#Cuphead gameplay series

For instance, after nearly a dozen hours as Cuphead, I still haven’t managed to perfect the counter jump. Some things are easy enough to learn while others take a lot of practice. This is a game designed with challenge in mind, and an easy to goal to lure you. If the idea of playing the same bosses several times each isn’t appealing to you, or getting annoyed that you didn’t quite react in time, there are other games better suited. Unlike Dark Souls, there is no grind that can improve your character before the fights, no levels to ding or equipment to loot.

#Cuphead gameplay series

If it were a platformer, even a challenging one, I’d be quicker to recommend it, but not everyone will be enthralled by a series of boss battles.

Having said all that, this won’t be a game for everyone. Like Bioshock Infinite's Dimwit and Duke, it feels period accurate even if we know that isn’t the case. Heavy-handed moral overtones against a backdrop of slightly unnerving characters feel like something out of the 1920’s. Having gambled their souls against the devil, Cuphead and his friend Mughead are now collecting souls for Lucifer in an attempt to save themselves. Even the story feels like a throwback to a fabled time that none of us have any first-hand experience with. Everything from the backgrounds to the way the characters move with big expression gestures feels true to the medium it's emulating. Taking inspiration from those old cartoons we’ve seen referenced in media for years, Cuphead lets you live it. The animation, soundtrack and atmosphere of the game are all just outstanding.

Every death is a lesson you can bring to the next fight, and quitting before you defeat the boss feels wholly unsatisfying when you’re confident you could beat it with one more go.īut then, like me, you’ll always be racing to find the next boss anyway. That might be why it feels so addictive to keep coming back to. Moves are often telegraphed with more than enough time to react, and each boss has a particular rhythm that syncs with its movements making anticipation easier.Īll of this does mean that you will have to fight them several times, and even once you’ve learned the nature of the boss, you’ll then be putting your skills to the test, but never feeling overwhelmed. In fact, in a lot of the encounters, its melodramatic animation actually highlights what you should be doing. Cuphead doesn’t attempt to disguise the weaknesses or the attack pattern of its bosses. To say that they are difficult might not be very accurate because unlike some games the end is always in sight. Like so many game bosses, each one changes up their routine multiple times during the battle, forcing you to learn and relearn as you progress. In fact, for each boss, I probably had to spend ten minutes or so just memorizing their style. Every boss has their own pace, rhythm and attack patterns to master, and you will have to memorize all those to beat them. Early on you’ll be fighting casino frogs and psychic vegetables before moving on to clown rollercoaster hybrids and, finally, the devil himself. With so much focus on the dozens of bosses you’ll come across, there is a lot of imagination and variety in the boss fights. I think I would have preferred more of a chance to explore the absolutely incredible world they created, but the boss fights are addictive and challenging. What I thought was going to be a rock hard platformer with some insane looking bosses was actually more of a boss arena game with the occasional, intermittent platforming world. I did, however, encounter a lot of bosses.