Spoilers: It was so good??? First of all it feels surreal that it's playable, if that makes sense. The Flescher-era cartoon aesthetic is so perfectly executed, down to the ever present film grain effect that it's just a joy to see the game move and respond to your actions

But move it does, and moves with pinpoint precision. Except for parrying objects, which can feel a little inconsistent at times, you never feel like you're at the whim of the game to move correctly. That feeling of always being in control makes your inevitable series of deaths feel fair

Because you'll definitely die, and die a lot. But honestly, the combination of that fairness and the sheer joy of the visuals and the music don't make losses feel all that punishing. The mindset that keeps you sane after deaths is taking them as learning experiences, and moving on until you get it

I'm not a hard games person, btw- Hell, I can't even make it through the first level of Bloodborne, and god have I tried. I don't think Cuphead is Souls hard, but it's demanding in the way a Contra or a Mega-Man game is

And in a way (I saw another review say this and it really jives with me) it almost feels like a puzzle game.) You figure out how to respond to a move, and you execute it. New moves come up, and gradually you learn the proper answer for those too, until that beautiful last try

And it's surreal, going from 30 deaths on one boss until the moment where everything clicks, you've learned the patterns, and you turn around and beat the boss with HP to spare. It feels good in such a visceral way, and makes the whole process worth it

And honestly, the game's style goes a long way in making it tolerable at all. One of the last encounters, if you just described the mechanics, I'd say "Fuck that" in a heartbeat

It's a boss rush gauntlet, where if you're not careful you can end up having to fight six bosses in a row before the last one. You die? right back to the beginning of the gauntlet with you. Make it to the end? Surprise; one last encounter where, if you're standing in the wrong part of the screen, you instantly get hit.

But the King Dice encounter lives off of its visual charm- each Casino-themed mini-boss oozes personality, and it has some of the most beautiful and surreal watercolor backgrounds in the game. You're rolling dice and moving across a game-board, and once you get to the end of the gauntlet and face King Dice himself an up-tempo remix of his theme takes over

I couldn't get mad that objectively it was a difficult slog because every bit of the presentation was just enjoyable. I was enjoying the game even when I was losing, and that's the game's biggest strength in my opinion

And hell, even speaking of the King Dice encounter, there's little breakthroughs that make subsequent tries a lot easier. Learning the timing on the dice roll makes it so you never have to land on a space you don't want. Learning that each space corresponds to a different boss lets you skip ones you you'd really rather not face, and fight a bare minimum

Cuphead's difficulty isn't as much "get gud, this game has Hard Mechanics" as much as it is "how can I make this easier on myself. Dodging here is hard, I should really stand here instead." stuff like that

Is it Xbox only?

It's Xbox and PC only; Microsoft kicked in a lot of change to make sure the project got finished, so unfortunately they have the exclusivity. But it is on steam, and it runs perfectly on my potato work computer for reference

(side note I don't play games at work lmao; it's just my only laptop)

Also my personal advice if you decide to pick it up: rebind the controls /immediately/

having jump on A, shoot on X, and dodge on Y makes things almost impossible; put shoot on a trigger and save your brain

Sidenotes: Mmmm the soundtrack is beautiful. I haven't been this in love with a game soundtrack in years

Aah gotcha, maybe I'll pick it up when/if I get a controller for PC

that's a good call! It's definitely a game that feels a lot smoother to play with a controller for sure