this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2026
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Caves of Qud is one of the best exploration games I've ever played. It's a traditional roguelike where the overworld map is the same each time but the world history, factions, and most individual zones are procedurally generated each time you start over.
You play as either a mutated human with strange bonuses like extra arms, the ability to mind control, wings, etc. or a Truekin that starts with higher base stats and the ability to use implant tech to do things like replace your legs with tank treads or your eyes with night-vision goggles.
It's a deep simulation; all of the NPCs in the game are as fully modeled as the player character, the NPCs you meet are a result of the generated history, and the best choice is often to run away.
It's turn-based with multiple difficulty levels. I recommend playing on classic, but the other ways are just as valid.
This seems really cool! Thank you for sharing.
I really want to enjoy it, but that game, and dwarf fortress are just too much for me. I just get overloaded with information and I don't enjoy it.
It's definitely not for everyone, but once you begin to understand the systems there's nothing else like it.
In a weird way I would recommend Tales Of Maj'Eyal, Tangledeep, Golden Krone Hotel or Shattered Pixel Dungeon <-- free and open source as good ways to dive into this kind of game, and have more fun learning the mechanics, Caves Of Qud overwhelms me too which might make my main suggestion sound insane but shrugs...
https://store.steampowered.com/app/259680/Tales_of_MajEyal/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/628770/Tangledeep/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/497800/Golden_Krone_Hotel/
https://shatteredpixel.com/
Honestly my primary recommendation is Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, yes it is also ridiculously deep but it isn't balanced to be a balls to the wall dungeon crawler, you can approach it however you want and modulate difficulty/complexity through your player choices though you can always get unlucky. CDDA actually isn't that "hard" if you don't take big risks.
Why not Project Zomboid? CDDA's world is just so rich there is no way Project Zomboid will catch up and if I want realtime and multiplayer Endgame Road To Salvation or Survivalist Invisible Strain compliment CDDA better in my opinion.
https://cataclysmdda.org/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/cataclysm-dark-days-ahead
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1264920/Endgame_Road_To_Salvation/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054510/Survivalist_Invisible_Strain/
If you want a more focused experience where dying doesn't end your run try the superb Sky Islands mode included in the base CDDA game now.
https://github.com/TGWeaver/CDDA-Sky-Islands
Is there any way to play CDDA without the ascii graphics?
Absolutely!
https://github.com/I-am-Erk/CDDA-Tilesets
(these are in base game)
Thanks! Heard about this game several times now but kept getting distracted by other stuff. Gonna give it a try!
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