Cuphead Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. Useful Upgrades DO Help With The Excruciating Difficulty

The difficulty of Cuphead is obviously its most talked about feature, but know that despite the opening slog-combo of first Run n' Gun level and boss battle being insurmountable unless you put in the time to memorise attack patterns through trial and error, there ARE some upgrades that make things a tad more palatable.

Coming from the fantastic "Porkrind's Emporium'' you can unlock additional health points (after starting with three) allowing you to take more hits before restarting - and then there are the weapon upgrades:

Cuphead starts with basic repeat-firing pea shooters (they're called as much), but quickly you'll get a short-range burst fire option, a bouncing orb, a boomerang shot that can be fired backwards to arc across the screen and - best of all - a high-damage charge shot.

Brilliantly, as the boss strategies and various run n' gun levels have such different requirements in terms of their movements, animations and hit box placement, you'll be swapping between these quite frequently. Perhaps if a boss has a noticeable 'rest period', nab the charge shot and do more meaningful damage - if their attacks arc wide, equip the burst fire, run in and really whittle down their health.

Rarely does a game actively encourage its entire repertoire through trial and error, but Cuphead's series of scenarios really do benefit from unlocking his entire moveset.