“Demo Disk” – Cuphead (2017) [Steam]

Demo Disk is a series of first impressions posts for new releases and quick opinions.

I’m late to the party as ever, but with the recently released DLC, I’ve decided to go ahead and finally tackle Cuphead! Prior to playing Cuphead on my personal computer, I had only experienced playing it briefly at friends’ houses and watching others play it online. As of writing this, I’ve only beaten one boss on the second isle.

Cuphead: “Don’t Deal With The Devil” is a 2017 indie run-n-gun platformer developed by Studio MDHR. The game stands out due to its 1930’s aesthetic, from its graphical style to retrospective dialogue and sound effects. Additionally, Cuphead is known for being a difficult game to conquer, as boss fights can be tough to survive, and the player only has a standard 3 hit points.

Here’s a real high-class bout!

Cuphead is a very rewarding game despite its difficulty. As a player, you’ll improve against foes through repetition, learning to avoid different attack patterns. I haven’t felt that any bosses have been unforgiving, but as someone who’s only completed the first isle, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. I love side-scrolling ‘shmup’ (side-scrolling shoot ’em up) segments– when Mugman pilots from a plane for some bosses. Particularly, I’m referring to “Threatenin’ Zeppelin,” the level where you fight Hilda Berg (screenshot above). Alternatively, fighting against Ribby and Croaks (screenshot below) proved to be the most difficult boss on this island. I mostly struggled to dodge their attacks while one of them rolled across the screen. Most other fights I had been able to complete within the thirty minutes or so.

I had more trouble with the second run-n-gun level, “Treetop Run,” than any of the boss levels on the first isle. I spent over an hour trying to get through it before eventually giving up. The flying beetles in “Treetop Run” were frustrating enough due to them floating in inconvenient places. I don’t really believe the level was very difficult in hindsight but just frustrating. I picked up the game a couple of days later and it took me two tries to complete the level.

Final Thoughts

So that’s just about it with my experience with Cuphead thus far. I will keep chopping at this on the side as I play through other games. I’ve been wanting to play Cuphead for a few years now so it’s nice that I’ve finally gotten my feet wet. From what I’ve played from the second isle it does seem like it’s going to ramp up on that difficulty. I’m confident enough that I’ll be able to get through it all. If I like it enough, I’ll maybe try that new DLC one day!

I’m Zerinus, a hobbyist video game lover, music lover, writer, and a professional in IT. You can find me at @DivineZerinus on Twitter.