Ranking Every Xbox One Exclusive From Worst To Best
3. Cuphead
Developers trumpeting difficulty as a core component of their game is a surefire way to attract hardcore attention but without proper integration, that challenge is frivolous and frustrating, not rewarding. This generation, but a handful of creators have achieved the oft-sought after goal of 'tough but fair.'
From Software's lauded Dark Souls series is one; Cuphead is another. Balls of steel are required to guide Studio MDHR's titular hero to a face-off against Satan to earn his soul back, a process that rewards persistence through trial and error and muscle memory. Never does death in Cuphead feel cheap or unwarranted, but a result of the player's own inadequacies. When victory arrives (and it will), the dopamine rush is palpable.
Replaying that one fight you've been stuck on for hours on end can, of course, start to grate, but the frustration is near-to non-existent in Cuphead thanks to its sensational hand-drawn aesthetic homage to 1930s cartoons.
Truly wonderful.