Cuphead is a run and gun action indie game heavily focused on boss battles published by StudioMDHR. The aim of the game is to defeat the boss, while dodging obstacles and avoiding the attacks at the same time. The attack patterns will vary for each boss, resulting in a dynamic and versatile gameplay.

—————— The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad ——————

– Aesthetics
Cuphead is a 2D game that uses visuals and audio inspired by cartoons from the 1930s, where cartoons such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye were popular. The characters were first drawn and inked on paper, after which colour was added digitally. Custom fonts were also designed based on lettering from the 1930s. The attention to detail to recreate the 1930s animation results in an extremely aesthetically pleasing piece of work.

– Story
Cuphead and his brother Mugman are two children that live on Inkwell Isles who lost their souls to the Devil in casino craps. The Devil strikes a deal with them. Should they successfully collect the “soul contracts” of his runway debtors (bosses), they may get to keep theirs. The brothers then go on a journey to fight and defeat the debtors in an attempt to collect their soul contracts for the Devil.

– Mechanics
To defeat each boss in the boss battle, they are given infinite ammunition. The player has to avoid obstacles and attacks from the enemies and ultimately defeat the boss. The player can jump, dash, and parry to gain cards which allow the player to perform special attacks. There are no checkpoints in the game and limited health.

– Technology
Cuphead is playable on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. Having played the game on Xbox One, I feel that having the controller complemented the game really well as it was quite intuitive to work with.

—————— The Lens of Essential Experience ——————

My experience of playing Cuphead and successfully defeating the boss feels like I have survived the battle rather than defeated the boss. This is due to the fact that there are no checkpoints in the middle of the battle, which means that the player needs to clear the battle in one shot. As the Cuphead is also given infinite ammunition, this results in the game feeling like a stamina game where the player has to continuously dodge attacks in order to defeat the boss.

—————————— The Lens of Skill —————————-

Cuphead is a game that depends on trial and error to succeed. Since there are no checkpoints in the middle of a battle, the player is forced to restart the battle. Some level of skill with controls and reaction time and a lot of practice is needed in order to defeat the boss. With practice, the player can improve reaction time and control skills, which will allow the player to be able to detect short prompts in animation before the actual attack from the boss is executed.

———————— The Lens of Challenge ————————-

There are different kinds of battles in each level, some being run and gun and also platform battles where players have to control where the platform moves and use them to their advantage. There are also levels that resemble bullet hell games. Cuphead also presents a challenge due to the constantly moving elements and variety in attack patterns. The attack patterns are easy to read but needs some time to get used to in order to successfully predict and avoid the next attack. Cuphead poses a challenge for many which keeps it engaging and interesting to play.