Closely systemic, decades-in-the-works roguelike RPG Caves of Qud belongs to a taxonomy of video games that we, the consultants at PC Gamer, professionally establish as “PC-ass PC video games.” Different PC-ass PC video games embody Deus Ex, Dwarf Fortress, and EVE On-line. Notably, none of these video games could be performed on the Nintendo Change or Nintendo Change 2 videogame consoles—however as of February 2026, Caves of Qud can.
It is a port that does not appear to be it ought to work, provided that Caves of Qud makes use of a wholesome chunk of the keyboard by default. It additionally doesn’t appear to be Caves of Qud ought to run on the decade-old Change at something approaching a wholesome framerate, contemplating how exhausting its systemic era can push a CPU. And that is precisely why it exists.
“I am unsure it is a rational choice,” Qud co-creator Brian Bucklew mentioned in a latest interview with PC Gamer. “I feel we’re fascinated with fixing not possible issues typically, and the thought of creating Caves of Qud work on Change—initially, making Caves of Qud work on gamepad—that does not appear to be one thing that ought to occur. However the problem entices me to do it.”
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Bucklew clearly relishes a technical problem, however the underlying motivation was the query why there aren’t different PC-ass PC video games on Change.
“Individuals suppose that there’s not a marketplace for systemic video games on Change,” he mentioned. “I feel lots of people would possibly suppose a recreation like Caves of Qud wouldn’t succeed, however there are no, proper? So on what foundation are you making that declare, particularly for a tool that has as many customers on the market? If even a tiny quantity of individuals wish to play a deep systemic recreation, that’s a variety of models for an indie studio. … And I feel we have confirmed that there is a marketplace for this sort of stuff on Change.”
Bucklew mentioned that Caves of Qud’s gross sales on Change peaked within the high 5 of the ‘Bodily + Digital’ class, aka “every part.” Qud was solely launched digitally, however that truly makes its gross sales extra spectacular—which means at its finest it was outselling 95 of the highest 100 video games throughout cartridges and the Nintendo eShop. He could not share particular gross sales numbers, however mentioned the sport has continued to do properly even after leaving the Change’s most elite ranks.
Among the design choices in Qud that made it attainable to play on a gamepad occurred years in the past, they usually weren’t essentially intentional. “We unintentionally made a option to collapse [the way] older roguelikes would have 20 totally different keybinds on totally different letters, and one a part of their attraction was puzzling out what keybinds even existed,” he mentioned. Whereas designing Qud, he and Freehold Video games co-founder Jason Grinblat determined to make its interactions extra menu-driven than they might be in, say, pioneering roguelike NetHack.
“It is nonetheless fairly sophisticated, and sufficiently attention-grabbing to find issues regardless of having an inventory of issues you are able to do,” he mentioned. “That makes it very amenable to gamepad play, whereas for those who had 70 keybinds, it simply would not [work]. We barely match onto gamepad, however we do, due to that call.”
The Qud group at the moment are engaged on the subsequent problem: Becoming these controls and menus that hardly work on the Change onto a cellphone display, translating the sport to each portrait shows and contact inputs. “We do not know if we’ll be capable of pull off a pleasant Qud portrait design, however indicators look fairly good,” he mentioned.
Efficiency, a minimum of, might not be an enormous problem this time. As we speak’s telephones are monstrously succesful, and Freehold already spent “many months” on efficiency optimizations to get the sport operating on the comparatively historic Change 1’s CPU.
“Individuals make claims like ‘oh, folks do not wish to play massive RPGs on their cellphone. Are there any precise examples of a phone-first design massive RPG? Possibly single digits. Not very many, proper? I feel folks make these claims as a result of no person takes the chance to do it, and it is smart for giant studios to keep away from that danger. However for Qud we’re constructing on a 20-year-old foundation. We’re paying our payments. We are able to take these dangers.”
