Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course Review – Tasty Sips From A Worthy Grail

Cuphead’s long-awaited and aptly named The Delicious Last Course serves up a wonderful final dish that acts more like a satisfying dessert than a full second helping. Although it is not very long, you will find a lot of fun boss battles as well as a welcome addition to the Ms. Chalice.

Ms. Chalice is able to use a variety of unique moves such as double-jumping, dodge rolls that allow her to avoid dangers, and even an extra health point. She’s a blast to use, and I loved taking advantage of her added maneuverability. Is Cuphead made easier by her? Somewhat, but she doesn’t turn the game into a cakewalk. She gives the players more choices, making her an advanced character. This is due to how much I had to change my play style to accommodate her new ways. 

It is nice that she encourages aggression with a dash-parry rather than the jumping version. This meant I had to run towards danger in order to avoid offense. The ultimate attack of Ms. Chalice, which is a vertical energy column that rewards boldness and high hits, involves getting close to foes. Also, I enjoyed playing Ms. Chalice through base and taking on familiar bosses thanks to her special traits. New players have an alternative, while veterans can use her unique traits to take down their old foes. Ms. Chalice also makes the base game’s polarizing run-and-gun stages more tolerable. 

It doesn’t matter how many jumps or hit points you have if you don’t know how to use them. I found the Delicious Last Course to be a delicious and challenging set of boss battles. Returned players should warm up and play a few bosses in the base game first before moving on to this expansion. You can get the DLC earlier so first-timers are advised to complete at least the first island before moving on to the next content. 

These new enemies are enthralled by the challenge of avoiding tennis balls and laser fire from atop an aircraft in a topsyturvy dogfight. They also enjoy fighting snow wizards while fighting sentient icepops. I’d say they rank with the battles from Cuphead’s final third in terms of difficulty, as the challenge comes in parsing multiple projectiles and weaving between them while unleashing hell yourself. Design-wise, these adversaries match the whimsy of the original rogues gallery, and it’s just as fun (and stress-inducing) watching, for example, a gangster spider take on multiple new forms. 

The final twist of the boss’s last move felt less exciting than it was fun. This is because it quickly remaps all controls and takes very little time to set up. While skill is important, it’s sometimes frustrating to have to try things out. Taking damage from a new attack I couldn’t have expected, like having a bad guy drop on my head without any indication on where it could arrive, is still annoying. But each opponent feels conquerable, no matter if you’re Ms. Chalice or Cuphead/Mugman.

Surprisingly the parry challenges were my favourite encounters in The Delicious Last Course. An evolution of the base game’s mausoleum mini-games, which were decent but one-note, this new take pits players against five unique bosses that can only be defeated by utilizing the parry move in increasingly creative ways. It was fun to show off my platforming and timing skills by carefully landing on the weak spot of a horse knight, or repelling severed heads at an executioner. I found these levels challenging because they forced me to consider how to attack. Cuphead enemies can be dropped using the fire button. However, it was fun to discover different ways of attacking offensively and defensive maneuvers. Arena battles provide a refreshing break from the main confrontations since The Delicious Last Course eliminates platforms. I’d love to see more of them. 

You can equip your heroes with new abilities, like a lightning-flavored spread shot, or tornadoes that shoot upwards. These are great for striking airborne targets. Crackshot was my favourite projectile. These powerful projectiles break down into smaller bullets, which can be used to hit the target closest. They are easy to integrate with the current arsenal.

I’d be remiss not to mention the soundtrack. Cuphead is known for having one of modern gaming’s best soundtracks, and The Delicious Final Course has some great new music to match that. This new theme is a mile ahead of the original intro.

This delicious last course is sure to leave our beverage cups on top. The Delicious Last Course is an entertaining way to finalize your skills and gives you a new character. It’s more Cuphead at the end of the day, but I had a great time revisiting Studio MDHR’s wonderful animated universe, testing my mettle against its villains, and feeling fist-pumping triumph all over again.