CUPHEAD: The Delicious Last Course is now being served, as a final helping of content and sendoff for the Indie darling beloved by many in the gaming community.
With a new playable character, plenty of new boss fights, and much more of the incredible hand-drawn animations and captivating scores, Cuphead is back in the best kind of way.
I admittedly never would have thought that I’d be excited for a Cuphead expansion considering the immense difficulties I had beating the original content, but Studio MDHR has truly mastered its gameplay loop, specifically in regards to the level of satisfaction you achieve after defeating each challenge thrown at you.
It was an absolute pleasure to jump back into the world of Cuphead, so allow me to unpack for you with you can expect from the newest content.
This review is primarily for the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and I will be using some terminology and light-spoilers that relate to the standard and expansion versions of the game, so bear this in mind before reading on!
One of the major new additions to Cuphead’s latest expansion is the introduction of the third playable character (Ms Chalice) which the entire story revolves around. The story is relatively straightforward, as Cuphead & Mugman set out to help Ms Chalice in her quest to regain her physical form, by defeating bosses and collecting their unique ingredients to give to Chef Saltbaker, who can make her physical form permanent.
It’s a well-structured story that transitions between the animated dialogue scenes and the animated gameplay flawlessly.
Sporting a unique and slightly more user-friendly (easy) skillset, Ms Chalice is a welcomed addition to the roster. She’s an absolute joy to play as, offering the unique opportunity to double-jump and dodge roll (the extra health point doesn’t go astray either).
The overall manoeuvrability of her play-style just feels really well structured, but she certainly doesn’t make the game a walk in the park; if anything it just gives you a few extra seconds of life against the increasingly tough boss fights thrown at you.
Speaking of which; the boss battles presented in Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course are everything you want from this style of game.
Aesthetically and mechanically, it’s a big step-up from an already near-perfect formula, in which I can’t identify a single flaw in the countless fights. My skills were constantly prodded, tested and broken throughout my play through, as the bosses presented throughout are undoubtedly more challenging than that which are presented in the original game.
From fighting of sentient icy-poles, to defeating the entirety ‘moonshine-mob (led by their mob-boss snail), each and every fight was an utter joy.
One small aspect I’ll touch on briefly for both the original and expansion versions of Cuphead is the exciting fact that the dying breed of couch co-op is available for all platforms.
It’s the absolute perfect environment for this kind of game-play, as you can simultaneously celebrate your victories or weep in your constant failures with one of your closest friends (I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t add in the option for three-player co-op with the introduction of a new character, so I’ll give some negative brownie points for this).
For anyone who enjoys a challenging run-and-gun style of game, I couldn’t recommend a much more memorable and enjoyable gaming experience than Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course.
It’s upsetting that this is the final piece of the Cuphead puzzle, but what a perfect send-off to an Indie gem worth getting your hands on. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is available today on all major platforms, and you can view the launch trailer below.
