The slick hand-drawn visuals of Cuphead are finally here, folks, and they’re going to belt the shit clean out of you for even thinking about having the choice for an easy mode.
I had a go of the game over the weekend and can easily say it’s one of the hardest I’ve ever played. After an hour, the only thing I managed to complete was the tutorial and a list of insults I’d been meaning to yell at my TV.
While most of the levels won’t allow you to change its difficulty, boss battles will give you the option of “simple” or “regular”, with the former removing a bunch of the extra challenges. Don’t let this fool you, it’s still incredibly hard and you’ll die a lot, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun time.
Each death should teach you how to play the game and change your approach to a level. You need to fail to improve, which is what I told myself every time I was compelled to hurl my controller across the living room.
Importantly, dying doesn’t make you want to quit, it only feeds the addiction, leaving you repeating “just one more try” over and over to absolutely no one. It’s maddening and delightful delivered in bite-sized portions like a just-hot-enough spice that hurts in the best way.
Once you emerge from the thick layer of rage, you’ll find a rewarding game that looks absolutely stunning. Success feels all the more sweet in the context of constant death, even if it’s only working out the easiest way to get past a tricky spot that floored you previously.
In development since 2010, everything you see has been hand-drawn to look like the cartoons of the 1930s. It’s a refreshing take on the platforming genre that makes Cuphead a real treat for the eyes, even though it can be hard to notice through fits of frustration at times.
It’s easy to assume, like me, that you just suck at it, but it looks like everyone’s feeling the burn.
#Cuphead ☕️ in a nutshell @SrSerpiente1 pic.twitter.com/g8ja4iQG7s
— Hazlo Bien Richar ✪ (@SrEdurs) October 2, 2017
Cuphead is a masterpiece. It’s addicting as hell, beautifully designed, and two hours in you want to kill yourself. My kind of game.
— Elvis The Alien (@ElvisTheAlienTV) October 2, 2017
I feel like in my pursuit to reclaim Cupheads soul, mine is being destroyed in the process..#Cuphead pic.twitter.com/dyI6inBvv7
— Ⓜasterchiefin (@Masterchiefin21) October 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/mrfeelswildride/status/914238858560135168
Me trying to sleep after playing too much cuphead pic.twitter.com/QIghclS7UR
— linzb0t 🐰 AnimeNorth M18 (@linzb0t) October 1, 2017
Cuphead is the blue-ringed octopus of the video game world – mesmerisingly beautiful, but will fuck you up good and proper. You can pick it up on Windows or Xbox One right bloody now. Suss the trailer below.
