Caves Of Qud review: an obscenely rich roguelike realm you could get lost in for months

A goat approaches

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

• Developer: Freehold Games
• Publisher: Kitfox Games
• Release: Out now
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , Itch , GOG
• Price: £25/$30/€29
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

“We are a people who honour democracy,” said the dog, scratching himself. “Per our custom, you may drink of our fresh water.” The dog was called Senator Umeshefaat, and he was very civil, even if he was shedding his black and white fur everywhere. We spoke in his home village at dawn. Later, I examined the senator’s personal history more thoroughly and discovered he was “hated by bears for cooking them a rancid meal.” I suppose every politician has their enemies.

That Caves Of Qud creates fun anecdotes out of simple encounters shouldn’t be a surprise. It has had 15 years of early access to establish itself as a small-but-mighty story generating roguelike of repute (there’s a reason it sits deservedly side-by-side with Dwarf Fortress in the same publishing house). After creating many characters, and dying and dying and dying again, I understand why it grips the brain with such fierce glee. It is a machine of grand imagination and adventuresome comedy. A deceptively powerful RPG that isn’t half as obtuse to newcomers as the screenshots make it out to be. Qud’s low-res bark is just a complement to its bite.

That said, if you’ve not played many classical roguelikes before, it may still appear intimidating. You can play with the mouse, clicking on locations you want your character to go, and navigating menus with taps of the cursor, but it’s really designed to be entirely keyboard based, clacks of the numpad and plentiful hotkeys summoning to mind days when mouse pointers did not even exist.

For me, that’s easy to get used to. For all its complexity, Qud at its most basic is a straightforward game of walking around, revealing the map with each step, and directing your little warrior into the nearest angry lizard. Approach it both as a grand sci-fantasy epic and as a dry, knowing comedy. The tone is exemplified by the game’s tutorial, which sees you emerge from a training cave into Joppa village. “Everything you learned in the cave applies here too,” it says reassuringly. “Villages are like caves with very high roofs.”

If you can get the simple rules of movement and combat, everything else will follow. For long-toothed roguelikers this won’t be hard, but I want people who’ve never played something like this to also reconsider their doubts. It’s got a lot going on, yes. But nothing moves unless you do. Nothing will hit you until you take a step yourself. You can look around and examine all items, monsters, and tiles around you with a tap of ‘L’. In its pause-by-pause way, the traditional roguelike is a hugely forgiving thing.

Until, of course, it is not. A sign of quality in games can sometimes be divined in the variety of its deaths. “You were frozen to death by an ice frog,” I am sometimes told by Caves Of Qud. “You were killed by a chaingun turret.” Most downfalls are the result of violent encounters with hostile creatures, as you tap your character in their direction, hoping for a lucky melee strike. But there are other ways to triumph over enemies than directly bashing them with a mace in each of your four mutant hands. Talk to them? Sure, try it. But also: fire muskets, throw grenades, rend minds with a mental attack. A lot of the time death will come in the form of a desperate final button press towards (or away from) your foe. It will often go badly. “You were bitten to death by Bakabobukubuyuboo,” I have been told, “the renowned honey-loving bear.”

There is no end to the perishing, with demises ranging from the mundane to the extraordinary. I once got lost in a winding canyon for thirty minutes, only to be impaled by a non-descript chameleon that caught me off-guard. Later, I was gas-bombed by my parallel universe twin, aka “salty bloody evil Borkubine”. He’s “salty” and “bloody” because we got into a knife fight in a mound of rock salt, and both of us became covered in the stuff. He’s “evil” because he is not me.

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/caves-of-qud-review-5.jpg?width=2048&height=2048&fit=bounds&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“The player’s hostile twin, “Evil Borkubine” is attacking. - 9”>

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

In that life, I was playing as a quill-covered, multi-limbed spiderfreak I named “Borkubine”. You can create your own character, see, mixing and matching an astounding array of abilities (or you can choose from a bunch of presets). I was also making use of the forgiving checkpoints in “roleplay” mode, which let you treat any village as a save point. But in “classic mode”, Qud is more unforgiving and traditional - no skills, items, or riches are carried over when you die, and there is no save-scumming. True to roguelike form, you perish and that is that. You come to value your sharpshooting skills, your investment in armour, or a love for your tactical bubbleshield. Then, in a single lapse of attention, all those shiny upgrades and special weapons are gone.

It elicits a state of tense freedom. In one sense, classic mode makes you want to cling to your fragile life, even if it means acts of bullet-dodging desperation. But seen from the perspective of a nothing-to-lose Rogue diehard, you will find existential liberty in re-rolling a random character just to experiment with new toys and the game’s many “mutations”. (The “Daily” mode is the perfect extension of this, offering the same random start to every player.) Let’s see, what do we have this time? Slime glands that’ll spit toxins? Pyrokinesis? Or perhaps something called “Quantum Jitters” - a defect which will periodically tear space and time accidentally asunder. As lucky dips go, it is a violently exciting assortment of treats.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

Mutations are not all combat-focused. An amphibious skin means you are well-liked by frogs everywhere but require two-thirds more water than normal (you also pour it all over yourself instead of drinking it). Photosynthetic skin will let you sate your hunger by basking in the sunlight, instead of eating meals like you normally do. Handy, but then eating food is not in itself a chore. Basic meals are randomly generated at any campfire. The game simply “whips up” something. Tonight, dinner is “a dram of rust, a nip of gunpowder, a terra mung bean, and a contralateral sesame seed”. Delicious.

This is just one example of the esoteric worldbuilding that emerges steadily in the messages that gather like layers of sediment in the action log next to your map. This is where you’re told how combat is going (“The bloody snapjaw scavenger misses you with her bite!”) But it’s also a list of all the simple matters of the day. “The way is blocked by a brinestalk wall,” it might say when you bump into a house. “The wet glowfish has nothing to trade,” it’ll inform you when you try to do your shopping in a pond.

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/caves-of-qud-review-2.jpg?width=2048&height=2048&fit=bounds&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“A crocodile hisses at the player, telling them to “reap the senate”. - 11”>

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

For those disinclined to pimply lore, the reliance on reading messages to set the scene may test the attention span. But I feel like Qud’s appearance will already have scared away anyone with a lack of patience for the BBC Micro baroque. It is not really ASCII art, but it does feel ASCII-inspired, the tiny 16x24 pixel sprites sometimes resembling ancient undeciphered hieroglyphs instead of fully realised birdfolk or vine farmers. It is a kind of book-reading magic that Qud does, outsourcing all the heaviest graphics to the player’s brain.

And anyway the actual text is a great example of otherworldly video game language. The kind that has evolved separately to mainstream action adventures with all their cinematic dialogue. “Worms are interested in hearing gossip about them,” you’re told in an exhaustive menu that tracks your reputation with everything on the planet. “Crabs dislike you… You aren’t welcome in their holy places.” There is an expansive and austere comedy in any game that will track your reputation with just about every type of being from salamanders to goatfolk. The merchant’s guild, the water barons, and the villagers of every settlement in the land - these will all accept a “water ritual” as a means of bonding and improving reputation, and will all maintain some opinion of you as you explore, graverob, and offend.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

And offend you will, if only because you may not know what you’re otherwise supposed to be doing. Those who crave firm direction in questing may feel adrift at the introduction, a single line that reads: “You embark for the Caves of Qud.” There’s a main quest which is really a chain of quests that don’t always appear to be related to each other (the final parts are the main attraction of this month’s 1.0 release ). But they’re still worth doing as a beginner, because they offer a lot of XP to be pumped into unlocking new mutations. And they’ll get you on the loot train, choo-choo-ing all the way to a full suit of ogre fur armour, or whatever equipment is dropped in your game world. One of the more confusing selling points of Qud is its procedural generation. Or to be more accurate, its partial procedural generation.

The game is not 100% random every run. The big world map will always look the same (the salt dunes are always to the west, the spire is always to the north). But at the down-to-tile level of a little guy walking around the countryside, the caves themselves will be different, the loot randomised, the enemy types altered. Villages and other important locations remain the same, but the “history” of the world is random. You can see why things might get confusing. This combo of random and unchanged elements can feel inscrutable, even as it adds mystery and variety.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

And what variety. There is a depth and colour I won’t be able to communicate in a single review. You can get lost while you cross the world map, and will be forced to explore new areas to get your bearings. A bloated leech may just as easily be employed as a hired guard (“I’m watching you, traveler”) as attack you wordlessly in a dank cave. Books you find may be called things like “Aphorisms About Birds” or “On the Origins and Nature of the Dark Calculus” or “OPERATING MANUAL FOR LARGE CREATURE” (these are not randomly titled but they are randomly placed and grant XP when donated to a special librarian).

There is a peculiar joy to working out the rules of this world. The game is a mechanism in and of itself. You can fall down a wiki hole about Qud in the same way you can fall down a wiki hole in life. And you will go there in search of answers, without a doubt. But seeing things firsthand before seeking a guide is, for me, a more enjoyable way to discover the world and its rules. I have gotten badly hammered on cave wine, the symbolic spritework of the world getting jumbled beyond recognition in a perfect replication of the sickening dizziness of reading while drunk. I have teleported as an act of desperate escape, only to misfire and appear in a locked room with seemingly no way out (I took advantage of the peace, made a campfire and ate some chickpeas). But my favourite Qud-tale is about a goatman called Indix. Stick with me here - I know this review is long - this is my final effort to convince you that you should play this game.

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/caves-of-qud-review-9.jpg?width=2048&height=2048&fit=bounds&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“The player speaks to the goatman Indix, who is a “pariah” - one of the dialogue options can ask him why… - 14”>

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

I find myself in a mushroom village, where a stocky goatman is standing watch. I approach him and say hello. He is known as Indix, the “pariah”. I ask why he’s called that - “pariah”. But he warns me not to ask again. I take the hint and change the subject. I want to be on good terms with these villagers. I am a musketeer. I need any bullets they have to sell.

So I turn to the water ritual - the universal ritual for boosting relationships. After I slurp with Indix, I’m told that “pariahs” the world over now think more highly of me. Unfortunately, all other goatfolk now absolutely hate my guts, just for fraternising with this one excommunicated goatlad. I don’t know why he’s so hated by his people, but maybe it has something to do with the horn that is cut from his head and now hangs around his waist giving him - says the game - “the distinction of being the only warrior to wear his own appendage as a trophy”.

My curiosity is too much. I ask the capricious capricorn why he is a “pariah”. What did he do? Again he warns me not to go there, it isn’t a subject he wants to talk about. No, really, I say, I gotta know. He reacts to my prying questions, let us say, passionately.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kitfox Games

I immediately begin sprinting away. It is a wise decision. Hostile enemies are given rankings of difficulty. A dog-like snapjaw might be “easy”, a centipede could be “average”. The goatman is described as “impossible”. I am not doing this today. I don’t have the time to be decapitated by a violent astrological sign of a man who wears his own horn as a belt buckle. I will get my musket balls elsewhere, thanks. As I flee, he works himself into a “blood frenzy” and launches something red and powerful-looking at me. It misses, and I hightail it out of there. I spend the rest of my (short) life hated by all goats, and will later die at the hands of another band of goatfolk who despised me on-sight, all because of this single faux-pas.

This was one funny disaster from one of dozens of lives. Caves Of Qud is as deep as any Bethesda open world RPG (technically 2 billion floors deep ) and funnelled through a rich prism of randomness possible thanks to the limited scope of its visuals. It is complex and compelling enough that many glowing Steam reviews are left only after hundreds of hours of playtime. By contrast, I have barely made a dent. Yes, you will have to embrace and decipher the lore-riddled lingo. And you will have to stoically acknowledge infinite death as a means of learning the arcane rules of survival. But persevere and you will discover a realm hundreds of times more vibrant than the dark inky green of its screens.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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