Cuphead – Love/Hate

I wanted to love Cuphead. I really did. But I can’t quite love it, I only like it a lot. In part this is because I thought – just as many of you – that I was buying a fun, cartoon platformer with somewhat twisted but oh-so-beautiful visuals. What I got instead is freaking Dark Souls 4.

Cuphead is the first game and the undeniable work of love from Studio MDHR. It began development in 2010 and was released in 2017. Seven years to create a platformer seems like too much, but only if you’re not aware of the amount of work this game demanded. The bigger slice of this cartoon cake goes to the visuals, with every single frame of animation being hand-drawn in the style of 1930s cartoons from Disney or Fleischer Studios (Betty Boop, remember?). It’s a task that would make the average person go insane, and easily explains the long development time. The end result is like nothing you have ever seen before… except in said 30s cartoons. But those weren’t playable.

The entire game has this unusual 1930s aesthetics, from the intro to the fabulous jazz soundtrack and voice overs, which also sound “old”. The overall presentation is nothing short of fantastic and we’re betting you won’t be seeing anything quite like this in many, many years. You may see other stylish platformers being praised, but not one that is so obsessed with detail, with the creation of an animated world that treasures even the human flaws as part of its nature and identity. It’s lovely in its own perverted way, and every boss and backdrop is its own reward, the motivation to keep going. Avoid spoilers at any cost if you want to soak in the blissful feeling of discovery that Cuphead delivers.

And then die. A lot. Some players compare Cuphead to retro games of the 80s and the 90s, but I don’t think that most games from those decades had this kind of frustration rate. A few, for sure, but most of them were usually painful due to the lack of a proper save system, not because you were bombarded with bullets and all kinds of projectiles every few seconds.

I also bought Cuphead expecting a platformer, but this game is in fact a succession of boss fights, except for a few levels. Most of the time it’s not a matter of running and shooting from left to right, but of standing in a single screen and avoiding whatever the boss is throwing at you. I didn’t quite expect to get the platforming hellspawn of Shadow of the Colossus and Dark Souls, but Cuphead is pretty much that. To be fair, there are some boss fights where you are piloting a plane and these change the gameplay style quite a bit. It’s still the same devilish difficulty, but it provides a nice change of pace.

With all that is happening on-screen, adding a two-player co-op mode almost sounds like madness, but they pulled it. Cuphead is joined by Mugman on their journey to reclaim souls for the devil and his lackey King Dice as payment for a lost bet. This puts a surprising twist to the game and adds to the fun, in a day and age where local co-op is more and more unusual.

Cuphead is somewhat linear, but not completely. The top-down perspective world map allows you to choose your next destination, with two or more available at the same time, surely in a bid to provide an alternative to that freaking boss that killed you dozens of times already.

But is Cuphead just as difficult as everyone is saying? Well… it depends on your skills and patience. It’s a matter of trial and error, learning patterns and twitch reflexes. You can bet that the more you play, the better you will get. Focus and what seemed like an unsurmountable challenge will soon become the easiest boss you have faced in the game. Even if it throws some curve balls at you, such as the randomness of the attack patterns, you’ll eventually get the hang of it. Just don’t neglect the coins that are used to buy power-ups, as some of these are vital for progressing – I don’t know how someone can live with themselves without purchasing the invisible dash.

But now for the answer: Yes, Cuphead is extremely difficult, and not aimed at the casual gamer or the faint of heart. For the most resilient of you, it provides a great challenge, one that is extremely rewarding in a way that very few games manage to be. If you finish this game, it is absolutely acceptable to brag to your friends, rub it in their faces and make some childish noises.

If at first Cuphead seemed destined to become a cult classic – because it’s different, it’s bold, it’s punishment in the shape of a videogame –, now it’s looking like a global phenomenon and a deserved one at that. It’s not for everyone, but it deserves to be acclaimed by everyone, even those who don’t like playing it. It’s a triumph, once again from an indie studio, and its authors deserve to be rolling around in money. Or, at least, for a little bit, as Cuphead fans are already asking for more. Maybe the promised boss expansion packs that include 10 to 15 bosses will actually be a thing, or who knows, a full-fledged sequel. Come what may, I just hope it won’t take another seven years to hit the stores.

I don’t quite love Cuphead. I have this extreme feeling of admiration and respect, but I can’t love something that keeps hurting me, punishing me, bringing me down. I guess I’ll keep coming to it from time to time for a few more tries until I decide that it’s time to move on. I’ll never forget it, but I have my pride.

There’s a real life lesson in there, guys.

Final rating: 9.0/10

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