'I'm not sure it was a rational decision': Caves of Qud devs ported the roguelike to Nintendo Switch because they're 'interested in solving impossible problems'

‘I’m not sure it was a rational decision’: Caves of Qud devs ported the roguelike to Nintendo Switch because they’re ‘interested in solving impossible problems’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Gaming Industry ‘We’re playing game designs from 2005 still’: Caves of Qud’s co-creator wants to build new kinds of sicko gameplay systems that’ll use all the processing potential being left untapped Card Game Playing Slay the Spire 2 and Esoteric Ebb on my ROG Ally all weekend turned me into a happy lump of swaddled gamer joy Roguelike Two of Mewgenics’ most memorable areas were directly inspired by a brutal and brilliant tabletop RPG RPG The dev behind my top upcoming RPG is a Hungarian chef who thought ‘if not now, then when?’ and learned coding from scratch to make his dream ‘eurojank’ masterpiece Roguelike I don’t care that there are no big new games in January because all I need now is Ball x Pit, the most underrated roguelike pinball game that I could spend all 744 hours of the month playing Roguelike ‘It’s weird in the industry right now’: Cult of the Lamb’s devs still have faith that the indie scene will continue dishing out ‘smash hits’ RPG ‘No matter what we changed, somebody was going to get mad:’ After hearing what an Obsidian dev went through to get RPG difficulty right, I get why nobody’s ever gotten RPG difficulty right RPG You can blame some of Deus Ex: Invisible War’s console limitations on the publisher’s ‘weird theories that FPS games don’t sell or RPGs don’t sell’ Roguelike To celebrate 2 years of Balatro, creator LocalThunk reflected on dropping out of an engineering program to make games: ‘Even if I could warn myself I’m not sure what I could have said to prepare for the insanity’ Games The best indie games on PC FPS The co-creators of Caves of Qud, our favorite roguelike fever dream, worked as narrative consultants on Marathon—which mostly meant they ‘got to sit there in the room and throw completely absurd ideas at the wall’ Gaming Industry CEO of Kitfox Games reckons hundreds of hours playing Civilization could be the secret to the Dwarf Fortress publisher’s success: ‘Maybe Kitfox wouldn’t be as successful if I didn’t know how to alternate between science trees and army defences’ Horror ‘Art and science and procreation, that’s about all life is good for:’ Two former freeware developers are still trying to keep it weird in an era when companies ‘sell games to people in 5-second clips’ Roguelike I don’t know why everyone’s suddenly making games inspired by Spore, but this roguelike twin-stick shooter might be the best attempt yet at realising the lost potential of the cell stage RPG Painkiller’s creator jokes that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s team of newbies has ‘ruined’ his worldview: ‘I don’t know what to believe anymore’ PopularSpring SaleClipsCrimson DesertMarathonBest PC gearQuizzes Games Roguelike Caves of Qud ‘I’m not sure it was a rational decision’: Caves of Qud devs ported the roguelike to Nintendo Switch because they’re ‘interested in solving impossible problems’ News By Wes Fenlon published 25 March 2026 Well well well, not so impossible to make an impossible port now, is it? 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Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Heavily systemic, decades-in-the-works roguelike RPG Caves of Qud belongs to a taxonomy of games that we, the experts at PC Gamer, professionally identify as “PC-ass PC games.” Other PC-ass PC games include Deus Ex, Dwarf Fortress, and EVE Online. Notably, none of those games can be played on the Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 videogame consoles—but as of February 2026, Caves of Qud can.It’s a port that doesn’t seem like it should work, given that Caves of Qud uses a healthy chunk of the keyboard by default. It also does not seem like Caves of Qud should run on the decade-old Switch at anything approaching a healthy framerate, considering how hard its systemic generation can push a CPU. And that’s exactly why it exists.”I’m not sure it’s a rational decision,” Qud co-creator Brian Bucklew said in a recent interview with PC Gamer. “I think we are interested in solving impossible problems in general, and the idea of making Caves of Qud work on Switch—initially, making