Caves of Qud: Diaspora Expansion Enters Early Access on December 9

Caves of Qud is getting its first expansion, Diaspora, on December 9, when Freehold Games and publisher Kitfox Games launch it into Early Access on Steam.

Diaspora, announced today by Kitfox, adds the ability to start a playthrough as a mutated animal or plant: including, yes, a sapient tree. It inverts the existing mutation system so you can begin as a tree and grow toward a stranger human form, sprout wings, scorpion tails, or any number of weirder combinations. The expansion seeds new creatures and artifacts throughout Qud, makes the camelfolk’s saltback tortoise steeds mountable for the first time, and arrives alongside a fresh roster of mutant animal and plant stocks.

Freehold Games plans a roughly year-long Early Access run before the 1.0 launch. Roadmap items already confirmed for the window include a new multi-step questline, new factions and underground villages, “roaming, seasonal mega-caravans,” more items and creatures, more mutant stocks, and (per PC Gamer) new fungal infections. Pricing and a final 1.0 release date have not been announced yet.

The base Caves of Qud shipped out of Early Access on December 5, 2024 and PC Gamer named it the best roguelike of 2024. Diaspora will cost extra on top of the base game; Kitfox has not yet listed a price on the Steam store page.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report