Cuphead

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 96%2017

The verdict

A gorgeous 1930s-cartoon boss-rush platformer with great jazz music and tough but rewarding fights. Skip it if you rage easily, hate run-and-guns, or want online co-op or mouse support.

Great for

Players who enjoy tough pattern-learning boss fights, with a controller and a friend on the couch

Main risk

Brutal difficulty, annoying run-and-gun levels and control or co-op limits can make it frustrating

What players love

Stunning hand-drawn 1930s art

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“stunningly nostalgic hand-drawn animations and real watercolor backgrounds”
Steam review · 29.6 h played ↗

“One of the best games I've ever played, I also like how it looks like the old cartoons”
Steam review · 17 h played ↗

“The game is extremely stylish overall”
Steam review · translated · 24.7 h played ↗

Hard but fair and rewarding

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“Crushingly difficult, yet still fair. The game is designed in such a way, that you feel like it's your own inability holding you back and not the game.”
Steam review · 15.4 h played ↗

“95% of the damage you take feels fair and avoidable”
Steam review · 12.1 h played ↗

Fantastic jazz soundtrack

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews

“The jazzy, old-school music is super refreshing and insanely catchy.”
Steam review · 10.7 h played ↗

“Jazz that makes your feet tap to the beat, even when the boss crushes you for the third time in 10 seconds.”
Steam review · 111.2 h played ↗

Varied, memorable boss fights

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews

“The bosses are just as diverse and are very imaginative.”
Steam review · 9 h played ↗

Addictive, replayable, achievement chase

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“the gameplay loop is so addictive that you never get bored of it”
Steam review · 51.8 h played ↗

“this is the most fun game to do 100% all achievements”
Steam review · 49.1 h played ↗

Great co-op with a friend

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews

“Playing together, shouting 'parry me!' and sharing victories in tough fights only brought my wife and me closer.”
Steam review · translated · 242.4 h played ↗

What players complain about

Frustrating, punishing difficulty

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“I fell out of love with this game due to the over-the-top difficulty.”
Steam review · 21.6 h played ↗

“Cuphead doesn't forgive mistakes: one button press a millisecond late and you start the run over.”
Steam review · translated · 1.1 h played ↗

“If you’re a newer player the learning curve will feel less like a curve and more like a brick wall.”
Steam review · 9.3 h played ↗

RNG, cluttered screen and unfair hits

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Pretty game, until it starts throwing so many things on screen to the point of illegibility, making it clear that its difficulty is entirely artificial.”
Steam review · 8.4 h played ↗

“more than 70% of my deads where caused due to random BS attacks”
Steam review · 23.1 h played ↗

No online co-op; Remote Play laggy

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews

“Remote Play works as terribly as ever: the picture lags, the sound lags, absolutely everything lags.”
Steam review · translated · 0.9 h played ↗

“had to refund the game after only half an hour because it doesn't have proper online multiplayer support.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

Poor controller handling and bugs

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews

“Every controller I connect just doesn't work.”
Steam review · 31.2 h played ↗

“every input summons player 2 and using the controller to start the game doesnt help”
Steam review · 25.3 h played ↗

“when pressing buttons the game thinks a second gamepad was connected and drops in a second player”
Steam review · translated · 15.6 h played ↗

No mouse or keyboard remapping

Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews

“they made the game so u cant bind ur mouse buttons to the game”
Steam review · 0.1 h played ↗

“Keyboard support is poor. Why isn't there an option to toggle firing?”
Steam review · 0.8 h played ↗

Run-and-gun levels are awful

Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews

“But the 6 run n gun levels are the 6 worst levels of anything I have ever played in any game.”
Steam review · 15.5 h played ↗

“Run and gun levels (the ones u need to do to get coins) are horrendous. Ruins the game”
Steam review · 5.1 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSWindows 7

ProcessorIntel Core2 Duo E8400, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 3.0GHz or higher

Memory3 GB RAM

GraphicsGeforce 9600 GT or AMD HD 3870 512MB or higher

Storage4 GB available space

OSWindows 7

ProcessorIntel Core2 Duo E8400, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 3.0GHz or higher

Memory3 GB RAM

GraphicsGeforce 9600 GT or AMD HD 3870 512MB or higher

Storage4 GB available space

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