Caves of Qud Review (FakeDadRealFren)
This is likely one of the best video games I have had the privilege of playing over some odd 25+ years of playing video games, I whole-heartedly recommend it!... to its intended audience.
That is the short version, however, I think the long version is important here, because that comes with MASSIVE caveats. There are MANY people for whom this will simply not be an enjoyable game, no shade to them, and if that's YOU, I don't want my glowing review to trick you into bashing your head against a wall trying to enjoy something you won't. This is NOT the game for you if:
- A unique, new weird and biblically-inspired writing style that isn't always immediately accessible without a dictionary in arm's reach would be more annoying to parse for you than it would be exciting to read.
- Spending hours carefully RPG-grinding together a character with unique rare gear and unlocks only for them to perma-death as is normal in a Roguelike would make the experience more frustrating than engaging.(ALTHOUGH they have non-perma death options)
- Staring at an art-style that is quite literally just one step up from ASCII art in its rudimentary depiction of.... everything doesn't have a sense of charm for you.
- If the amount of information you're asked to absorb up front feels like too much, even after you are dozens of hours and/or deaths into the game.
These are just part of how this game works and they're traits that for many are outright never fun, to which there is no fix for that. If none of that drove you away, buy this game immediately. It is simply that good.
This game single-handedly sets a new bar for procedurally generated WRITTEN content, with every item description, random book, or colorful individual you meet managing to have genuinely descriptive, witty, and sometimes thought-provoking things to say or see held up by writing that somehow manages to highlight the human touch present in the prose even when that prose is being randomly assigned to new stories or new purposes on a new seed. A lot of the game leans on an unchanging sub-set of characters whose dialogue and questlines are not randomized, but their presence does not make the writing *around* them that lacks that anchor feel notably weaker in comparison, which feels like outright lunacy. It just shouldn't be possible to do this, but I have borne witness.
This goes wonderfully in hand with the art style the game landed on, where simple pixel depictions that lack a sense of true size or scale (every creature and object, no matter how big or small, occupies 1 tile within the grid, even though some are clearly massive) are given that scale by textual descriptions that take advantage of relatively simple representations to paint detailed *life* into every creature and object. Everything from a basic semi-auto pistol up to a otherworldly cherubic guardian of lost tombs is given a loving, thoughtful rendition in text to make sure your mind is filling in blanks up to the limits of your imagination.
The mechanics of this game are simple to summarize, but their depth is not. It's a turn-based RPG not unlike many you've played before, with a D&D-ish set of stats, XP, leveling, skill trees, abilities, and bonus stats from equipment and the like, but its the granularity to which these have been executed that excites, here. Everything from gaining (or losing!) limbs of all varieties, undergoing full physiology transformations, becoming a plant or fungi, reconstructing yourself with cybernetic enhancements, developing psionic abilities... There are nigh endless outcomes of the character creation and question process; a common outcome for more than a few players has been winding up a *sentient, walking door* upon their adventure, and that's not even *that* weird of an outcome.
Then you realize that *every single creature in the world* is also operating under the same fundamental stats and abilities system, realizing that some of the enemies you wander into are subject to the same levels of complexity that you are. Simply Stunning.
If it feels like I've been vague despite having a lot to say, its because I have. I did benefit a lot from going into this experience blind, and only starting to look up or learn about things within the game in more detail *after* working my way through my first couple of encounters with them. I'm trying to pass that benefit down if this review happens to be what finds you into the game as opposed to simply watching someone stream gameplay or something.
But seriously, if you got this far, gave this barest review this much time, you should already be playing this game. Just pull the trigger, you will not regret it.