Emma Lee

“Cuphead” opens with a cutscene as the titular character Cuphead and his brother Mugman make a deal with the Devil after gambling their souls away at a casino. To keep living, they must capture the soul contracts of runaway debtors by fighting different bosses throughout the fictional islands of the Inkwell Isles, acquiring different powerups and abilities along the way.

Characters animated in the rubber-hose artstyle caught my eye as I scrolled through Steam for something fun to play during the summer. In the trailer, the scenes of a character dodging attacks reminds me of early Disney and Fleischer animations with its exaggerated movements and jazzy soundtrack. Little did I know what “Cuphead,” an indie run and gun game produced by Studio MDHR, had in store. 

“Cuphead” opens with a cutscene as the titular character Cuphead and his brother Mugman make a deal with the Devil after gambling their souls away at a casino. To keep living, they must capture the soul contracts of runaway debtors by fighting different bosses throughout the fictional islands of the Inkwell Isles, acquiring different powerups and abilities along the way. 

Each boss, paired with its own soundtrack and water-color backdrop, attacks the player in a way specific to the theme of the level. Baroness Von Bon Bon in Sugarland Shimmy (the names are all very tongue-in-cheek) summons her candy goons to chase you. In another level, Ribby and Croaks, the frogs in Clip Joint Calamity, pelt fireflies at you. 

The boss phases are cleverly designed such that the level tells a story. Although it’s difficult to notice the details of the different characters when everything in Inkwell Isles is trying to kill me, I found myself admiring just how dedicated the creators behind the game were in adhering to the 1930s atmosphere through the animation and artstyle. My favorite gag is in High Sea Hi-Jinx. The sea beast Cala Maria has a dead octopus for hair whose tentacles transform into snakes when she tries to turn the player into stone. Once you defeat her, one of her snakes starts playing a small violin. 

Composed by Kristofer Maddigan, the soundtrack is just as intricate and refreshing as Cuphead’s art style, each track performed by musicians live in the studio. A solo pianist, vocalists and a 13-piece big band (more than 40 musicians in total) make the Duke Ellington and Scott Joplin inspired scores come to life. Studio MDHR even used a tap dancer in the melody for one of the levels. Meshing the music with the animations truly sells the 1930s aesthetic Studio MDHR aimed to convey.

Despite the exterior of cartoony characters and upbeat music, Cuphead is brutal and unforgiving, ranking number 14 out of 150 on Steam’s most difficult games according to game reviews. Once you finish the short tutorial describing basic game mechanics, everything else going forward is figured out through trial and error. 

Although many games also provide minimal assistance, this difficulty was compounded by the fact that every boss has unique attacks, and within a level, multiple phases, none of which are explained throughout the game. Going into a level blind quickly became grueling as I died over and over. 

For example, in phase one of Honeycomb Herald, a security guard bee chases you through a series of moving platforms. In phase two, the attacks switch so that the queen bee launches rockets that move horizontally across the screen. I died several times before learning that it was optimal to move down a platform every time a rocket came rather than to jump up. The maneuver itself isn’t difficult, but to even get the opportunity to practice it, I’d first have to beat the first phase again. Failing at any part of the game resets you to the start of the level again. Then, the same would happen in phase three.

One of the worst offenders of a burdensome trial-and-error is the blimp Hilda Berg (in my opinion, the second punniest name after Cala Maria) in Threatenin’ Zeppelin, who takes on five different phases throughout the level. Hilda turns into the Taurus bull, the Gemini twins, the Sagittarius centaur and a giant moon. The combination of all these moving parts with only three lives and a lack of checkpoints can make progressing through the game feel impossible. Although I appreciate the sky and zodiac motif for Hilda Berg and all her unique game mechanics, I certainly did not appreciate them when I died over and over to the Gemini twins.  

Nonetheless, I highly recommend Cuphead for someone who is looking for a challenge. As much as it was hard, I loved every single milestone I reached in the game, from beating my first boss to when I finally beat Hilda Berg. For me, being able to work through each level by coming up with unique strategies was a major portion of the fun of the game, even if it became frustrating at times. 

The two creators, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, had to quit their job and remortgage their houses to make Cuphead a reality in 2017, and the animation team hand-sketched and inked every frame of the game on paper to recreate the 1930s animation style. Their care and consideration paid off in the cozy visuals and atmosphere that the game brings and are worth the trouble of getting through tough levels.