Caves of Qud News

Experimental branch for testing our localization framework

[p]Hey folks,[/p][p]We put up a new, experimental branch (lang-experimental) for testing a total rewrite of our text generation systems. This was done to support our efforts to localize Caves of Qud. We don't have any new languages to test yet; we just want to test the framework. If you're interested in helping out, keep reading![/p][p]We'd just need players to play the game and see if anything is off, particularly with text. It's best if you play without any mods enabled. UNLESS you yourself are a modder and want to test your mod's compatibility. In this case, try playing with just your own mod enabled.[/p][p]Though we will create automatic backup files, we recommend manually backing up any saves you plan to upgrade. The upgrade is one way to this newer version and may be incompatible with future releases of this branch.[/p][p]The patch includes a lot of modding impact and also some small new usability features. Patch notes below.[/p][p]Live and drink.[/p][p][/p][p]212.17[/p]

[p]You can now add items to your ability screen and hotbar. To do so, interact with the item and choose "add custom ability".[/p]
[p]You can now hold Shift to access the next page of your ability hotbar.[/p]
[p]Disease progression messages are now colored in the message log.[/p]
[p]Companion encumbrance is now visible on the Trade screen.[/p]
[p]The Wait menu now acts more like other dialog menus.[/p]
[p]Programmed recoilers now more accurately reflect their target zone's name when the zone shares a parasang with a named location.[/p]
[p]Holding Shift now causes the scroll wheel to go faster on the Trade creen.[/p]
[p] Soup sludges now react with cloning draught on the ground.[/p]
[p]\[modding] The internal string format is now UTF16. This means any characters you were using from CP437 in your .cs files need to be converted. ConsoleLib.Console has a CP437 class with helpers. XRL.Language.TextConstants has helpers for getting the correct unicodes for symbols, and TextConstants.xml has the correct unicodes for XMLs.[/p]
[p]\[modding] The XML files from mods now also support loading UTF-8 characters (though default to parsing as CP437 still). To enable this feature for your files, use Encoding="utf-8" on the root node of your XML.[/p]
[p]\[modding] Many new XML file types have been added.[/p]
[p]\[modding] Many old XML file types are now more mergable.[/p]
[p]\[modding] GameText, ReplaceBuilder, and VariableReplacers have been supercharged with a lot of new tech.[/p]
[p]\[modding] New utilities to test VariableReplacers have been added to the Histographicnomicon in the Modding Toolkit and are also available via wishes "testreplacers" and "testlangreplacers".[/p]
[p]\[modding] There is now an ExampleLanguage folder in StreamingAssets that has example files for localization.[/p]
[p]\[modding] There is now an XRL.Language.Strings interface for fetching static or template strings with _S and _T.[/p]
[p]\[modding] Many APIs now use our own TextBuilder instead of the C# StringBuilder. It should be API-equivalent.[/p]

'I'm not sure it was a rational decision': Caves of Qud devs ported the roguelike to Nintendo Switch because they're 'interested in solving impossible problems'

Heavily systemic, decades-in-the-works roguelike RPG Caves of Qud belongs to a taxonomy of games that we, the experts at PC Gamer, professionally identify as "PC-ass PC games." Other PC-ass PC games include Deus Ex, Dwarf Fortress, and EVE Online. Notably, none of those games can be played on the Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 videogame consoles—but as of February 2026, Caves of Qud can...
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'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.