My third playthough of Caves of Qud I threw a potion of animation at a door I couldn't open, just to get it out of the way. Turns out the newly sentient door was now my friend and then proceeded to ABSOLUTELY STOMP every other creature in the dungeon. Live and Drink, Waterbrother!
I have over 700 hours in this game. What the hell is an "animation potion"?! Did you mean to say you applied 'spray-a-brain' from a maximum distance of 1 tile?
Also, it's pretty awesome just reading the weekly patch notes. "Boulders are now less flammable." "Fixed bugs that prevented NPCs from equipping phylacteries and pickaxes." "Creatures who are lost can no longer give directions to other creatures who are lost." "Fixed a bug that made initial cryokinesis field deployment use colors appropriate to pyrokinesis." "Gave fire ant queens wings."
@@snakeofminthumbugs330 Roguelike players are another breed of humans, lol. I worked on an indie game similar to this, and the bugfixes and patch notes I did were all kinds of insane. Discord players would report most of the bugs, or we'd find them while adding new features and testing the game.
A tip for new players: this game is one of those that is highly cheese-able but the cheese is the kind that doesn't feel so much like you're breaking the game or exploiting poor balance, it feels more like you've cracked the code and you can see through the matrix. When you're just getting your footing in the game don't be afraid to lean hard into whatever cheesey loops you might find, you can always experiment with more generalized, balance-focused builds later with your next character after this one dies, which it will, I promise.
Also: The more you cheese it, the more the universe will actively seek to snuff you out so even if you get OP you will still be hounded by enemies even stronger.
Seems like the devs create these interactions to be exploited and so far I haven't really found a true, "cheese" build. Just builds that aren't fun, like duping cloning draught, but even the more OP builds hit a wall where the game tends to balance itself. For example the water kin/proselytize/beguile ego build works great... 'til you learn your glimmer assassin minion knows temporal fugue and starts casting burgeon 5x the second they see a snap jaw, or your beguiled troll friend from Bethesda Susa starts budding troll-lings which become hostile to the player when you navigate from one screen to another. My point is I've never, "finished" the game and eventually all characters were killed, some spectacularly, but most by something like being beaned in the head by a rock thrown by a baboon.
One I discovered is that Magma Crabs are a horrendous nuclear weapon; become one permanently, and carry blaze injectors. Overdose on blaze. Your temperature is now hot enough for quite a long time that anything near you instantly evaporates. How it works: Blaze overdose sets your body temperature to . The Magma Crab's ignition temperature is very very very high, so high in fact that it's above the maximum body temperature. Your body temperature is set to the maximum temperature, which is like 6 million. You radiate that heat every tick, and pretty much everything other than Magma Crabs has an evaporation temperature (read: cease to exist temp) far far lower. You can literally just OD on blaze, and every turn for a few minutes everything within like 3 tiles of you ceases to exist. (this was discovered more than a year ago maybe it's changed)
One of my first characters wound up being an 8-armed monk with hydrokinesis. If i couldn't chain-stun something to death, I'd drown it then chain-stun it to death ;D
The thing I like about Caves of Qud is despite having a minimal visual style it's FAAAR more approachable, streamlined, & optimized than Dwarf Fortress. It's the only old school rougelike (i.e. minimal graphics, permadeath, procedurally generated environments, etc.) I've sunk more than 100 hours into. No requirement to peruse the game wiki for hours to get started here - pretty much anyone can pick it up, play, & have fun almost immediately.
Agreed. I think it's a little more approachable than Cataclysm DDA, too. It's a complicated game and it's merciless, but the menu system is a lot more forgiving than similar games I've played.
Caves of Qud is one of those games that I look at and kind of marvel at the fact that it has managed to exist and continue existing long enough to get to the point it's at in today's gaming ecosystem. It's the sort of game that required a lot of faith from both the developers and prospective players to invest time and money into, especially because the scope and scale of what it promised was so very large. Faith is not something there's a lot of in modern gaming, for good reason what with all the big name studios and publishers rolling out blatantly unfinished titles and having the gall to weave microtransactions into games we already payed upfront for at such a foundational level that removing those monetization systems would require a rework of the entire game. This one was worth placing faith in, though, and I'm glad I bought it all those years ago, because watching it grow and mature into the game it has become has been a fascinating experience, and I'm so glad it has made it to where it is now.
Its so interesting for me as someone on the outside who doesn't typically play these games. I can see why people like it though, because its just so fucking crazy and huge, and people love the game despite the weird, cursed nature of the dev of the game.
@@mrjtfang2 It's interesting really, I bought the game years ago on a whim purely because it looked cool on the store page, and at that time I had little experience or interest in the majority of the traditional roguelike/rpg genre but got the game nonetheless. I played it for a while and enjoyed it, I was very impressed with the scope of the game and the sheer variety of experiences to be found within and the huge amount of agency it allows the player even in those relatively early days when the game was much smaller and less polished than it is now. Nonetheless, as always happens eventually, I ended up putting the game down for several years, though I did regularly check in on the progress it was making. Several years went by, it was around this time last year that I got really into the traditional roguelike/rpg scene, and by playing a number of other similar games I learned a lot about the history of roguelikes and what makes a good one good. This led me to a realization that was almost disappointing: while there are others that have a similar scope and scale and player agency/build diversity are staples of the genre, there really are no other games like Caves of Qud. It's a very unique blend of thematic and gameplay elements, and after realizing this my appreciation for it has only grown more. All of this is to say, I've owned this game so long (and during a period of my life where I was a young person and so my preferences in games and other media have developed over time) that I've managed to experience approaching the game as both someone who is on the outside of the traditional roguelike scene and later as someone with a lot more comprehensive knowledge and experience on that topic, so I feel positioned to say that Caves of Qud, with how vast and varied it is, is kind of like a partner/spouse/significant other - the relationship starts out good already, but with time, age, and most of all familiarity it gets drastically better.
If you've watched Splatt's videos over the years, this is one he often mentions in revered tones. Even before this, he often uses it as an example of these kinds of games done right. I haven't played the game yet, but I know I will at some point.
He is constantly referencing CoQ as an icon, yet also an iconoclast, in a world of high-budget, AAA bullshit. I've never once heard him bad mouth CoQ. And so far not one of the games he's recommended has let me down.
You know I'ma be honest, when I look up all these indie games to see if I want them, it drives me absolutely insane that so many people on youtube are doing jump cuts, zoom ins, throwing overlays, like I JUST WANNA SEE THE GAME. Thank you splattercat for always making my decision to buy a game or not so much easier
Splat in my entire career in the sales industry I've never heard anyone pitch anything so perfectly as you did this game in the opening of this video. That was sell me this pen Wolf of Wallstreet sell me this pen level of identifying a need, communicating a solution, and your tonality captured my attention so well that I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and started writing this.
I have yet to find a game that Sseth has reviewed that I haven't already fallen in love with or found to be enjoyable. Except for the lizard vore game. I can only handle so much schizo.
Fun Fact: when Sseth reviewed this game, he mentioned that the devs got assmad that he suggested they implement Templar starts and that he made fun of their deviantart oc, QGirl. He had nothing but praise for the game, saying it's one of his favorites, but they ended up banning him from their discord and accusing half of their new customers, Sseth included, on being cryptofascists. Sseth is literally an Asheknazi jew with a pharmaceuticals degree who shitposts on the internet.
I started playing this game a week ago after getting comfortable with traditional roguelikes through Path of Achra. Man, Caves of Qud is probably, no joke and I mean it that way, the best gaming experience I ever had. The random generation is so good in this game. Every plathrough feels different even with the same charackter. Random stuff that surpises you happens all the time. That creates a real adventure atmosphere and you never know what you will encounter around the next corner. And there is so much depth. Only played melee charackters for now but I found already so many ways to play them. If you would like to delve into this game but are scared because of the difficulty let me tell you that it is a hard game, but it is more accessible than you think. You may won't come far for a long time but you will have the time of your life if you like RPGs like I do. And the biggest surprise for me was how atmospheric this game is. The Soundtrack is top notch and the world building and lore really is on par with fallout 1+2 but it is portrayed a bit differently. If you love to explore vast and interesting open worlds and you are interested in random generation this is the game for you.
I've missed your patter and ESPECIALLY missed your Caves of Qud gameplay! Been a while since I've been a regular at the castle, but I'm so glad to be back. Thanks for narrating this crazy game for us!
Really glad you came back to this. Caves of Qud was one of the first videos of you're I watched maybe 8 years ago. I got a steam account just to try it out. And you're right, it really is a special game. Thanks for the nostalgia and I hope a few others will try the game out too
I had to check at first at the start of the video as I thought that I was on a different stream, because I wasn’t sure if I was in the nerd castle. Has to be the first time that Splat hasn’t said “What’s up guys and gals welcome back to the nerd castle”.
indeed. they decide to combine the procedural generation and world development and open RPG aspects of both those games... the bar for rpg's are going to just get destroyed.
RIGHT?! Crazy combo, I would have figured those kind of devs could never compromise their vision and work together like that.. glad to know I'm wrong 😂
What a rousing rendition for an amazing game. Sounded like a completely different Splatt at the beginning of the video, and I loved every second. Apparently I've got 410 hours on this game so far, and I completely agree with your assessment. It's a masterpiece
Fun fact about glowspheres... they are not a mysterious artifact of a prior era. Instead these are the useful litter box scrapings of the humble glowcat. You'll always find some in the inventory of any glowcat farmer. Live and drink.
My shameful admission is that I've been playing a lot more Qud lately than I have DF. I do really appreciate the relatively new "save at villages" mode so that I don't have to start completely over in the rust pits every time I'm brutally slain by some new horrifying foe. I've taken the Wardens Esther to the Spindle, saved the Barathrumites, murdered the Barathrumites, cured glotrot wit the Flaming Ick, found the Ruin of House Isner, pawned the Ruin of House Isner to a Dromad Merchant, been stoned to death by apes, been an ape, cooked neutron flux, and generally had an amazing time in this twiested twisted world. Live and Drink Friend. And may you remain ever rustless. (Steam claims I'm now over 500 hours in Qud...)
@@BockwinkleB of fucking snap!!! you must be ancient !!!! I'm not worthy.. im not worthy.. .. yea man Ultima III, and Bards Tale for me.. I can't even remember Ultima lol.. Oh yea playted alot of Kings Quest and Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry lol
WIth the possible exception of Nethack 3, Qud is the greatest 'true roguelike' that has ever existed. Every year or so i spend a couple of months obsessed with it. If you kite the irritated tortoises, they're much easier to kill. They get a +3 defensive bonus when they haven't moved in the last turn. So step away, let it come to you and whack it. Then step away again.
It's funny because I was trying to remember who you were but also this game and when I found out the game and searched it, it brought me back to YOU. 😂 HOPEFULLY can get your videos back into my daily rotation now.
You don't "play" Qud. You visit. It's my favorite game of all time. I passed on this game for a long time because of the "graphics," and I couldn't have been more fucking wrong in my entire life. After I played it for a few hours, I realized that I'd been missing out on one of the best gaming experiences for way, way too long. I no longer give a shit about graphics in games. If the game's good, the game's good. Fighting off your own evil clone who's capable of spawning more clones who also clone themselves, and then stealing his body _mid-combat_ and _killing your old body_ while you live on _Scanners_-style is still unreal to me. Love, love, love this game.
My favorite moment was playing a 20+ hour character that I got to level 30+. I was scouring the underground for hidden ruins in search of cybernetics, or at least credits to install the cybernetics I already had or books to turn in for experience up at the Stilt. I came upon a salt kraken, noting that the hulking beast excreted scrap that I could scavenge for parts to make into weapons and ammo. I got a little to overzealous in searching through its excrement that I ended up on the wrong side of the salt kraken, who promptly ate me and the ground beneath me as he moved on with his day. My character survived getting trapped by magma slimes while being pelted with guns from desert bandits. From diseases that would make even the most brave of men tremble and quiver. From unspeakable horrors the likes of which would not be believed by those who have not traversed through the world of Qud. Only to end up in some beasts excrement without even putting up a fight.
Yeah, and it's the same template as the first voiced trailer years ago. All you have to do is list some of the cool stuff you did and you've got a compelling pitch.
I absolutely love CoQ! I have lived out many generations of fathers sons & daughters within the worlds of Qud. Each child taking the best attributes of their parents into the new world that is before them. And I have not even scratched the surface.
I love this game. I have played it every few months since 2015 and discover new things every run. I have to say, I play RPG mode almost exclusively, and have never looked back. There's a lot of what folks will call, "artificial difficulty" as a rogue like, because a single mistake will often result in your death, slow or immediate. As a rogue that can be frustrating but if that decision only sets you back a few steps, it stings less and becomes part of a learning experience. Plus the majority of the game's content lies beyond the 10 hour mark of a run. My recommendation is to play the campfire saving mod or at the very least RPG mode if you're new to Qud.
It was no surprise at all to learn Kitfox picked this one up. If there is ANY game that has the legacy and quality of improvement for many, MANY years that Dwarf Fortress does, it's Caves of Qud. Think more sci-fi/fantasy adventure and less fortress building. I LOVE this game. The story generation and unique adventure crafting is second to NONE. I'm only at 44 hours in but I know this title will get better and better and better for MANY years to come.
Sometimes this game makes you feel like sci fi conan the barbarian. Ambushed by 50 or so snapjaws in a narrow canyon, Nimjasakha Oli-Omonur stood her ground armed only with a knife and a combination of Psionic barriers and hand made acid grenades turned the whole army of snapjaws to fresh meat. Then their leader, a legendary warlord appeared and we fought a brutal and bloody battle on the butcher corpses of his fellows. After a long back and forth, he lobbed off my left arm, but i finally got his heart with the knife in my right. After flopping to the ground for a quick breather, i stuck my arm with a salve that regenerated my arm, and my adventure coninued
Today i reached 1200 hours in this game. This game Changed me deeply i have made Art about it, made mods for it. It havent been a Day since i first played it. That i didnt thought about this game,imagined myself on it. I love to see Artwork people made about this game. Just like the gameitself all of them are very unique even if they are about the same thing. Everyone have its own way to interpretate the descriptions and sprites in their own way. This game is trully a Masterpiece and im happy that is getting more recognition now.
This reminds me of my days in Moria, Boss, and Omega. *Thousands* of hours were spent in those games, usually at night when my mother thought I was sleeping... thus my exemplary grades in school...
I've never even heard of Caves of Qud, but I played the original Rogue and NetHack (and various ASCII/sprite forks). This was a fascinating bit of gaming history and anthropology!
Played Nethack with Vulture's Eye graphics. I think it is still the best dungeon crawler RPG ever. What you can do, the NPCs can do, what items you can use, they can use, you drop an item, they can pick it up. Helluva challenging.
First several moves: steal from the chests in Joppa (close the doors, make sure no one sees you), get the quest from Mehmet, do the water ritual with Mehmet and Irudad and learn harvestry, buy lead slugs and a rifle from Tam, give two artifacts to the artificer and loot his chests, take one chest into your inventory and put any yuckwheat into it (so when you get confused or eat witchwood you can find it and eat it to cure confusion), then head to the salt desert and hug the edges of the map tiles, avoiding dawn gliders, until you kill enough Issachari Raiders to level a couple times and pick up a desert rifle. No matter your build this strategy is the ideal Joppa start IMO
This game is very pretty. It’s obviously designed that way and I love it. Color choice is also very good. You can easily tell there’s someone with artistic taste and talent behind it.
Yeah, with so few pixels and colors per sprite they still manage to create incredibly evocative artwork of creatures and locations and items. Plus I feel like the lack of detail works in the game's favor because the wonderful descriptive text would be very tough to accurately portray with higher fidelity sprites, so the lofi ones let you fill in the blanks with your imagination.
Caves of Qud is one of the best games ever made in my opinion. To anyone who is on the fence about it, if you like RPG’s or roguelikes, you will like this game. It does not have to be permadeath if you don’t like that aspect of roguelikes. This game has been an obsession of mine for the last year or so and it just keeps getting better. They just released the beta for the new update too and the visuals keep getting better with more quests too. To give a little window into what you can expect: you can play as a wizard type character called an “esper” and the game becomes completely different from other builds. Normal enemies become pathetic compared to your power. You are no longer facing scary dungeons or boss battles. Instead, now you are playing a game of cat and mouse - being chased by extradimensional psychic assassins that will show up at inopportune times and give you the fights of your life. This game allows you to really break it wide open if you experiment a bit, and I think that’s what makes it so fun for so long.
Just to clarify , Kitfox games did not create Dwarf Fortress, they just publish it, and managed to make the Adams brothers loaded in the process (well deserved after 20+ years of developing DF in near poverty).. They seem to be decent people who have let DF flourish under their new arangement, so I strongly suspect they'll be good to Qud's creators.
@@Ninja40K C:DDA has come a long way recentlyin terms of becoming way more user friendly. Catapult launcher's been the best version so far for all the included mods and scenarios.
Seems like almost every time I open Steam that there's an update for this game. It really is a labour of love: "a Domino factum est istud et est mirabile in oculis nostris".
After a long break from playing Caves of Qud, I also came back this year. It's been very awesome and one of my favorite items I've found recently was the tattoo gun. I've started to tattoo every part of my body.
i have 200 hours in cod and was playing one day and was told by an on-looker that the game looked easy and dumb. I started them up a new character and let them play. they walked south from joppa. i seen an aligator and surely thought well this is gonna be the end of their run...they didnt even notice it lol seconds later they find a stairway and climb down it and walk right next to a slumberling.....game over. they died with 0 exp points earned. i was so proud of caves of qud.
It's nowhere near as deep or as heavy in lore as Qud, but Infra Arcana is another great passion project rogue-like with a Call of Cthulhu/cosmic horror theme and it's free. I'd love to see even a short video from Splatty on it, give the guy some love. Good to sink some time into when 5 or 10 free minutes are available.
Roguelikes are just amazing, aren't they? Thanks for sharing your passion. I think you'd love Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup too, it really refined the single sprawling dungeon style down to an artform, and it has a crazy variety of races, classes and gods. I think Caves of Qud graphics are great BTW, they're abstract enough to let your imagination fill in the blanks, but at the same time are full of small details that add atmosphere, like the flickering lanterns.
I just watched a caves of Qud video where the guy went through this long convoluted process to become a door. Yes, he was able to transform himself into a door and play the game as a door.
Hey splat, I would Love to see you do another video on song of syx. I think its had many updates since your last playthrough and I would love to know what its like before I sink many hours in trying to learn it myself
Just came back to say after watching this vid and researching a bit I contemplated for 1-2 days to buy it. Then a weekend sale of 10% hit which was the sign. I had more than 40 hours since which might not sound much but with having a toddler it is. I had to buy Shattered Pixel Dungeon for my phone to ease the Qud-itching I got while I can't sit at my computer. Thanks! :D
I wanted to point out that in the first 2 minutes of the video you said they are under the same roof as the creators of dwarf fortress. I want to point out that Kitfox games is a publishing company, they are not bay 12 games (the company that made dwarf fortress). Kitfox games is its own entity. Both Caves of qud and dwarf fortress is being published BY kitfox games... hope this clears up any confusion. Have a great day!
Never have I felt so overpowered but still so very terrified. You get to break this game over and over and every time you do, there's some new and even greater bullshit that gets you. 10/10.
My third playthough of Caves of Qud I threw a potion of animation at a door I couldn't open, just to get it out of the way.
Turns out the newly sentient door was now my friend and then proceeded to ABSOLUTELY STOMP every other creature in the dungeon.
Live and Drink, Waterbrother!
That's so awesome
I have over 700 hours in this game. What the hell is an "animation potion"?! Did you mean to say you applied 'spray-a-brain' from a maximum distance of 1 tile?
He is friend now.
I animated a block of shale and got blindsided by a mimic who also looked like shale
I thought he was my friend 😭
I destroyed a concrete wall, i lost a concrete friend
Also, it's pretty awesome just reading the weekly patch notes. "Boulders are now less flammable." "Fixed bugs that prevented NPCs from equipping phylacteries and pickaxes." "Creatures who are lost can no longer give directions to other creatures who are lost." "Fixed a bug that made initial cryokinesis field deployment use colors appropriate to pyrokinesis." "Gave fire ant queens wings."
Yes, you begin to wonder how those bugs even existed, the notes for a small bug fix are huge.
It's nice to see exactly what the changes are though.
@@snakeofminthumbugs330 Roguelike players are another breed of humans, lol. I worked on an indie game similar to this, and the bugfixes and patch notes I did were all kinds of insane. Discord players would report most of the bugs, or we'd find them while adding new features and testing the game.
The one about lost creatures hahahahha
@@noctisocculta4820What's the game called?
It's like The Sims patch notes but more unhinged.
A tip for new players: this game is one of those that is highly cheese-able but the cheese is the kind that doesn't feel so much like you're breaking the game or exploiting poor balance, it feels more like you've cracked the code and you can see through the matrix. When you're just getting your footing in the game don't be afraid to lean hard into whatever cheesey loops you might find, you can always experiment with more generalized, balance-focused builds later with your next character after this one dies, which it will, I promise.
Also: The more you cheese it, the more the universe will actively seek to snuff you out so even if you get OP you will still be hounded by enemies even stronger.
Seems like the devs create these interactions to be exploited and so far I haven't really found a true, "cheese" build. Just builds that aren't fun, like duping cloning draught, but even the more OP builds hit a wall where the game tends to balance itself. For example the water kin/proselytize/beguile ego build works great... 'til you learn your glimmer assassin minion knows temporal fugue and starts casting burgeon 5x the second they see a snap jaw, or your beguiled troll friend from Bethesda Susa starts budding troll-lings which become hostile to the player when you navigate from one screen to another. My point is I've never, "finished" the game and eventually all characters were killed, some spectacularly, but most by something like being beaned in the head by a rock thrown by a baboon.
One I discovered is that Magma Crabs are a horrendous nuclear weapon; become one permanently, and carry blaze injectors.
Overdose on blaze.
Your temperature is now hot enough for quite a long time that anything near you instantly evaporates.
How it works: Blaze overdose sets your body temperature to . The Magma Crab's ignition temperature is very very very high, so high in fact that it's above the maximum body temperature. Your body temperature is set to the maximum temperature, which is like 6 million. You radiate that heat every tick, and pretty much everything other than Magma Crabs has an evaporation temperature (read: cease to exist temp) far far lower.
You can literally just OD on blaze, and every turn for a few minutes everything within like 3 tiles of you ceases to exist. (this was discovered more than a year ago maybe it's changed)
One of my first characters wound up being an 8-armed monk with hydrokinesis. If i couldn't chain-stun something to death, I'd drown it then chain-stun it to death ;D
@@lololllololololol The hell is hydrokinesis?
For any technically minded there's an excellent talk by the devs at GDC how the generation algorithms in this game work.
Yup.
Could you, please, tl;dr it?
@@radosawbugalski8370tl;dr, gdc is a conference for game developers where they talk about the development of their games
They didn't sign with the creators of DF, Bay 12, they signed with the same publisher, Kitfox Games. Kitfox is building an awesome portfolio.
damn, the troons got another one
@@mrossknesad
Qud is pure atmosphere. I love how they managed to create such a believable world that seems so damn alien.
@@Cenot4ph Early 90's? Dude, this is 70's gaming.
@@Cenot4ph -and, apparently, 2020's as well.
@@Cenot4ph looks like you have never been with books tho
unkillable furry gf oc lol
The thing I like about Caves of Qud is despite having a minimal visual style it's FAAAR more approachable, streamlined, & optimized than Dwarf Fortress. It's the only old school rougelike (i.e. minimal graphics, permadeath, procedurally generated environments, etc.) I've sunk more than 100 hours into. No requirement to peruse the game wiki for hours to get started here - pretty much anyone can pick it up, play, & have fun almost immediately.
Agreed. I think it's a little more approachable than Cataclysm DDA, too. It's a complicated game and it's merciless, but the menu system is a lot more forgiving than similar games I've played.
Ah yes, an old school redlike.
@@jayroi1814 We call them redcomme games here. Sounds almost like redcommie, if you want my opinion.
kek @@Steak818
@kareningram6093 i mean cataclysm bn isnt that bad. The tileset for cata is way easier to read
I bought this game damn near 10 years ago. And let me tell you…
It’s a legit desert island game.
This is the only game u would need if u were stranded on a desert island ? Is that what u mean ?
Caves of Qud is one of those games that I look at and kind of marvel at the fact that it has managed to exist and continue existing long enough to get to the point it's at in today's gaming ecosystem. It's the sort of game that required a lot of faith from both the developers and prospective players to invest time and money into, especially because the scope and scale of what it promised was so very large. Faith is not something there's a lot of in modern gaming, for good reason what with all the big name studios and publishers rolling out blatantly unfinished titles and having the gall to weave microtransactions into games we already payed upfront for at such a foundational level that removing those monetization systems would require a rework of the entire game. This one was worth placing faith in, though, and I'm glad I bought it all those years ago, because watching it grow and mature into the game it has become has been a fascinating experience, and I'm so glad it has made it to where it is now.
Its so interesting for me as someone on the outside who doesn't typically play these games. I can see why people like it though, because its just so fucking crazy and huge, and people love the game despite the weird, cursed nature of the dev of the game.
@@mrjtfang2 It's interesting really, I bought the game years ago on a whim purely because it looked cool on the store page, and at that time I had little experience or interest in the majority of the traditional roguelike/rpg genre but got the game nonetheless. I played it for a while and enjoyed it, I was very impressed with the scope of the game and the sheer variety of experiences to be found within and the huge amount of agency it allows the player even in those relatively early days when the game was much smaller and less polished than it is now. Nonetheless, as always happens eventually, I ended up putting the game down for several years, though I did regularly check in on the progress it was making. Several years went by, it was around this time last year that I got really into the traditional roguelike/rpg scene, and by playing a number of other similar games I learned a lot about the history of roguelikes and what makes a good one good. This led me to a realization that was almost disappointing: while there are others that have a similar scope and scale and player agency/build diversity are staples of the genre, there really are no other games like Caves of Qud. It's a very unique blend of thematic and gameplay elements, and after realizing this my appreciation for it has only grown more.
All of this is to say, I've owned this game so long (and during a period of my life where I was a young person and so my preferences in games and other media have developed over time) that I've managed to experience approaching the game as both someone who is on the outside of the traditional roguelike scene and later as someone with a lot more comprehensive knowledge and experience on that topic, so I feel positioned to say that Caves of Qud, with how vast and varied it is, is kind of like a partner/spouse/significant other - the relationship starts out good already, but with time, age, and most of all familiarity it gets drastically better.
After watching your vids for years now.. I just realized how amazing you would do reading lore vids with that intro! Damn Splat you gifted
If you've watched Splatt's videos over the years, this is one he often mentions in revered tones. Even before this, he often uses it as an example of these kinds of games done right. I haven't played the game yet, but I know I will at some point.
He is constantly referencing CoQ as an icon, yet also an iconoclast, in a world of high-budget, AAA bullshit. I've never once heard him bad mouth CoQ. And so far not one of the games he's recommended has let me down.
This may be the best introduction to this game so far.
I love how formal and intellectual this game made you narrate.
You know I'ma be honest, when I look up all these indie games to see if I want them, it drives me absolutely insane that so many people on youtube are doing jump cuts, zoom ins, throwing overlays, like I JUST WANNA SEE THE GAME. Thank you splattercat for always making my decision to buy a game or not so much easier
Splat in my entire career in the sales industry I've never heard anyone pitch anything so perfectly as you did this game in the opening of this video. That was sell me this pen Wolf of Wallstreet sell me this pen level of identifying a need, communicating a solution, and your tonality captured my attention so well that I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and started writing this.
hey hey people, sseth here
I love Splat, but I guess the best sales pitch came from Sseth.
I have yet to find a game that Sseth has reviewed that I haven't already fallen in love with or found to be enjoyable.
Except for the lizard vore game.
I can only handle so much schizo.
Fun Fact: when Sseth reviewed this game, he mentioned that the devs got assmad that he suggested they implement Templar starts and that he made fun of their deviantart oc, QGirl.
He had nothing but praise for the game, saying it's one of his favorites, but they ended up banning him from their discord and accusing half of their new customers, Sseth included, on being cryptofascists.
Sseth is literally an Asheknazi jew with a pharmaceuticals degree who shitposts on the internet.
idk, personally I like this review more than Sseth's. It's more coherent.
One important thing to add is it's not just emergent content. There's a huge story questline to follow too if you want to.
When I clicked on this video I didn't expect to get a Splattercat narration. Wonderful!
I started playing this game a week ago after getting comfortable with traditional roguelikes through Path of Achra. Man, Caves of Qud is probably, no joke and I mean it that way, the best gaming experience I ever had. The random generation is so good in this game. Every plathrough feels different even with the same charackter. Random stuff that surpises you happens all the time. That creates a real adventure atmosphere and you never know what you will encounter around the next corner. And there is so much depth. Only played melee charackters for now but I found already so many ways to play them. If you would like to delve into this game but are scared because of the difficulty let me tell you that it is a hard game, but it is more accessible than you think. You may won't come far for a long time but you will have the time of your life if you like RPGs like I do. And the biggest surprise for me was how atmospheric this game is. The Soundtrack is top notch and the world building and lore really is on par with fallout 1+2 but it is portrayed a bit differently. If you love to explore vast and interesting open worlds and you are interested in random generation this is the game for you.
If you would take the time to watch Sseth's quick review/tutorial of the game, your mind will expand on how to play.
@@captainprometheus3102 I already watched it. Sseth's video was the reason I was interested in that game in the firs place
I highly recommend tales of Maj’Eyal if you like Qud
I've missed your patter and ESPECIALLY missed your Caves of Qud gameplay! Been a while since I've been a regular at the castle, but I'm so glad to be back. Thanks for narrating this crazy game for us!
HE DID IT, HE WENT BACK TO QUD.
Really glad you came back to this. Caves of Qud was one of the first videos of you're I watched maybe 8 years ago. I got a steam account just to try it out. And you're right, it really is a special game. Thanks for the nostalgia and I hope a few others will try the game out too
I had to check at first at the start of the video as I thought that I was on a different stream, because I wasn’t sure if I was in the nerd castle. Has to be the first time that Splat hasn’t said “What’s up guys and gals welcome back to the nerd castle”.
my favorite part about this game, is the fact i’ve seen you play it multiple times over the last 6-7 years and loved every bit of it
Dude I love Splatts commentary, and Qud is one of the best games to watch him play.
CoQ and DF together, what a F-ing combo. I’ve more hours into these 2 games then I do any other.
indeed. they decide to combine the procedural generation and world development and open RPG aspects of both those games... the bar for rpg's are going to just get destroyed.
RIGHT?! Crazy combo, I would have figured those kind of devs could never compromise their vision and work together like that.. glad to know I'm wrong 😂
You should also try CDDA
Don`t leave Cogmind behind. It belong with those 2
I'd actually really enjoy it if DF Adventure Mode ended up looking like Qud.
What a rousing rendition for an amazing game. Sounded like a completely different Splatt at the beginning of the video, and I loved every second. Apparently I've got 410 hours on this game so far, and I completely agree with your assessment. It's a masterpiece
Fun fact about glowspheres... they are not a mysterious artifact of a prior era. Instead these are the useful litter box scrapings of the humble glowcat. You'll always find some in the inventory of any glowcat farmer.
Live and drink.
My shameful admission is that I've been playing a lot more Qud lately than I have DF.
I do really appreciate the relatively new "save at villages" mode so that I don't have to start completely over in the rust pits every time I'm brutally slain by some new horrifying foe.
I've taken the Wardens Esther to the Spindle, saved the Barathrumites, murdered the Barathrumites, cured glotrot wit the Flaming Ick, found the Ruin of House Isner, pawned the Ruin of House Isner to a Dromad Merchant, been stoned to death by apes, been an ape, cooked neutron flux, and generally had an amazing time in this twiested twisted world.
Live and Drink Friend. And may you remain ever rustless. (Steam claims I'm now over 500 hours in Qud...)
I demand an update on your playtime. Also, what build did you use as an ape?
this reminds me of one of the very first games i played on my dad's IBM 286, back in 1986... Ultima III, EXODUS
Ultima I for me, on my friend's Apple.
@@BockwinkleB of fucking snap!!! you must be ancient !!!! I'm not worthy.. im not worthy.. .. yea man Ultima III, and Bards Tale for me.. I can't even remember Ultima lol.. Oh yea playted alot of Kings Quest and Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry lol
My man just casually pulling out Stopsvalinn during his review.
WIth the possible exception of Nethack 3, Qud is the greatest 'true roguelike' that has ever existed. Every year or so i spend a couple of months obsessed with it.
If you kite the irritated tortoises, they're much easier to kill. They get a +3 defensive bonus when they haven't moved in the last turn. So step away, let it come to you and whack it. Then step away again.
As someone who has about 2500 hours in this world, I cannot recommend it enough.
It's funny because I was trying to remember who you were but also this game and when I found out the game and searched it, it brought me back to YOU. 😂 HOPEFULLY can get your videos back into my daily rotation now.
You don't "play" Qud. You visit. It's my favorite game of all time. I passed on this game for a long time because of the "graphics," and I couldn't have been more fucking wrong in my entire life. After I played it for a few hours, I realized that I'd been missing out on one of the best gaming experiences for way, way too long. I no longer give a shit about graphics in games. If the game's good, the game's good.
Fighting off your own evil clone who's capable of spawning more clones who also clone themselves, and then stealing his body _mid-combat_ and _killing your old body_ while you live on _Scanners_-style is still unreal to me. Love, love, love this game.
I watched your play throughs wayy wayy back, it was great, I bought CoQ because of you
My boi splatt getting serious with the intro. Chills
That was an impressive opening. Well done!
This opening was spectacular. Well done
My favorite moment was playing a 20+ hour character that I got to level 30+.
I was scouring the underground for hidden ruins in search of cybernetics, or at least credits to install the cybernetics I already had or books to turn in for experience up at the Stilt. I came upon a salt kraken, noting that the hulking beast excreted scrap that I could scavenge for parts to make into weapons and ammo. I got a little to overzealous in searching through its excrement that I ended up on the wrong side of the salt kraken, who promptly ate me and the ground beneath me as he moved on with his day.
My character survived getting trapped by magma slimes while being pelted with guns from desert bandits. From diseases that would make even the most brave of men tremble and quiver. From unspeakable horrors the likes of which would not be believed by those who have not traversed through the world of Qud.
Only to end up in some beasts excrement without even putting up a fight.
I don't believe I've ever heard you soooo excited about a game. We can hear it in your voice.
Tortuga Muerte would be a sick name for a metal band.
your style on intro is by far the most appealing and drawing me in intro i have seen you make as of yet ... awesome 2 min intro!!
i have had CoQ for over 6 years and you may have done better than me in my 12 runs x 450 is hrs
Yeah, and it's the same template as the first voiced trailer years ago. All you have to do is list some of the cool stuff you did and you've got a compelling pitch.
I absolutely love CoQ! I have lived out many generations of fathers sons & daughters within the worlds of Qud. Each child taking the best attributes of their parents into the new world that is before them. And I have not even scratched the surface.
I too love CoQ!
hehe CoQ
@@StudioBleenk 😅😅😅🤣😆😄😂 Took me a minute and then I was like LMAO. I walked into that one.
Everybody loves some CoQ every now and then ;)
Wow that's the most talking Splatt ever spoke over a game. Even heard a part of him I've never heard before.
I love this game. I have played it every few months since 2015 and discover new things every run. I have to say, I play RPG mode almost exclusively, and have never looked back. There's a lot of what folks will call, "artificial difficulty" as a rogue like, because a single mistake will often result in your death, slow or immediate. As a rogue that can be frustrating but if that decision only sets you back a few steps, it stings less and becomes part of a learning experience. Plus the majority of the game's content lies beyond the 10 hour mark of a run. My recommendation is to play the campfire saving mod or at the very least RPG mode if you're new to Qud.
"Blaze one jay and you will be sucked in"
You read my mind.
Stay with the one that talks about you as passionately as Splatter talks about Caves of Qud.
These rpg games overwhelm me hahaha. Great channel!
It was no surprise at all to learn Kitfox picked this one up. If there is ANY game that has the legacy and quality of improvement for many, MANY years that Dwarf Fortress does, it's Caves of Qud. Think more sci-fi/fantasy adventure and less fortress building. I LOVE this game. The story generation and unique adventure crafting is second to NONE. I'm only at 44 hours in but I know this title will get better and better and better for MANY years to come.
Sometimes this game makes you feel like sci fi conan the barbarian.
Ambushed by 50 or so snapjaws in a narrow canyon, Nimjasakha Oli-Omonur stood her ground armed only with a knife and a combination of Psionic barriers and hand made acid grenades turned the whole army of snapjaws to fresh meat. Then their leader, a legendary warlord appeared and we fought a brutal and bloody battle on the butcher corpses of his fellows.
After a long back and forth, he lobbed off my left arm, but i finally got his heart with the knife in my right. After flopping to the ground for a quick breather, i stuck my arm with a salve that regenerated my arm, and my adventure coninued
Today i reached 1200 hours in this game. This game Changed me deeply i have made Art about it, made mods for it. It havent been a Day since i first played it. That i didnt thought about this game,imagined myself on it. I love to see Artwork people made about this game. Just like the gameitself all of them are very unique even if they are about the same thing. Everyone have its own way to interpretate the descriptions and sprites in their own way. This game is trully a Masterpiece and im happy that is getting more recognition now.
Steam says I haven't played Caves of Qud since 2017, but that intro convinced me to go back.
The only game I've played for months. Love to see it get more recognition!
What a rad collab! Grats devs! Grats DF boys! This could be the beginning of one of the best gaming companies ever.
This reminds me of my days in Moria, Boss, and Omega. *Thousands* of hours were spent in those games, usually at night when my mother thought I was sleeping... thus my exemplary grades in school...
A bit more poetic than usual Matt. It’s interesting when a game inspires you to go beyond prose.
I thought his name was Steve for some reason
This intro...grabbed me by my nethers and wouldn't let me go.
Best introduction you've done thus far!
This game looks like MUME had a baby with dwarf fortress and that baby was raised by Kenshi. Sounds cool!
I've never even heard of Caves of Qud, but I played the original Rogue and NetHack (and various ASCII/sprite forks). This was a fascinating bit of gaming history and anthropology!
Rogue was so great. Used to waste time playing it at university in the early 90s instead of programming my projects.
Played Nethack with Vulture's Eye graphics. I think it is still the best dungeon crawler RPG ever. What you can do, the NPCs can do, what items you can use, they can use, you drop an item, they can pick it up. Helluva challenging.
This game is amazing! I always come back to it
Hey hey people, Sseth here.
That's a lie 🐍
No humor here. Definitely not sseths channel
Don't toy with our feelings...
Going have to watch his reviews again
Love Sseth
I could watch you play this for hours on end.
Man I liked this video a lot, I like all of the splatter cat stuff but I really like this one a lot a lot :D
First several moves: steal from the chests in Joppa (close the doors, make sure no one sees you), get the quest from Mehmet, do the water ritual with Mehmet and Irudad and learn harvestry, buy lead slugs and a rifle from Tam, give two artifacts to the artificer and loot his chests, take one chest into your inventory and put any yuckwheat into it (so when you get confused or eat witchwood you can find it and eat it to cure confusion), then head to the salt desert and hug the edges of the map tiles, avoiding dawn gliders, until you kill enough Issachari Raiders to level a couple times and pick up a desert rifle.
No matter your build this strategy is the ideal Joppa start IMO
the graphics actually make this game appealing to me, it reminds me of ultima 4 and crpgs around that time
This game is very pretty. It’s obviously designed that way and I love it. Color choice is also very good. You can easily tell there’s someone with artistic taste and talent behind it.
Yeah, with so few pixels and colors per sprite they still manage to create incredibly evocative artwork of creatures and locations and items. Plus I feel like the lack of detail works in the game's favor because the wonderful descriptive text would be very tough to accurately portray with higher fidelity sprites, so the lofi ones let you fill in the blanks with your imagination.
After +10y following, felt awfully weird not to hear your usual Welcome
Caves of Qud is one of the best games ever made in my opinion. To anyone who is on the fence about it, if you like RPG’s or roguelikes, you will like this game. It does not have to be permadeath if you don’t like that aspect of roguelikes. This game has been an obsession of mine for the last year or so and it just keeps getting better. They just released the beta for the new update too and the visuals keep getting better with more quests too.
To give a little window into what you can expect: you can play as a wizard type character called an “esper” and the game becomes completely different from other builds. Normal enemies become pathetic compared to your power. You are no longer facing scary dungeons or boss battles. Instead, now you are playing a game of cat and mouse - being chased by extradimensional psychic assassins that will show up at inopportune times and give you the fights of your life.
This game allows you to really break it wide open if you experiment a bit, and I think that’s what makes it so fun for so long.
You've gotta be Qudding me.
I love this game. So glad you keep coming back to it
Just to clarify , Kitfox games did not create Dwarf Fortress, they just publish it, and managed to make the Adams brothers loaded in the process (well deserved after 20+ years of developing DF in near poverty).. They seem to be decent people who have let DF flourish under their new arangement, so I strongly suspect they'll be good to Qud's creators.
I did play ADOM a lot, but never heard about this, thanks a lot Splatt.
This, ADOM, and C:DDA are my 3 big go-to recommendations for current-day Rogue variants.
Oh, if you like Caves of Qud, you need to try C:DDA
You need a Ph.D. to play it.
@@Ninja40K C:DDA has come a long way recentlyin terms of becoming way more user friendly. Catapult launcher's been the best version so far for all the included mods and scenarios.
Splat talks about C:DDA constantly, it's one of his faves
@@Ninja40KYou don't have one, yet? Everyone is doing it
Man robs a merchant's lunch and murders him for trying to stop him.
Seems like almost every time I open Steam that there's an update for this game. It really is a labour of love: "a Domino factum est istud et est mirabile in oculis nostris".
After a long break from playing Caves of Qud, I also came back this year. It's been very awesome and one of my favorite items I've found recently was the tattoo gun. I've started to tattoo every part of my body.
You okay buddy? That intro sounded like AmbiguousAmphibian but without the sardonic depression.
> How many Clowns can you fit in a room?
...
> "A whole class full"
~ Old teacher joke.
Remember when I was a kid and had to load k7 tapes on my MSX computer to play Dragon Quest.
i have 200 hours in cod and was playing one day and was told by an on-looker that the game looked easy and dumb. I started them up a new character and let them play. they walked south from joppa. i seen an aligator and surely thought well this is gonna be the end of their run...they didnt even notice it lol seconds later they find a stairway and climb down it and walk right next to a slumberling.....game over. they died with 0 exp points earned. i was so proud of caves of qud.
Your Thirst Is Mine, My Water Is Yours
You should stream this every time you play it; such a fantastic game/streamer combo
Might've just been a misspoken line, but they've signed a publishing deal with the publishers of dwarf fortress, not the creators
The intro sounded like jack black, and also i might get this game.
I'm trying to play this at the minute and I'm usually dead by the time I have to go to Golgotha for Argyve's missions. Brutal.
I want more games like this, seriously, why is this not more popular?
Because it looks like an Excel sheet probably
It's nowhere near as deep or as heavy in lore as Qud, but Infra Arcana is another great passion project rogue-like with a Call of Cthulhu/cosmic horror theme and it's free. I'd love to see even a short video from Splatty on it, give the guy some love. Good to sink some time into when 5 or 10 free minutes are available.
This sounds like the Gamma World based game I've waited 40 years for!!!
Roguelikes are just amazing, aren't they? Thanks for sharing your passion. I think you'd love Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup too, it really refined the single sprawling dungeon style down to an artform, and it has a crazy variety of races, classes and gods.
I think Caves of Qud graphics are great BTW, they're abstract enough to let your imagination fill in the blanks, but at the same time are full of small details that add atmosphere, like the flickering lanterns.
I see you did play it on twitch. Thank you. I listen to your videos as I work.
I felk in love with this game after your last video on it. Live and drink.
I just watched a caves of Qud video where the guy went through this long convoluted process to become a door. Yes, he was able to transform himself into a door and play the game as a door.
...and then you die if someone shuts you lol
Hey splat, I would Love to see you do another video on song of syx. I think its had many updates since your last playthrough and I would love to know what its like before I sink many hours in trying to learn it myself
Been playing QUD for years, it's so great
>stopsvallin
Its a stop sign with a 9 volt taped to it. Robots can't ignore their official symbols of the old world such as traffic directions.
All hail the great warrior Fard Ferguson, brother of Turd.
Just came back to say after watching this vid and researching a bit I contemplated for 1-2 days to buy it. Then a weekend sale of 10% hit which was the sign. I had more than 40 hours since which might not sound much but with having a toddler it is. I had to buy Shattered Pixel Dungeon for my phone to ease the Qud-itching I got while I can't sit at my computer.
Thanks! :D
I wanted to point out that in the first 2 minutes of the video you said they are under the same roof as the creators of dwarf fortress. I want to point out that Kitfox games is a publishing company, they are not bay 12 games (the company that made dwarf fortress). Kitfox games is its own entity. Both Caves of qud and dwarf fortress is being published BY kitfox games... hope this clears up any confusion. Have a great day!
Never have I felt so overpowered but still so very terrified. You get to break this game over and over and every time you do, there's some new and even greater bullshit that gets you. 10/10.