Caves of Qud shares Nintendo Switch release date, new trailer

Thanks to publisher Kitfox Games and developer Freehold Games, we have the release date for Caves of Qud on Nintendo Switch. It’ll be out on February 16, 2026.

Caves of Qud was confirmed for Nintendo’s older system last summer and was planned to launch at the end of the year. However, it ended up being pushed back – it was most recently scheduled for last month, but suffered another small delay.

For those that need a refresher, here’s some information about the title:

Caves of Qud is a science fantasy roguelike epic steeped in retrofuturism, deep simulation, and swathes of sentient plants. Come inhabit a living, breathing world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Decide: is it a dying earth, or is it on the verge of rebirth?

Do anything and everything. Caves of Qud is a deeply simulated, biologically diverse, richly cultured world.

Key Features

• Deep Physical Simulation – Don’t like the wall blocking your way? Dig through it with a pickaxe, or eat through it with your corrosive gas mutation, or melt it to lava. Yes, every wall has a melting point.
• Fully Simulated Creatures – Every monster and NPC is as fully simulated as the player. That means they have levels, skills, equipment, faction allegiances, and body parts. So if you have a mutation that lets you, say, psionically dominate a spider, you can traipse through the world as a spider, laying webs and eating things.
• Dynamic Faction System – Pursue allegiances with over 70 factions: apes, crabs, trees, robots, and highly entropic beings, just to name a few.
• Richly Detailed Science Fantasy Setting – Over fifteen years of worldbuilding have led to a rich, weird, labyrinthine, one-of-a-kind storyworld, layered on top of the simulation, all for you to explore. Live and drink, friend.
• Tactical Gameplay – Turn-based, sandbox exploration and combat offers as many solutions as you and your mutations, implants, artifacts, and skills are creative enough to invent.
• RPG Elements – Quests, NPCs, villages, historic sites; some dynamic and some handwritten, interwoven to produce a transportative RPG experience.
• Atmospheric Original Soundtrack – Over two hours of otherworldly music to delve to.

Character Creation

Caves of Qud has one of the most expressive character creators of all time.

Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a true kin descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes—the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul, or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon.

Build your character out of:

• Over 70 Mutations—outfit yourself with wings, two heads, four arms, flaming hands, teleportation, the power to clone yourself…
• Dozens of cybernetic implants (and more to find as treasure)—night vision, translucent skin, carbide fists, spring-loaded ankle tendons…
• 24 castes and kits from across the social order of Qud and beyond Moghra’yi, the Great Salt Desert
  Too overwhelmed to build a character from scratch? Choose one of nine preset characters and start your adventure right away. Then return to character creation when you are ready.

Modes

Play one of four modes:

• Classic – Like other traditional roguelikes, this mode has permadeath, meaning you lose your character when you die. Extremely challenging even for experts.
• Roleplay – Play it like an RPG. Save your progress at checkpoints located in settlements.
• Wander – Focus on exploration. Most creatures will not attack you, you don’t gain experience by killing, but you DO gain experience by discovering new locations and treating with legendary creatures.
• Daily – One chance with a fixed character and world seed. How long will you survive?

We have a new release date trailer for Caves of Qud on Nintendo Switch below.

Release Date Trailer

The game will be hitting the Nintendo eShop at launch. Find more Nintendo Switch coverage here.