first impressions of the latest games releasing, and today, we've been really busy. We've been playing "Cuphead:
The Delicious Last Course DLC." The wait is finally over, and we're pretty hyped. You know, at this point, anyone who's played "Cuphead" has been able to do it since it's gone multi-platform. It's an incredible base game, right? It was originally released in 2017. We love it. I suck at it, but still, it's an incredibly challenging platformer that is super well-made and really enjoyable, like top tier, incredibly unique from art, animation, to music. There's nothing else like it. And that, to me, makes it worth playing and worth struggling through. And the new "DLC," at long last, is, it's the same thing. And that's great. It's more Cuphead, a couple of great new twists, some of the best boss battles, and new artistic twists for a pretty cheap price.
If you love the original, I don't really wanna spoil any of it for you on screen here, but, you know, I gotta keep going. So if you wanna know more, keep watching. So Cuphead and Mugman head to a new island in this. So to access it, all you need to do is, basically, if you didn't beat the base game, all you gotta do is beat the first level and the first mausoleum across the bridge. And then a boatman shows up to take you to a beautiful new island. So the story, if you care, you know, it's pretty simple, but it's like about making Ms. Chalice into a real character, and not a ghost.
So there's this cool chef guy that can bake a magical tart to do that, but you gotta collect the ingredients by progressing through and beating all the bosses. So it's a map and a bunch of beautiful, extremely tightly designed boss battles. You know, every single one is completely unique and downright surprising, and always, from their look, to their move set, to their phases, you will be consistently shocked.
That's the whole fun of this stuff. According to the developers, there are more frames of animation for just one boss phase in this "DLC" than there is in an entire boss in the regular game. So, I mean, Cuphead had already had amazing animation, but they really went above and beyond with this "DLC." I think you're gonna have a favorite boss. I think mine is the Howling Aces, even if that last stage is BS, and that cowboy saloon cow, but yeah. So there are six all new bosses that will put your skills to the test, man. This place is considered the fourth island for a reason. These guys are all about as tough, or tougher, than bosses from the third island.
The bosses are all crazy, you know, with multiple transformations that get increasingly wild. A lot of the time, there isn't even really just a main boss. A lot of these boss fights are up against entire gangs or groups, with multiple members, all who do something completely different. And if it is just one guy, expect things to take a sharp turn for their final form, like Glumstone the Giant, who, in his last phase, he straight-up swallows you, and then you're beating a fleshy face in his stomach. The game can be very weird. Just watching these guys animate and move is so much fun.
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It's half the reward. You can be overwhelmed, but stick with it. It just takes persistence and patience, something that I naturally do not have. The original Cuphead and this got me meditating before I had to play it. They do a couple of perspective shifts in this one that will throw you off, and feel kind of unreasonable at points, but it's subjective.
It's really down to the person and your difficulty preference. So the bosses are the main gist. There aren't really running gun levels now, but there is a change up with the King of Games, and this visually incredible castle in the sky that you access via a ladder that comes down, in specific instances on the map. It's a castle with a linear set of increasingly difficult challenges that are way different than your typical Cuphead boss or anything like that. They require you to think a bit differently, and not rely on your loadouts, and it's cool. The other big shakeups are the new weapons, and charms, and the fully playable Ms. Chalice. Now the new weapons are great.
The three new ones you can buy at Porkrind's shop are the Crackshot, the Convergence, and the Twist-Up. And they're all good, but especially the Crackshot and the Convergence. I say get those ASAP. So the Crackshot fires a powerful homing shot, while the Convergence shoots a three-shot spread that gets tighter when you hold down the aim button. It takes a minute to kind of get used to it, but it's pretty sick. They both have full screen range. The damage is good.
And I think out of all them, these are effective against the most bosses. The Twist-Up is a bit more situational. This is like a steady stream of bullets that arc up, but for the specific types of bosses it's good against, it's really good.
Once you start figuring out that arc, and the type of boss that needs to get hit by it, you go, oh, okay. And that's a good feeling. To repeat, I think the weapons are nearly a must. You just gotta complete the King of Games challenges to get some money, and buy at least a Crackshot and Convergence. I think they can make the DLC bosses at least a little bit more manageable. So if you're hitting a wall and you're desperate, try and mess around with those. Either way, like it goes with Cuphead, you do have to change up your loadout, your stuff, pretty regularly, man. These bosses demand it more than the base game. And the other big thing, like I said before, is the playable Ms. Chalice, who might be a little divisive.
So she does lighten the burden in a lot of ways, so she automatically has an extra hit point, a slick double jump, a different dash powering hybrid, and a down plus dash that's like a dodge roll. Seems like easy mode. Right? Well, eh, you know, for me, personally, it took me a long time to get used to her move set, and situationally, when to use her moves. So yeah, you get some advantages, but is it worth it to break your Cuphead habits, and relearn some things in a new way? I don't know. That's gonna be up to you. Also, one big caveat, she can't use charms, like the Cupboys can. So yeah, it's definitely an interesting shake up, and worth trying out during some boss battles.
I do think the package is still overall much stronger with her as a playable thing, because it is fun to mess around with. And, of course, she's kind of like the whole key to the story, and certain specific spots in the game.
So yeah. Makes sense. Now all in all, "The Delicious Last Course" gives you about four hours of content, depending on how good you are. I'm slow, and it took me a while, where Eric, one of our gameplay editors, just replayed the base Cuphead not too long ago, so he was able to smoke through this in like two hours or so. There is also a secret boss. Keep that in mind. There's some cool stuff to discover. And of course, if you're trying to max out and get perfect runs, that's a whole nother amount of game play. That really just depends on how crazy you are if you ask me.
But really, I mean, it's freaking eight bucks. I kind of buried the lead there. That's all it is for this. I mean, you have to have the base game, but eight bucks, I mean, think about it. You get beautiful bosses, amazing levels, change-ups to the animation style, new spins on the art style here and there, and some fresh, downright amazing music. Yeah. It's still hard as hell. And if you just wanna enjoy the ride, I get that can be annoying. But if you like a challenge, and you love well-crafted video games, if you appreciate this medium, man, eight bucks, I think it's a no brainer, dude.
I think it's a nice, fun, little wrap up to Cuphead, if this does really serve as that, and I'm really excited to see what this studio does next, because they're crazy for this one, but that's a "Before You Buy." You know how this goes by now. We give you some pros, some cons, and some personal opinions.
So now I wanna hear yours down in the comments.