Game-related ramblings.

Tag: Freehold Games

Another Expedition Into Qud

You may read my earlier posts about Caves of Qud here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I last wrote about Caves of Qud almost two years ago. But I’ve been following the weekly updates for this excellent far-future roguelike about scavenging ancient sci-fi technology the whole time. There have been some big ones. A whole new segment of the main storyline was added, centered on the Tomb of the Eaters, where the ancient rulers of Earth and the stars beyond are interred. A large swath of the southeastern jungle has been replaced by a vast lake, hosting a new area known as the Palladium Reef on its eastern edge. This even includes a new friendly settlement known as the Yd Freehold. Then there are some big mechanical changes: the option to ease up the punishing permadeath mechanics by playing in RPG mode, where the game is checkpointed at towns, or even Wander mode, where no experience points are awarded for combat and most factions start out neutral to the player.

All of that was tempting, but not quite enough to lure me back, since I knew that once I started playing it would devour my free time. No, what finally convinced me to dive in again was the announcement that the early game areas of Red Rock and the Rust Wells had finally been redesigned. Many new characters meet their deaths in these relatively uninteresting caves, meaning players may never see the much, much cooler stuff to come farther along the storyline. A redesign hopefully meant the early quests were brought up to par with the rest of the game. I decided to find out.

Once More Into The Caves Of Qud

Readers unfamiliar with Caves of Qud should read my earlier posts about it first, as this post doesn’t bother explaining what it is. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

It’s been nearly five years since I last played Caves of Qud. But I’ve been following its development, and always intended to return to see how things were progressing. Developers Freehold Games were kind enough to give me a free copy of the game in Early Access on Steam back then, but when I saw it had also released on GOG I decided to buy it there to support development (it’s now available on itch.io as well). I was still busy playing other things, however, and didn’t actually fire it up. Finally, the periodic patch notes convinced me to dive back in. Notes like:

–Being in the same cell with slippery liquids no longer causes chairs, beds, iron maidens, and psionic sarcophagi to malfunction.
–There should be fewer game-breaking problems when you dominate a creature and a spacetime vortex consumes your dormant body.
–Cooking with the gland paste of various bearded lizards no longer forcibly removes your beak if you have one.

I was overdue for another trip to Qud.

Roguelike Updates: Square Dancing On Stilts

Readers unfamiliar with roguelikes may wish to read my introduction to the genre, and possibly peruse some of my Roguelike Highlights posts. And maybe read about why we might want to start calling them deathcrawls instead. Also, as always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

I haven’t had as much time to play roguelikes as I’d (rogue) like, so this coverage of recent updates is far from comprehensive. But I have managed to follow the latest developments for Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Caves of Qud, and Approaching Infinity. Read on for some thoughts.

Roguelike Updates: Caves Of Qud Goes Commercial

Readers unfamiliar with roguelikes may wish to read my introduction to the genre, and possibly peruse some of my Roguelike Highlights posts. And maybe read about why we might want to start calling them deathcrawls instead. Also, as always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

Long-time readers will remember that I quite liked Caves of Qud when I played the original freeware release back in 2013. I also lamented that it hadn’t seen any updates in a while. Well, developers Freehold Games have resumed work on Caves of Qud, releasing it on Steam Early Access with regular updates. They also must remember that I enjoyed the freeware version, because they sent me a copy of the Early Access version for free. Sweet!

While there are a lot of updates, the core experience of the game is largely the same, so if you are unfamiliar, I direct you towards my earlier post about it, which describes what it is (a very-far-future roguelike about searching for ancient science-fiction technology) and why it’s great. Here I will focus on what’s new, and what I hope to see in the future.

Roguelike Highlights: Caves Of Qud

Readers who are unfamiliar with roguelikes may wish to read my introduction first. Also, please remember that you can click on all images for larger versions.

I first tried Caves of Qud many years ago, but I didn’t really get into it at the time. I saw it mentioned somewhere on the internet recently and decided to give it another go, and this time I really got sucked in. My posts have been late because I’ve been playing it instead. I can safely say it’s the most I’ve enjoyed a roguelike in a long time.

It’s tempting to describe Caves of Qud as a “post-apocalyptic sci-fi survival roguelike”, but that description doesn’t really do it justice. In most post-apocalyptic settings, the cataclysm is a fairly recent event, with survivors eking out an existance in the aftermath. In Caves of Qud, however, a thousand years or so have passed since mankind wielded its ancient, wondrous technological marvels and enjoyed dominion over the Earth. Various societies have risen since, but the jungles of Qud remain wild, inhabited by all manner of strange, mutated flora and fauna, and sheltering ancient treasures in the massive chrome caverns beneath the surface. Apparently drawing inspiration from the pen-and-paper role-playing game Gamma World (which I’d never heard of until now), Caves of Qud casts you as an adventurer seeking fame and fortune by exploring Qud and recovering these ancient relics.

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