We’re just a few weeks away from the release of Cuphead, the fascinating run and gun title from indie developer StudioMHDR, and many of you want to learn more about the game before pre-ordering it (it’s only $19.99, just like the excellent Sonic Mania). The game was showcased at Gamescom last month and more recently at PAX West in Seattle, and our colleagues over at GameSpot just published a 10 minutes gameplay video that should give you a good idea of the game’s core mechanics.
First of all, three years after its initial announcement at E3 2014, Cuphead is still really gorgeous to look at. The hand-drawn animations look amazing, and the vintage jazz soundtrack perfectly suits the game’s 1930s cartoon aesthetics. Cuphead is definitely an homage to classic shoot-’em-ups games such as the Contra and Metal Slug series, and you can expect it to be really challenging. Fortunately, you’ll have a dash move for quickly dodging projectiles, as well as two different weapons to defend yourself against enemies and bosses.
StudioMHDR’s first release seems a really fun game to play with a friend, and you’ll definitely need one if you don’t want to suffer to much. When playing in co-op, your partner can revive you after you died by touching your ghost before it disappears from the screen, which should definitely help during boss fights. The game will only support local multiplayer, so you may want to be careful when throwing your controller away if things get tense.
Cuphead will launch on September 29 on Xbox One and Windows 10, and it will support Xbox Play Anywhere if you purchase it from the Windows Store. If you’re not a fan of Microsoft’s app store, the PC version will also be available on Steam, which will hopefully help the game reach a wider audience this Fall.
