Cuphead was announced at a Microsoft press conference a few years ago to great fanfare. Unfortunately it has been plagued by delays and still hasn’t been released. Fortunately, the developer has finally revealed the release date on Xbox One and PC to be September 29th.
Cuphead is an action game with animation mimicking the art style of animated movies from the early 1930’s, except rendered in real time using modern technology. This two player cooperative game features the titular Cuphead and best pal Mugman fighting through thirty excruciatingly hard boss battles with shooter controls similar to classic Nintendo games. Every piece of artwork in this game feels like it has been peeled from the movie theater, with intentional blurryness and color issues as if the game was being played by a movie projector that keeps drifting in and out of focus.
Why is this awesome?
Cuphead is a game that is meant to be a spectacle, an ultra hard shoot ’em up that can be watched by others. With the violence muted to very low levels by the animation, this game is a clear example of a game where parents can play and kids can watch. It also serves the market of young gamers who have grown up around simpler action titles and want more difficulty, but without explicit gore.
