This week, I’ll give the introspective think-pieces a break and write a review about something light-hearted instead. By the generosity of my friend with a gaming PC and a desire to procrastinate, I’ve been playing a fair amount of Cuphead this past week.
What is Cuphead, you may ask? It’s an indie video game developed by StudioMDHR. What makes a video game “indie,” you may ask further? An indie video game is one produced without the financial support of a publisher. Don’t worry, I had to look that up too when I wrote this. While I knew of other indie games like Minecraft and Undertale that had achieved popularity, I didn’t know that they all had indie status in common.
The first thing that I noticed about Cuphead was the music. Before I even saw what the game looked like, I heard big-band style jazz music coming from down the hall. Interested to see what my friends were watching, I was surprised to see that they were playing a video game instead. The 1930’s-era aesthetics with the film-projector scratchiness and the rubber-hose art style of the graphics were really neat to see, especially since modern mainstream video games worship ultra-realistic graphics, sometimes over gameplay or story.
When I actually started to play the game, the mechanics on the controller required a fair amount of trial and error to pick up, but muscle memory eventually took over. The gameplay itself focuses on continuous boss fights with in-between run-and-gun levels. Weapons and special abilities called “charms” could be purchased with coins won from the run-and-gun levels.
Only two weapon types can be used at one time, so I had to choose my build carefully so as to complete levels. They required a lot of trial and error and strategic thinking to beat, and I needed every single one of the infinite lives that the player gets. When playing in 2-player mode, players can thankfully revive each other and keep going, which meant that my teammate had to revive me a lot.
After playing the game for a few days, I was interested enough to look up the story behind the game as well. The brothers Cuphead and Mugman make a deal with the devil while playing craps that if they win, he’ll give them all the money in the casino. If they lose, however, then he inflicts the classic punishment of taking their souls. When they lose, they make another deal with the devil to fight the devil’s other debtors of the Inkwell Isles where they live. By collecting the “soul contracts” of these other debtors, the devil might let them keep theirs.
I am always intrigued by good stories, and it crossed my mind that this would make a great kids’ tv show. Perhaps adults would enjoy it too; it is no unusual thing for adults to enjoy entertainment intended for younger audiences, after all. The Pokemon franchise comes to mind in this instance; the introduction of Pokemon-Go last year had everyone with a smartphone going out and catching Pokemon for days on end. Maybe someone should tell Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon to take advantage of this potential untapped market.
Based on my nonexistent status as a video game authority, I’d give this game 9/10. Its goal is to be a fun, time-killing arcade game with a simple mechanic, and it does this perfectly. The game is challenging without being prohibitively difficult, and quite rewarding when you finally beat that boss that you’d been grinding for hours. The film-projector graphics and swing jazz soundtrack make for the perfect 1930’s retro atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves arcade games or is looking for yet another way to procrastinate.
