dawnglider Become auroral.
4.7%
Pax Klanq, I Presume?
4.8%
Psst.
5.2%
Eat an Entire Bear Kill a bear and eat it. Just eat an entire bear.
5.3%
The History
5.3%
Tongue in Cheek
5.5%
Knight Conical Recover Stopsvalinn.
6.1%
A Call to Arms
6.1%
The Earl of Omonporch
6.3%
The Sonnet
6.4%
The Laws of Physics Are Mere Suggestions, Vol. 1 Violate the Pauli exclusion principle.
6.5%
Oops
6.5%
There Can Be Only One Encode the psionic bits of someone's psyche onto the holographic boundary of your own psyche.
6.6%
Starry Demise Be crushed under the weight of a thousand suns.
6.9%
Mutagenic Mastery Advance a mutation to level 15.
7%
Metal Pedal
7.1%
Three-Sludge Monte Kill a trisludge.
7.3%
Oathbreaker
7.4%
Your Better Half
7.8%
Your Thirst Is Mine, My Water Is Yours Perform the introductory water ritual 100 times.
7.9%
What Are Directions on a Space That Cannot Be Ordered?
8%
Decoding the Signal
8%
The Comedy
8%
Mumblecore Learn a secret from the microbiome.
8.1%
Red Rock Hazing Ritual
8.4%
Shoot.
8.7%
Quiet This Metal Speak to the alchemist.
9%
Open Your Mind Have your head explode.
9.3%
Live and Ink Tattoo yourself.
9.5%
Free Falling
9.6%
Say No More
9.7%
So Powerful is the Charm of Words
10.1%
Dark Tidings Foresee your own death.
10.6%
You Are Becoming
11.5%
Six Arms None the Richer Have six arms.
11.5%
Synolymb
12.2%
More than a Willing Spirit Return from Golgotha with a repaired waydroid and gain admittance to Grit Gate.
12.6%
Proteus Have 10 mutations.
13.1%
Sight Older Than Sight
13.3%
That Was Nice
15%
A Bond Knit with Trust Become loved by a faction.
17%
What With the Disembowelment and All Find one of Argyve's old apprentices.
17%
Raisins in the Layer Cake Recover a relic from a historic site.
18%
Weirdwire Conduit.. Eureka! Help Argyve build the contraption.
22.3%
May the Ground Shake But the Six Day Stilt Never Tumble Travel to the Six Day Stilt.
24.9%
Waterpipe and Rest Smoke from a hookah.
24.9%
Litteratus
29.3%
What's Eating the Watervine? Complete the quest What's Eating the Watervine?
35.2%
Jawsnapper Kill 100 snapjaws.
38.6%
Welcome to Qud
69.2%

Share of Steam players who unlocked each achievement.

In the news

6 stories
Caves of Qud: Diaspora breaks new ground by being the first early access DLC release on Steam
5 outlets · Oct 16, 2026
Monumentally expansive roguelike Caves of Qud is getting even bigger in December with an early access expansion that lets you play as messed up dogs and trees
1 outlet · Oct 15, 2026
Caves of Qud announced for Switch 2
3 outlets · Oct 1, 2026
Lost in Cult announces physical Switch 2 versions of Caves of Qud and The Séance of Blake Manor
1 outlet · Sep 30, 2026
Qud-in-Doom mod has Caves of Qud running inside the original Doom
1 outlet · Aug 28, 2026
Games Like Rogue: The Best Turn-Based Roguelikes, From Caves of Qud to Tales of Maj’Eyal
1 outlet · Jul 16, 2026