Listen, it could have even been the tutorial, I’m not sure. But whatever it was, it was an early level, and it was absolutely brutal. I’d never played Cuphead before - in fact I think I’m the only person I know who hasn’t - and as I began my journey through a simple forest area it felt pretty natural and intuitive. It is a platformer steeped in history, after all.
But then the enemies started flying at me from all angles, many of them spitting rocks and other deadly projectiles. I kept forgetting you can’t jump on them, it’s a run and gun action platformer, so I had to spin right and left constantly, then shoot up, then shoot down, then jump to avoid an oncoming leapy guy. My health bar was at four, then three, then two, then one. I died. I died again. I died again.
Marija Moldenhauer, artist and producer on Cuphead, took pity on me and agreed that the learning curve was steep. “It’s inspired by retro games,” she said. “So we didn’t just want it to be a walk in the park.” But I’d completed Bloodborne and Dark Souls, I lamented. Surely I’m not a terrible gamer? “I do find that if you’re generally proficient [at games], you’re still struggle at first," said Moldenhaur. "But then the curve is steep in that way that it clicks and you get it and it’s easy going from there, and then you’ll encounter a new boss and start all over again.”
And it did start to click. Like the Souls games (and more importantly, every game from my youth), Cuphead’s platforming levels are all about learning enemy patterns and behaviours. Soon, I started knowing when to shoot the leapy guys, and that I had to crouch down to get the blobby guys, and that the timings of Cuphead’s version of Piranha plants were regular. Despite being hurtled back to the beginning of the level after each death, every inch forward felt like a small victory.
“Part of the appeal of challenging games is the reward,” said Moldenhauer. When you get a little farther - when you beat that level it feels way better to beat it on your 10th try, versus your first.”
I beat the level just as I was told my time was up. It was a genuine rush, despite my D- rating on the cruel score card at the end. My final run was a thing of beauty, a dance of near-misses and (semi) graceful shooting; Cuphead has always looked polished, but it plays with the same degree of shine. It’s clear that the extra time StudioMDHR needed to make the game exactly as it imagined has paid off.
“It was never a hard decision for us to delay the game,” said Moldenhauer. “It’s our first game, we’re a brand new studio with a very small team and we all wear multiple hats. So the important thing was to make it right. We were empathetic to people who were looking forward to playing it when we first announced it, so in that vein it was a hard decision, but we wanted to deliver with our vision intact, with no compromising whatsoever.”
After my hands on with Cuphead, it’s clear that it won’t compromise, either. And that’s a very good thing.
Lucy O'Brien is Games and Entertainment Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. Follow her on Twitter.
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