Both GameSpot and IGN have published previews for the long-awaited Cuphead DLC called Cuphead: Delicious Last Course and have been able to chat to the developers at Studio MDHR. One of the developers that GameSpot spoke to said the DLC took them about 3-4 hours to complete but it all depends on your skill level some may complete it in this timeframe while others it could take a lot longer. GameSpot also found out that the team have been pushing the bar for the animation and visuals in Cuphead: Delicious Last Course as it is estimated that the DLC has around double the number of animation details as the base Cuphead game. Cuphead: Delicious Last Course is due out 30th June and only costs $8 and requires the base game to play.
“Over on Inkwell Isle, Cuphead talks to a ferryman who says that the Legendary Chalice needs to speak with him. Cuphead and Mugman are taken by boat–which can be used to fast travel between all of the isles–to meet the Legendary Chalice on shore. She gives Mugman a cookie, and once he eats it, the two swap places. The Legendary Chalice is alive again as Ms. Chalice, while Mugman is a ghost. The switch is only temporary, as the town’s pastry guru Chef Saltbaker informs them. However, if the trio can procure the ingredients of the Wondertart, Ms. Chalice can be alive again permanently–without swapping places with poor Cuphead or Mugman. The only problem? The ingredients are held by the island’s dastardly baddies.
Studio MDHR says the animation influences found in the DLC stretch into the late 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, the team wanted to push the envelope with what was possible with its animation style. In that respect, the studio said the hand-drawn bosses were created using larger animation paper, and the drawings took far more time to create. In all, it estimates that the DLC has around double the number of animation details as the base game. Meanwhile, the musical bits that were shown during the preview were as joyously nostalgic and catchy as the tunes in the base game. The DLC has new start menu music that focuses on Ms. Chalice, while the in-game music offers the fizzling jazz orchestra that made the base game stand out almost as much for its sound as it did for its animations.”
“That said, Studio MDHR teased “mission side quests” that could offer additional replay value and has called the new isle the biggest one yet. One Studio MDHR developer said that it took them 3-4 hours to complete the DLC. Obviously, your skill level will drastically affect the initial playtime. But while the DLC looks to be more Cuphead–in a good way–the new playable character and weapons/charms could wind up making the game more approachable for those who may have found Cuphead to be too challenging.”
Kotaku and IGN will take 24hrs to beat the DLC considering they suck at video games and will also complain why there is no journalist mode.
“the new playable character and weapons/charms could wind up making the game more approachable for those who may have found Cuphead to be too challenging.”
They say this because whenever a “hard” game comes out (in quotes just because its subjective) people demand approachability, but the problem here isn’t that the enemies are difficult, though they are. The problem is there’s an entire subsection of gamers who disagree with the basic premise of the gameplay loop. The idea of trying many many many times in a row against a boss and failing every time, seeing the same attacks over and over, to then succeed only once before slamming your head against a new boss, just rubs some people the wrong way. It doesn’t matter a whole lot to such a person if you cut the necessary number of deaths to learn the fight from 60 to 40, because the whole idea that they have to stop and memorize the details of one boss by itself is what rubs them the wrong way. They want to do it in 5 tries or less, because what they’re interesting in is seeing the content, not the back and forth between you and the boss. The problem for Cuphead is that’s what the game IS. It IS a back and forth between you and the boss to memorize the boss’ subtleties. If you redesigned Cuphead to be consumable content the way say, an Uncharted game is, it would be over inside 20 minutes.