- Autoexplore Patch - September 23, 2026 - 24 September 2026
211.55 Added a "Standard" autoexplore mode that matches older classic autoexplore pathing, it is now the default. Added a "Performance" autoexplore mode that utilizes far less CPU but ocassionally causes exploration to meander more. Autoexplore will now be interrupted if your domination breaks. Fixed a bug that rarely caused objects targeted for spreading Klanq to display with mods. Fixed a bug that allowed you to drop items on the world map using ctrl+d. Particles and screen buffers now support custom colors. Dynamic book instances will now have their titles set via a call to GetTitle.
- Autoexplore Beta - 7 September 2026
This is a beta test of a new autoexplore algorithm! Let us know if you spot any bugs or issues. 211.52 - 'beta' branch *Added a new 'classic' autoexplore mode which is a more performant version of the original autoexplore algorithm. (the default is now 'classic') *Updated enemy targeting behavior. *Fixed a bug that caused the calendar to not display properly on the status bar.
- Maintenence Patch - August 8, 2026 - 8 August 2026
211.51 Effects that increase the size of damage dice now apply to arc winders. Irisdual beam now interrupts auto-actions. Gigantic creatures are now transmuted into gigantic gems. You can no longer become hotter than the surface of the sun (but you may still become much colder than absolute zero). Wakeful effects no longer apply multiple times. Fixed a bug that caused holy places to become hostile after a save cycle. Fixed a bug that caused you to get Schemasoft benefits if your clones installed the implant. Fixed a bug that caused zones to permanently freeze over. Fixed a bug that caused horns to fail to regrow in some situations. Fixed a bug that caused spacetime vortices to play their sound even when sound effects were disabled. Added IPartExtension and IEffectExtension , which are automatically added and removed together with their parent component. Unused camera shaders are no long…
- Maintenance Patch - July 4, 2026 - 4 July 2026
211.50 Autoexplore will now only dig in order to reach revealed objects of interest. Autoexplore is now less prone to discard its last target if interrupted. Fixed a bug that caused saves to load with a stale zone cache. Fixed a bug that caused cybernetic fist weapons to remain on your hands after being unimplanted. Fixed a bug that caused the required skills to highlight garbage and harvestables to be swapped. Fixed a bug that caused solar cells to not recharge. Fixed a bug that caused torches to not automatically douse or light, and never expire. Fixed some overly bright cyan tiles next to convalessence pools in Bethesda Susa. Added an "unexplore" wish to reset knowledge of the active zone. Added an option to draw autoexplore flood filling. Added an option to disable zone thaw restrictions. Added a Test menu option to the map editor which will quickly load you into a playable version…
- Burgeoning Summer Growth - 25 June 2026
Hey folks,We have some nice updates to share. First, after several weeks on the beta branch, our performance patch is now ready for everyone. It includes lots of little fixes and some deep rewrites that result in a big performance bump, so hopefully your next adventure is buttery-smooth, whether you're playing on a high-end machine, a potato, or something in between. These optimizations also apply to the Nintendo Switch, where they are currently live. So if you haven't played there for a while, your performance should be much improved.Caves of Qud vinyl: pre-order yours now!We're ecstatic about this one. We've partnered with indie label Stumpy Frog Records and digital artist Saint Vulture to put the Caves of Qud original soundtrack on vinyl. It's a triple LP with over two hours of our atmospheric OST and gorgeous, original artwork on the gatefold. Preorders are available RIGHT NOW! No m…
- Beta Patch - April 24, 2026 - 25 April 2026
211.38 - 'beta' branch Greatly improved performance on wet maps.
- Beta Patch - Bethesda Susa performance improvements - 23 April 2026
211.37 - 'beta' branch Improved performance in Bethesda Susa. Fixed a bug that caused to sometimes meander off the main map or into important quest locations. Fixed a bug that caused the Modern UI option to not be shown. Fixed a bug that caused whip up a meal for creatures without the cooking skill to fail. Fixed a bug that caused Amnesia to throw exceptions if it was ever removed.
- Experimental branch for testing our localization framework - 27 March 2026
Hey folks,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!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.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.The patch includes a lot of modding impact and also some small new usability features. Pat…
- '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' - 25 March 2026
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... Read more.
- '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 - 19 March 2026
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... Read more.
- Marathon's secret sauce has a special ingredient: the team behind masterful indie roguelike Caves of Qud - 15 March 2026
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. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Caves of Qud dev teases "at least three" expansions for the sci-fi roguelike Caves of Qud is currently 2024's highest-rated game, so now I have to play it 95% rated roguelike Caves of Qud just hit 1.0 after a 15-year wait
- Beta Patch - March 1, 2026 - 2 March 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+ ) 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 sta…
- Little Feature Monday - 16 February 2026
Hey friends,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.211.35Repair now takes slightly lower precedence in menu priority.Added a debug option to allow world seeds to be input during game creation. It's experimental and won't fully work yet.Ruins that claim they have becoming nooks now always have becoming nooks.The \ now always have a becoming nook on the bottom floor.Reality stabilization no longer cause individual limbs and equipment (like horns) to vanish from a creature without that creature itself vanishing.Digging tools in the offhand are now preferred over primary non-digging weapons when attacking diggable objects.You now properly melee attack wallbound creatures instead of the wall when a digging tool is equipped in your primary hand.You can now tap your throw bind again in the thr…
- Caves of Qud on the go! - 4 February 2026
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. What else is going on?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!…
- Beta Branch Bugfixes - 30 January 2026
211.33 - 'beta' branch Greatly improved pathfinding performance. Greatly improved performance when auto-moving to the edge of a zone. Improved pathfinding logic of creatures, causing them to take more sensible paths around obstacles. Tri-hologram bracelets no longer reset your targeting position for each hologram. Fixed a bug that caused unreal objects to be affected by temperature radiation. Fixed a bug that caused you to sometimes be unable to open your equipment after glitching yourself with warm static. Fixed a bug that caused you to sometimes lose your inventory after glitching yourself with warm static. Fixed a bug that caused you to bump into obstacles on the destination when moving to zone edges.
- Your Qud 2025 Wrapped: Patches, Platforms, Staying Weird - 15 December 2025
Here is your Caves of Qud year Wrapped, brought to you by a several snapjaws in a ironweave cloak.First, happy birthday to Qud! We launched 1.0 a year ago, and we've had a nice, long recovery from 15+ years of updates. But we still managed to make a lot of progress towards our long-term goals.In 2025, Caves of Qud wrapped:Patches: 13Bugfixes: 232Hugo Awards Won: 1Console versions announced: 1Languages localized: 0.25Girshlings licked: ???Mods currently in the Steam Workshop: 1112T-shirt designs for sale: 5 Yep! In fact, we’ve been patching the Beta branch regularly with some deep performance optimizations, so if you’re curious to try a buttery-smooth experience, wander into the Beta branch and let us know if you encounter anything off.Meanwhile, our Switch port is coming along (release date still pending), the expansion pack is in the works, we're tinkering on our localization experimen…
- Steam Awards, Mod Jam results, and port update - 24 November 2025
Hey everyone,It's Alexandra here from Kitfox with an assortment of game news while the team remains in the midst expansion, porting, and localization efforts. They've truly grown at least one extra arm to be able to do all that! Nominate Qud for the Steam Awards 2025The Steam Award nominations are now open! This year, Caves of Qud is eligible for MOST of the award categories, so make sure you vote for as many as you feel is appropriate. Maybe Story-Rich Game, Soundtrack, or Steam Deck? Sit Back and Relax for the sicko voters???? You can nominate for all the awards here: https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations/2025 Mod Jam resultsThe latest Qud mod jam just concluded with a new batch of creative mods inspired by the theme "reanimated Monster Mash". You can download the mod pack and check out the monstrous entries yourself. We hosted a showcase stream with librarianmage, So…
- 20% off for today's Daily Deal + performance improvements on Beta - 3 November 2025
We posted an update with some significant performance improvements to the Beta branch. If you'd like to help us test, check it out! A lot of the UI and rendering code was refactored, so please be on the look out for issues in those areas.Also, Caves of Qud is the Steam Daily Deal today! Get it for 20% off, and tell someone you know!A few patch notes below. Live and drink, friends.Greatly improved UI performance.Greatly improved map rendering performance.Greatly improved line-of-sight calculation performance.Fixed a missing bind for deleting game saves.Fixed an issue in high-latency environments that caused a bunch of waits to be issued after releasing the movement stick on gamepad.\
- Tech patch on beta branch - 7 October 2025
Hey all, We put up a new beta to test some forward-looking technical improvements to the codebase. Ideally, you should not notice any difference in play experience, but it would be helpful for some of you to test and confirm this! So if you're interested in helping, switch to beta and try it out.
- The deeply simulated roguelike strangeness of Caves of Qud won this year's Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work - 18 August 2025
The Hugo Awards: they're not just for science-fiction novels that make you think "I should read that one day" and never do. Now they've got an interactive category, so once a year you can be told how excellent one more videogame is, think "I should play that one day," and then never get around to that either... Read more.
