Freehold Games, the developer duo who created Caves of Qud, is nearly ready for its deep future, science fantasy roguelike to molt its early access chitin and present itself, glistening and resplendent, to the world. After more than fifteen years in development, Caves of Qud will get its 1.0 release on December 5, 2024, culminating hundreds of updates and bringing a long-awaited final chapter for its main questline.

Even after playing well over a hundred hours of Caves of Qud, it’s difficult to convey the full breadth of surreal, emergent storytelling and systems-dense gameplay that the traditional, tile-based roguelike offers. You can play as a mutant whose genome has been warped by millennia of interdimensional influence and dire radiations, meaning every level up might leave you with wings, or horns, or new limbs—limbs which provide you with appropriate inventory slots in the dynamic equipment screen. You can find hints to the location of legendary firearms in procedurally-generated books. You can befriend a society of sentient plants, or earn their undying hatred.

I could go on for hours, and my playtime’s still only scratched Qud’s surface. As a better sampler platter of the Caves of Qud experience, it might be best to offer the powerpoint slide I presented during deliberations with my colleagues about what games deserved special consideration as we formed this year’s list of the Top 100 PC Games, where Caves of Qud currently sits at an admirable #80 slot:

Since pairing with publisher Kitfox Games, who we can also thank for facilitating Dwarf Fortress’s Steam release, Caves of Qud has gotten more approachable than ever, thanks to a complete UI overhaul, gamepad control implementation, and a currently in-beta tutorial that’ll arrive in full with the 1.0 launch.

Also available on December 5, 2024 will be Caves of Qud’s newly-revealed Dromad Deluxe edition, which’ll get you the game, its updated soundtrack, and a Harvest Dawn DLC pack providing a collection of in-game pets you can choose to bring with you during character creation. Qud’s pet catalogue—which includes a sentient chair and “a highly entropic antelope,” among others—has previously only been available to studio backers on Patreon, and Harvest Dawn will add an all-new one.

In advance of leaving early access, Caves of Qud’s price is set to increase on October 29 to $30. To celebrate the 1.0 release date announcement, however, Qud is currently on sale as Steam’s Daily Deal for $16.99—the lowest price it’ll be available at for the foreseeable future. If you want to get comfortable with Qud in time to face its final chapter, now’s a great time to start.