O Glorious Shekhinah! To conclude our two-part special on Caves of Qud, we turn our focus from the epic storyline to the deep gameplay mechanics and systems from the Salt Dunes of the west to the Deep Jungle in the east. Join us for a water ritual on how to negotiate with camel merchants before we clone them, managing our reputation with fuedal fungal lords, and how to navigate the differences between mutated humans, psychic warriors, and just straight-up cyborgs. Get those schematics ready as we disassemble one of the densest and deepest “traditional” “roguelike” games out there.

You can find the in depth tutorial series we did with BigSimple to learn this massive game here!

• 3:44 - Game stats
• 7:47 - One sentence description
• 08:09 - Gamma World tabletop RPG comparison
• 10:08 - Initial bouncing off & polish improvements
• 14:23 - Tutorial mode & learning curve discussion
• 19:31 - Character creation & mutation systems
• 24:48 - Story structure & main quest overview
• 29:17 - Death mechanics & permadeath options
• 34:52 - Open world exploration & procedural generation
• 40:15 - Village generation & faction systems
• 45:38 - Combat mechanics & weapon variety
• 51:22 - Skill tree & ability customization
• 56:47 - Water economy & trade systems
• 1:02:08 - Equipment & artifact identification
• 1:07:45 - Mutation system depth & combinations
• 1:13:31 - Enemy variety & creature encounters
• 1:19:03 - Interface improvements & accessibility features
• 1:24:38 - Save system exploits discussion
• 1:30:15 - Community & modding ecosystem
• 1:35:52 - Writing quality & atmospheric storytelling
• 1:41:27 - Endgame content & difficulty scaling
• 2:07:27 - Rankings & final thoughts
• 2:25:15 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Diablo

Contact us at grogpodzone@gmail.com!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Caves of Qud OST - Soundscape I

Outro music: Caves of Qud OST - Onward Romantique / Live and Drink