One of Steam's Deepest RPGs is Currently Consuming My Life - Caves of Qud 

Now this is why I built my $4000 PC

COQ is so good, I love every inch of content the devs have slammed in me

Splattercat be like "this post apocalyptic survival strategy immersive sim is eating my ass"

I played Qud on hard-core mode for several months. I specialized in phasing out, ranged combat, evasion, regeneration and carried instant heal fruits. I died with full (138 hp) in essentially one round by getting stunned from a distance. I loved it, but I have EPTSD now.

After some 160 hours I am 100% convinced that this is the best PC game available. So many ways you can build your character, so many places to go, things to do, enemies and friends to meet. Man can't believe how immersive it can be by just looking at those simplistic graphics. After some time you will feel that the reduced pixel count of the characters helps to ignite your imagination. I started playing 2 Splat Qud-videos before and I can assure you that "consuming my life" (or my thoughts) is not an exaggeration.

I love this game. I have over 300 hours in it so far and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Sometimes I have a really interesting run and feel sad knowing I'll never be able to fully duplicate that experience, but that's part of the beauty of this game. Nobody will ever have the same experience as you; not even another version of you.

when that saw-hander came into view in melee range the phrase "ass pucker level 100" became true

Lots of fond memories of this game and I never even played it.

I've been playing this since it first popped on Steam. It's one of those games that just consumes my life for a few weeks, I give it a rest for a couple months, then pop back and there's a tonne of new content and it consumes my life again. The amount of content is truly wild. One of those games where you go "I wonder if I can do this" and the answer is usually yes. Probably my fav game of all time

Hey hey, people...

I know it aint your thing anymore but honestly I and I think a lot of us would go insane for a splat qud episodic

Beautiful game, in every respect. I currently am a photosynthetic scorpion centaur with 3 arms and a big axe. Can't wait to die horribly.

0:59 - Jason Grinblat: Am I a joke to you??

hell yeah dude thanks for covering Qud! Live and drink

If you start in Joppa, and walk around every map tile that is Joppa like, just the center tile, so when you drop down, just that one, the center one, not the additions. Auto explore that map, you should eventually find a corpse that is a pilot who crashed with some flying wings. They will be damaged, you'll need get them repaired, but they are a guaranteed drop of mechanical wings very early in the game. They are randomly placed at the start of the game in some center marsh tile. You can deal with diseases by getting a book from the mushroom city east of Joppa, that will handle the diseases in the game. One negative I have about the title, because there is nothing in the title that makes you go to that town before you go to the place where you are likely to contract a disease.

Bought this on your recommendation. I dropped your name in the review.

Watching you play Caves of Qud instantly brought a smile to my face. I am really hoping I'll be able to see you play on Twitch when the 1.0 comes out. Great to hear you help me on this game too. Need all the help I can get lol

thank you. always makes me so happy to see a Qud video

Just lost my fully cybernetic'd-out Truekin to petrification. Handy tip: enemies that telegraph attacks with a red line sometimes hit adjacent tiles to the red line. 😂 Edit: I'm so glad to hear you gush about Qud. So many people could pass this by if they didn't hear how good it is from someone they trust. If you're reading this, give it a shot!

I already love this game! There is a YT channel called GDC (Game development Convention) CAves of Qud Dev does a seminar on his game. Top notch interesting stuff IMO

Qud has been the Staple of my gaming, what it lacks in pixels it makes up for in depth.

I wish I had known this game in my childhood, I no longer have the patience or the time I had back then :(

I still remember your old video about it I love this game

My first character is named the "one armed axe maniac" I was new and went exploring before I got a very very important qol item, if you know you know. Early on I stumbled into a portal (2nd floor of the caves I learned) that teleported me down a large number of floors. Luckily I splurged on a large amount of ammo. It took me 10 hours to fight my way out of that hell hole but not without losing an arm. Specced into axes since that decapitation seemed so effective. I eventually replaced it with a powered arm but that took a while.

Live and drink Splat

There's just something about QUD that I can't explain it really is unique.

If this game remotely tickles your curiosity, check "Blind" channel and his Caves of Qud - Guided Lets Play. Its mesmerizing, and teaches you how to get your feet wet in this title. Blind is a wonderful person, that will show you how cool this game is, and why you always start by petting the cat.

This is also one of my favorite RPGs. Don't let the graphics fool you - the gameplay experience is DEEP.

I made the mistake of ignoring it the first time I saw a video from you on qud. I’ve since put 530 hours into it, so safe to say I’m sold. I love everything about this game

Do you want to become that Apache Helicopter you've always joked about? Well maybe, but you can get tank tred legs and machine gun arms, which is pretty close.

Developed not just by Brian Bucklew; but by Jason Grinblat as well, both of whom are founders of Freehold Games. By now, a dozen or so people have contributed to CoQ - listed on the Freehold site. As for flight: Argyve mentioned his last apprentice, Skref the disembowelled - You can come across some flattened remains...

I want a sandbox/handcrafted procedural crafting rpg that has more role playing then just combat. Like trading, exploring and more. I like when you can avoid fights like a shield that reflects and kills an enemy like the shield on Minecraft, hiring a body guard. Sneaking past enemies invisibility all kinds or stuff. Can you own a house and go on more quests then just fighting? Seems like this game has a lot of what I want.

I have put 1200+ hours into qud after your 1st recommendation video, however many years back that was

This game is on crack. This game is crack. This game is crack on crack. Also the best drawbacks are blinking tic and the one that makes spacial vortexes. Blinking tic gets you out of melee quickly by accident and the vortex one is basically more fun Russian Roulette with your psy powers.

I would not come close to the game because of the aesthetics, but seeing how you are so positive about the game, I'm gonna try it out !

splat hasn't mentioned it yet but the music is sooo good and atmospheric; the game is worth its price just for the vibe; download it and just listen to the menu music and tell me I'm wrong😂

Was wondering when you'd get to Qud. 1.0 is coming soon. My fav way of selling it is that you can spray consciousness onto wall and give it sentience and then befriend it as a battle brother. What wall you say? Whichever one you want. Feel free to cook up nanomachine infused bananas that give you the ability to watch the history of any object and learn out to craft it. Whichever you do have fun making your way to the orbital elevator.

I've fallin 50+ hours inside of two weeks in love with this game at least 4 times now, and since the molting update, this love session is going much deeper than 50. Now I'm on the way to that 1000H mark. So good. So different every time. BUT, one word of advice. If you want to enjoy the 'main quest line' at any point before the 100-500 hour mark, do yourself a favor and dont be a hero, and just play RP mode. This game is SO unforgiving. My heart dashed almost every night upon the rocks of permadeth for about 200 hours before I caved. Don't be like me. 😅

I love the idea of this game but I struggle getting started. I start in the Jabba place, get a quest to go to a cave and... then I'm stuck. What do I need to bring before I leave the town, how do you combat? How do you travel on the map? I feel like once I got a handle on it, I'd love it but it's that initial start that is kind of hell.

I poured almost 300 into hours in this game a year ago, and went through maybe almost 50 single-life (ironman) characters... It's definitely the best roguelike I ever played. Not only that, but the fact there's a non-ironman mode now that saves your game each time you visit a town makes it even better. I still play ironman though haha. It's amazing, and I haven't even beaten it yet. Watching this makes me want to get into it again, it already feels nostalgic. I also absolutely love how the game is half randomized, and half static. For instance, almost each major locations do change in each playthrough, but everything else, down to the layouts, differ a lot.

I'm just going to go ahead and urge you to make as many caves of cut videos as you can. Thanks for covering it as much as you have, people really deserve to know. I cant even really remember how long I've been playing it... I got it shortly after it was initially released for free atound a decade ago or nore now...that we're finally at 1.0 is pure insanity. My favorite character ever made was an amnesiac with a random teleportation, precognition, an evil twin, and temporal vortex... Wild times, indeed. It took a day just to get all the points trimmed just right ai it was perfectly minmaxed.

It hooked Splatt and left him speachlees, surprised and blown his socks off 😂

I played it a few years ago and was utterly fascinated by the scope of this game. Definitely worth the challenge to try and figure it out again when 1.0 drops. Glad you covered this one again.

This game’s OST is beautiful

Understood … B-line to the Rainbow Forest.

Dude, Cat, you are a master in articulation of features and mechanics and how they make you feel. thanks for this review, and thanks for supporting such a humble game.

This game is a whole vibe! I've had this game for over a year and I've only started getting into recently, but it's always reminded me of two things: Adventure Time and Book of the New Sun!

If anyone hasnt played this - Splatter is right. this game is absolutely phenomenal. There just isnt a comparison out there on the market that can match this game's flow.

I can't see a Caves of Qud video without thinking of Sseth's vid on it lol

BRUH I just finished watching your recent video of caves of qud just because I liked how you played it ONLY TO HAVE YOU POST A NEW VIDEO ABOUT IT?! uncanny

Loved this so much. I'm waiting for the final release before jumping in again. I do wish it was more possible to play high DV low AV builds into the end game, that is really my only complaint. Really a glorious mashup of Gamma World / Morrowind / Kabbalah mysticism / psychedelic mushrooms.

Yeah my favorite roguelike rpg of all time quickly became my favorite game of all time. This game is incredible.

Exciting times. Bought this game in 2019 or 2020. Hyped to see it come together.

there is always mechanical wings on the flattened remains in the marshes. just gotta find em

It's interesting how differently different people approach CoQ. I've never prioritized flight...

This game consumed over 700 hours of my time in the first 4 months of playing it, it made me lose a job, lost social skills and distanced from a couple friends, 10/10 would repeat (the worst part is that its no bs, i did lose the job i was in for 2 yrs already, and caused me to stop seeing my friends)

Splatter, if you see this, do you have a series where you run through some of this game? Where you can show more in depth of how a run works? What are the purpose of the white squares that randomly start flowing everywhere and it usually has some numbers that pop up? I keep thinking it was like an explosion that hurt you or something. The graphics really do turn me off... even something a little more spritey would be great, but I also fucking love games with next to no boundaries.

thank you for promoting my favourite indie of all times. its insane how its getting better and better. now for steam deck? sure. play with a controller? got it.

I've been obsessed with this game since 2015 and I'm so glad to see it getting more love again!!!!

In my opinion this is the best game of all time :)

Oh this reminds me so much of the original Rogue. Childhood memories.

The Burrowing Claws mutation is something I always take when making a mutant.

this is a reimagining of a game of the same name from back in the....oh i think the 90s? but still holds strong today! great video!

Caves of Qud stole my attention from other games, now im playing only CoQ. Some situations I've made in game drastically funny. And I really like new sound design.

My Qud Story: Keep dying. Get mad. Become the monster. Four arms. Four legs. Spidermutant. Eat all meat. Focus on DV. Slowly progressing. Pick Double muscle over Precog because I picked classic mode for a reason. Find out how dangerous Frozen is. Prepare. Learn to manipulate faction rep. Keep finishing quests. Becoming an untouchable blender. Holographic bracelet is beyond powerful. Blood is best fuel. Saps are trauma. Find a chrome pyramid. Actually 1k rounds to kill it. Luck into 20 elec manipulation on artifacts. Learn about infinity penetration. Two swords two daggers two pistols. Learn about Moon Stair enemies like Star Kraken because a historic site is full of them. IDK why I keep surviving but also now the enemies are all "polymorphine" level nightmares too.

Took a long break from Caves of Qud, this got me back into it seeing all the updates! Next thing you know I'm gonna be back on dwarf fortress....

OH, I love Qud so much....my god I have to do some runs, it has been so long!

I have over 1000 hours in CoQ and I still see new things all the time. Definitely one of the best open world RPGs of all time.

This is legitimately my favorite game

I just wish my items and mutations would appear on my character but I dunno if that’s even possible.

i didnt even know the like count changes in real time lmao.

Alright bro. Now you have convinced me, I am gonna give it a whirl! It is steam deck verified!

If splat says it's a must buy, then that's what it is.

Reminds me of a graphical MUD called Wyvern that was popular in the late 90s and early 2000s.

How perfectly timely. I’ve picked up Qud again recently after a bit of break. Been playing so much. Especially love the controller support (which I thought was impossible for something like Qud) which makes it a perfect steam link game on the iPad. I completely agree with all your praise!!

"80's inspired future mutant freak wo..." uh, what he^ said. I have always been a huge fan of Nethack -- the game about which the term "roguelike" was first coined. Qud is far and away the greatest traditional roguelike. When people ask "What kind of game is a traditional roguelike?" this is what you point them to. You say "this", and then you point at it. If you like this game, you probably like trad RLs. if you like trad RLs, you probably like this game.

Reminds me of Ultima 1 2 and 3 which was young and lived in my room on my Amiga 1600

Reminds me the days of multi-user dungeons in the 90s.

literally my favorite game of all time looking forward to that 1.0 later this year

Oh noes he played it again

Just bought it on the summer sale. Been waiting for a while. Have no idea what I am doing. Need this video and about 100 more.

BTW if you are looking for wings, just go find Argyve's former apprentice's flattened remains in the center parasang of a salt marsh territory.

Live and drink! I love roguelikes.

Alright, I'm sold. I mean, I probably would have bought it eventually anyways - it's very much my jam - but the sheer passion in your monologue here definitely pushed it up my list.

… “It is an underground flying whale that belches out urchins that release sleep gas.” Is such a CoQ sentence. It’s got that Gamma World energy. >)X^D

This is my favorite game world. It is just wonderfully bizarre.

This RL and Cogmind are the best "newer" RL games up to date! Masterpieces In all senses IMO.

Caves of Qud is probably my most played (hours) single player game. It helped me a LOT through the boring times of corona and the social shutdown. I really can not recommend this game enough. Also RIP my phasing char because of the "Violate the Pauli exclusion principle". 10/10 would go into the wall again.

My desert island game. Works great on Steam Deck for those who may be wondering if that works.

I've had my eye on this for a while, but I'm really not sure what to make of it. Thanks this was helpful.

I bought it, i tried it, but the graphics just get in the way, they are below bare minimum in my opinion. I envy those who can look past that.

😂 Love how you describe the freedom of game play by telling us how we can take away the free will of a boss lol. Great video!

Your thirst is mine, my water is yours

Appreciate you and your work! Thank you for the upload. I love this game and I’ve been following it ever since you first covered it back in the day. What a treat!

"best game ever" I have no idea what I'm looking at

Reminds me of CDDA! Is it just as complex? How are the controls like, I had to spend an entire day shifting key bindings in CDDA.

Wow. Since i bought Sproggiwood i am a financier of this game?

I have been slamming this game for the last week now, after having ignored it for a solid decade. I think of nothing else. Live and drink, friends.

Who needs high res textures when you have a blooming fantasy .. I played the original Nethack quite a while, but it is not 1984 anymore.. sometimes I really dig the lofi retro style but with current technology I wonder if a hint more texture would be such a big task.

This kinda reminds me of the old gamma world setting. It was a fun game but had a weird combat chart, which has nothing to do with this game =)