Caves of Qud News

'We're playing game designs from 2005 still': Caves of Qud's co-creator wants to build new kinds of sicko gameplay systems that'll use all the processing potential being left untapped

Caves of Qud is famously complex, simulating a surreal science-future where your player character can sprout new limbs at a moment's notice, apes and crabs have shifting reputational dynamics with one another, and a concrete wall can gain full personhood through items that grants sentience...
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Marathon's secret sauce has a special ingredient: the team behind masterful indie roguelike Caves of Qud

The definitive word on Bungie's Marathon won't be laid down for quite some time yet, but everyone who plays it can agree on one thing: it's got that special sauce. The otherworldly sci-fi energy of Tau Ceti IV has clearly had a huge amount of care and thought put into every piece of the puzzle, from its gleaming environments to its sinister megacorporations, the dark hostility of its world, and the deliberately expendable nature of its runners. But the method behind the magic clicks into place with the reveal of one unexpected detail: the involvement of Caves of Qud developers Freehold Games.

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Beta Patch - March 1, 2026

211.36 - 'beta' branch

Graffiti is now visible on walls with ornately engraved plaques.
Merchants now allow you to trade with them you after you buy their entire inventory.
Stairs in the Tomb of the Eaters are now more consistently reachable.
The looker now indicates the number of objects in the square in the top command bar if there is more than one lookable object.
The default keybind for force attack up and down (Ctrl+ < or >) have been swapped to match movement binds.
Autoget now ignores nuggets if the "Autoget nuggets" option is disabled, even if "Autoget trade goods" is enabled.
Equipping multiple force bracelets now gives multiple abilities to toggle each independently.
Cooking with wild rice or canned Have-it-All now picks a random effect from the correct pool of effects rather using the pool of the ingredient you first cooked with this play session.
Temporary food items no longer stack with non-temporary food items and become permanent.
Build codes using mods that aren't loaded should more reliably work.
[modding] EmbarkBuilderModule now has a GetRequiredMod() method you can override to pop up an error if your mod is not enabled when loading a build code that uses it.

Little Feature Monday

[p]Hey friends,[/p][p]We posted a small update to the beta branch, which is the branch we've been using for all our new performance work. Here are the patch notes.[/p][p]211.35[/p]

[p]Repair now takes slightly lower precedence in menu priority.[/p]
[p]Added a debug option to allow world seeds to be input during game creation. It's experimental and won't fully work yet.[/p]
[p]Ruins that claim they have becoming nooks now always have becoming nooks.[/p]
[p]The \[redacted] now always have a becoming nook on the bottom floor.[/p]
[p]Reality stabilization no longer cause individual limbs and equipment (like horns) to vanish from a creature without that creature itself vanishing.[/p]
[p]Digging tools in the offhand are now preferred over primary non-digging weapons when attacking diggable objects.[/p]
[p]You now properly melee attack wallbound creatures instead of the wall when a digging tool is equipped in your primary hand.[/p]
[p]You can now tap your throw bind again in the throw targeting window in order to throw.[/p]
[p]You now get notified that you gain a \[redacted] when you \[redacted].[/p]
[p]Tau's crystalline items now have more hitpoints.[/p]
[p]Fixed various typos.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Also, today we are celebrating the launch of Caves of Qud on Nintendo Switch! It's out now in North America, Europe, and Australian regions! Watch the out now trailer and visit the Nintendo eShop to buy. [/p][p][/p][p]As always, thanks for supporting us. Live and drink. [/p][p]-Freehold and Kitfox Games [/p]

Caves of Qud on the go!

[p]Hey friends,
Qud has been officially Verified on the SteamDeck which means and we wanna see where you're playing Qud on the go. Tag us on socials or post to the Kitfox Discord with #QudintheWild with your most far out locations.
Speaking of portables, we are excited to finally announce that Caves of Qud will be releasing on the Nintendo Switch February 16th! Watch the release date trailer showing console gameplay. [/p][p] [/p][h3]What else is going on?[/h3][p]Work continues on the first of several future expansion packs which will also be paired with a free update. The team is also busy actively developing a mobile port and localization efforts.

Build Club We're also working on the revival of a beloved community event called Build Club where we create share and play custom builds. And it's also the origin of the fan-favourite mopango. We'll have more info about how you can participate soon!
Secret art project!

If you're into once-in-a-lifetime collabs, keep an eye out, we're working with the amazing Saint Vulture on a special collectible, you can also check out their game here:
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Here's a little sneak peek:

Live and drink.

- Kitfox + Freehold[/p]