[logicprog]

Caves of Qud[1] is an amazing continuation of the NetHack/DF tradition in a modern game: incredible depth and attention to detail not only in it's mechanics and rules, but also in it's coherent worldbuilding and dialogue. It's also got a really great interface and cool, ZX Spectrum like graphics. The setting is a lot like Gamma World, or if you don't know what that is, post-apocalyptic Dune but with more pulp sci-fi (and chrome).

Caves of Qud is still in active development, and available on Steam. If you do get it, make sure to go into the menus and enable the experimental UI if you want to see how awesome a Roguelike interface could be if it used graphics.

Also, if you're like me disable Permadeath in the debug menu, the first village you start at is the only non-procedurally-generated village in the game, so if I you don't want to retraverse it over and over, you need savegames.

Here's a Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=48420...

[1]: https://steamcommunity.com/app/333640

[shrimp_emoji]

Caves of Qud is my favorite roguelike, hands down. It's like a mechanically-streamlined Crawl with fantastic writing and worldbuilding.

I'm 400 hours in but I still haven't beat the main quest. (But I also suck.)

>The setting is a lot like Gamma World, or if you don't know what that is, post-apocalyptic Dune but with more pulp sci-fi (and chrome).

Or a grittier, LSDier Adventure Time

[logicprog]

> Or a grittier, LSDier Adventure Time

Oh boy, that's actually a fair description!

Any tips I should know about? I haven't even been able to complete either the watervine or the copper wire quests.

[shrimp_emoji]

Play Truekin. They're the best "meta" class; mutants are essentially hardcore mode. Truekins have higher base stats and won't aggro Templar when encountering them. I play with the same Ibul Praetorian build (code "AGOPPOHG11") exclusively, which I think is the easiest base class of the truekin classes. I named it Roland, after the Borderlands char. :3 (Ironically, though, I never use Deploy Turret; it's not that good outside of killholes.)

(As IRL) I only got as far as I have because this build is so inherently great: you start with great gear, a sweet desert rifle, you got blocking and sword skills for when the enemy closes in, and I take a focus on tinkering, which is one the most interesting gameplay aspects and quite powerful if you're smart/lucky (find good schematics and can afford them).

Red Rock and the Rust Wells should be a breeze with it. On other classes, they can be nightmarish.

Also, another tip: there's a convenient shortcut to Red Rock somewhere in Joppa. ;3 (I didn't discover this until embarrassingly recently.)

[mruts]

My favorite strat is taking domination and beguil. And then I choose my pokemon and level them up into a ferocious swoll monster.

[jdormit]

This is hands down the best way to play CoQ. And it really speaks a lot to the depth of the game that you can play the whole thing hopping from mind-controlled character to mind-controlled character and the gameplay just adapts...

[logicprog]

Muwahahah! Perfect. I'll try that next time I play.

[AnthonBerg]

I find Caves of Qud to be an especially good foreground for music. (Or background?) Its character of visuals and storytelling is somehow both strongly stylized and sparse. Serves as blank slate but also stimulates. Music resonates especially well with it I find. Impact of both game and music are multiplied.

[logicprog]

Agreed! I was going to mention the music but I know some people hate it so I figured mentioning it wouldn't really strengthen my case (:. Personally I think the very unique, heavily stylized art and music (especially the latter) add so much to the game. Plus, the dialog is actually really embedded in the world.

[AnthonBerg]

Yes!, I actually like the original music, but meant to express that it goes well with all music :)

[voldacar]

Caves of Qud is amazing! It's awesome to see it linked here