Cuphead Reviews
Cuphead delivers a carefully curated balance of gorgeous hand-drawn visuals and unforgiving gameplay. This heavily stylized title is an instant classic.
Cuphead made me feel more good and more bad than any other game I've played in the last several years. I swore, laughed, and hollered with delight. I hated it (and my own fingers) for long stretches but, having finished, I realise that's more or less the point – I emerged from all that pain smiling. Rather than simply offering the player what they want, Cuphead makes them earn that right – the rewards, if you can hack the tests, are absolutely worth it. Cuphead is incredible for more than just its looks. But before you dive in, make sure you actually want a game that plays like this, and not just a game that looks like this.
A brutal game that's equal parts frustrating and exhilarating, delivered in the mesmerising style of a prohibition-era cartoon.
Not just for the masochists, Cuphead is a demanding but supremely rewarding modern 2D shooter that looks and sounds fantastic.
A potent cocktail of authentic 1930s aesthetics, jazzy tunes, ingenious boss designs, and gameplay founded on the fundamentals inherent to the best 2D shooters. Cuphead sure is swell.
Cuphead is a singular experience. Studio MDHR knew what it wanted to make, then went ahead and made it. A tough boss-rush game based on classic animation archetypes? It shouldn’t work, but here we are. It’s fun to play, and possibly even as satisfying to watch, since you can fully absorb what’s going on screen. It would have been easy to dial down the overall difficulty (and I wouldn’t have complained), but that wouldn’t have been Cuphead, either. Stick with it, is all I can say. We don't often get something that will make you laugh and grind your teeth in such close proximity.
Cuphead has been a longtime coming, and it's great to see that it lives up to its initial promises.
When I think of my time with Cuphead, instead of frustration I'll remember the dozens of tiny breakthroughs, when the impossible became possible, and a game that built an identity around difficulty helped me to feel, however briefly, undefeatable.
Come for the beautiful art, stay because you smashed all your controllers.
It's delightful and fun and worth the effort it'll take to clear.
Those with a high tolerance for repeating difficult 2D shooting challenges should buy it. Everyone else should try it in Simple mode or just by watching on YouTube.
And yet, while there will likely be times where it seems like the game has cheated you out of a successful parry or likewise isn't sure what counts as a hit or not, it goes without saying that for a studio that had to remortgage just to finish it, what Studio MDHR have crafted here over the course of three years is a special, once-in-a-generation type of game.
As frustrating as that can be, it was why I found myself punching the air in jubilation after difficult bosses. And they're all bloody difficult – but I wouldn't have it any other way. If that sounds enticing rather than off-putting to you, then I can unreservedly recommend Cuphead.
Cuphead was an absolute masterpiece when it launched on Xbox 18 months ago and nothing has been sacrificed in its move to the Switch. It's the same visually jaw-dropping, aurally delightful, knuckle-whiteningly difficult game it was on Microsoft's console and the Switch's library is all the better for its presence. Its focus on intense boss battles won't be to everyone's tastes, but as long as you know what you're getting yourself into we can't recommend it enough.
Cuphead is one of the best examples of a game that was “perfect for Switch” actually getting a port that is also perfect. I expected to see Cuphead on Switch (and even PS4) eventually but never thought I’d get such a fantastic conversion on Switch.
A stunning visual feast that belies an intense level of difficulty. Cuphead won't be for everyone, but it's still a very good game.
There's definitely a point where it all becomes a bit too much, but Cuphead will best most games in how it looks and sounds, and defeating that boss that you once deemed unbeatable is glorious.
Cuphead looks great visually and musically, and will be a great test of your patience as well as your platform skills. There are some loots you can win if you have the patience to do that, but even without it you can still enjoy your time in the game. It's a game that makes you feel triumphant when you finish a battle for leaders, and it's a game that will punish you hard if you do not watch well what's happening on the screen.
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But on a technical and artistic level, Cuphead is a stunning achievement in both gaming and interactive art, and unlike anything I've ever played before. Some of the game's levels had me on the edge of sanity trying to best them, and I ended Cuphead with a few sore spots on my thumbs because of it. More importantly though, I had a smile on my face the whole time through it all.