Hey friends, It's the beginning of a new era of Caves of Qud development. We are pleased to announce that the first expansion pack, Caves of Qud: Diaspora is releasing into Early Access on December 9th for $14.99. Watch the announcement teaser for a first-look at the new genotypes and a new track from Craig Hamilton:
And go to Diaspora's Steam page to wishlist it right now!
We're launching Diaspora in EA in order to give the time and space needed for our vision to come to fruition. What that means for you: there will be a set of core features included at launch, and we will continue to update and evolve those features over the course of 2027 into the final full-featured expansion. This will look a lot like the Early Access development of pre-1.0 Caves of Qud.
Diaspora’s core features at Early Access launch:
Playable animals & plants: Choose from one of several animal and plant stocks and customize your character as before. Play as a dog, cat, frog, chameleon, vine, tree, etc... New mutations: Choose new animal and plant mutations to outfit your character. Create an even more protean Mutated Human than before, or upgrade your animal's Species Traits with new animal mutations. Claws, Muzzle, Tail, etc. Take your animal's Tail and mutate it into a Prehensile Tail!
New true kin arcology & castes: Play as one of the denizens of the Great Rondures on the Ocean of Iber — Propeller, Starsteer, Man of Kelp, or Delphine. New weapon type: Spears - attack from two tiles away! New creatures & items: A host of new creatures have migrated to the surface and subterranean habitats of Qud. And along with them, artifacts of disparate cultures. Dromad caravans & mountable saltbacks: Mount the saltback and treat with the dromads on their motile shell-bazaars. Better road & river systems: Road and river networks use a much more sophisticated set of worldbuilding algorithms to snake their way through Qud. Follow a road and there's a good chance you'll arrive at an interesting location.
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[p align="justify"]Even More Coming in 2027:
New questline: Centered on the migrants’ journey into Qud and an idiosyncratic dromad known as Je'ome the Bounty... Foxen and snailfolk: Two new humanoid factions Many new creatures, items, item mods, biomes, cooking ingredients, diseases, and fungal infections More to discover: Roaming mega-caravans, underground villages, multi-zone dungeons/arcological spaces, new music and more…
FAQ
Why Early Access a DLC?
Two big reasons. One, Caves of Qud is an extremely complicated game with many interlocking systems & features and lots of unpredictable, emergent gameplay. Diaspora will add a whole new layer to that. Just like with the base game, our approach to building something this complex is to have the community stress test it the whole way.
Two, Caves of Qud development is slow. It takes a long time and a lot of love to hit the quality bar we set for ourselves. We don't want to be beholden to a timeline that forces us to compromise the expansion's vision. And so, by working in Early Access, we're able to fund Diaspora's development as it happens, watering the flower as it blooms.
How long will early access last?
We don't know for sure, because getting it right will always be more important to us than hitting a time deadline, and some ideas need to slow bake. Roughly, though — on the order of one year.
What will be in the full version when the DLC leaves Early Access?
The full version will expand the Early Access features and add several new feature arcs. On the expansion side, this means: more playable plants & animals, more mutations and cybernetic implants, more creatures, more skills, more items & equipment, and more elaborations on dromad caravans. On the new side: a big questline involving the population influxes of the diaspora, new humanoid species & factions, underground villages, new dynamic quests, mega-dungeon/arcological spaces, roaming mega-caravans, new biomes, new fungal infections, new diseases, new music, and more.
You've said before that each DLC expansion will be paired with an update to the base game. When can we expect that base game update?
Probably when Diaspora comes out of Early Access, or slightly earlier. Until then, the updates that will eventually go into the base game will be available as part of Diaspora's Early Access, since those updates will be driving a lot of Diaspora's content.
Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
We haven't decided yet. It will either remain $14.99 or increase a bit.
What will the Early Access experience be like?
We expect Diaspora's development to follow a similar pattern to the base game's development: Frequent updates, usually weekly or monthly if we're heads down on a big patch. The expansion will be changing and growing a lot over the course of development life. Expect some instability, but also a lot of vitality. Just like with the base game, we have a strong vision we are building toward. But Qud is too complicated for us to map out in its entirely on paper, and so we'll be watching and adapting as the community gets into the new features. That said, we will be releasing an EA roadmap when we launch in December. Keep on the look out!
What about other languages and a mobile port? Are those still happening?
Yes! On their own timelines. We'll continue to update you about them as we have news.
That's all for now, friends. We're excited for you to join us on this journey. Wishlist Diaspora and stay tuned here. You can also follow development on the Official Caves of Qud Discord or the Kitfox Discord.
Live and drink, -Freehold + Kitfox
