After 17 years, devs of the only roguelike where players ask 'the best way to get the most limbs' can't believe its success: 'More people have bought Caves of Qud than are in this stadium, how do you reckon with that?'

A convoy of strange beings proceed across a desert in Caves of Qud key art. — (Image credit: Freehold)

Caves of Qud is an incredibly special videogame: it was our best roguelike of 2024 and is maybe the only game whose devs could sit down with PCG's Lincoln Carpenter at this year's GDC and finally hash out the ideal number of limbs for a lifeform to have (none). After all, this is probably the only game where players put their heads together to create the most efficient extra-limb meta.

Anyway, limb accountancy wasn't all Qud co-creators Jason Grinblat and Brian Buckley chatted with us about. Just, like, 90% or so. They also chatted about how it felt to finally give the game a full release after 17 years of development.

"It is kind of a daze, like people ask me, and I feel like I should have an answer—it's been so great, because the players loved it, the press and the critics loved it, and it sold well. It all came together."

The pair have been taken aback by just how much their incredibly lo-fi game where you can clone, befriend, and eat yourself has taken off. "It's gone from like, we know all the players, we know all 18 players. But now it's an unreal amount of people," said Bucklew. "It's like, you go to a stadium and you're like, 'More people have bought Caves of Qud than are in this stadium.' How do you reckon with that?'"

The player characters fires an energy weapon at a crypt ferret in Caves of Qud. — On reflection, we should've given it the best graphics award. (Image credit: Kitfox Games)

But mostly, it sounds like the reality that a 17-year chapter in the pair's life is (sort of) closed hasn't quite set in yet. "Part of it is we're going to keep making expansions, so it's like, not really over," said Grinblat. "It's a hard thing to talk about, because I understand we launched, I know all the knock-on effects of that, and yet it still feels short of a summative emotion about it. It's still just like, 'Huh.'"

"Right in that window, Jason bought a house and had another child—had two children during the development," said Bucklew "So it's like, what might have been more monumental at 27 when we started the game starts to look different."

"Reckoning with it—such a big phase change in your life feels like it should come with a different type of physical sensation. But it's your same senses," said Grinblat. "I think over the next year, we'll be more like 'Okay, the game's out. We got some awards. That's cool.'"

The real question, of course, is whether the pair marked Qud's release with some well-deserved rest. The answer? Kind of. "I took like, four weeks around Christmas and did nothing but lay on the couch and play Balatro," said Bucklew.

Alas, Grinblat has other stuff to deal with. "I do have a one year old and a four year old, so it's hard to just do absolutely nothing—like, the pure responsibility-free time that I really need. But I'm trying as best I can. It's been pretty good.

"No more of that until we're 65," said Bucklew. "That's the end of it for us."

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

With contributions from

Lincoln CarpenterNews Writer

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