Caves Of Qud, one of the most exciting development projects in PC gaming, hit 1.0 this week
This happened on Thursday, but we were busy with other, less interesting news. Late or not, I can't let it pass unremarked upon: Caves Of Qud, the vast, weird roguelike which has been in development for 17 years, hit version 1.0. It brings multiple endings to the game, a revised UI, improved tutorials and much more.
Caves Of Qud's 1.0 release has been polished up with some help from publisher Kitfox, known for - aside from their own games - working to bring Dwarf Fortress to Steam. Caves Of Qud has a complex, reactive, detailed world, but it's worth stating that it was never as obtuse in its menus or controls as its peer. To aid those who do want to jump onboard, Kitfox worked with YouTuber SBPlaysGames to produce an official beginner's tutorial.
Over on Steam, the developers answered the inevitable "what's next" question. After 17 years of work, they're going to take a break, they say. "After that, we plan to continue updating the game, with two big feature arcs already in mind. Whether those are free updates or paid DLC has yet to be determined."
I'm glad that they're still excited to work on new ideas for Caves Of Qud, but I do hope Freehold Games also turn their attention to a new game one day. It seems unlikely that we'll ever get to see that from Dwarf Fortress's developers, but I want to know what comes next from a team willing to work on such large projects.
We haven't had a proper appraisal of Caves Of Qud since Marsh skated across its mutant pond upon its arrival in Steam Early Access nine years ago. Now that Brendy is done with Indy's tombs, he's going to turn his attention to Qud's caves for a review before the end of the year.
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