This review will spoil the full contents of this DLC.

Cuphead didn’t disappoint when it was finally released in 2017, carving out a distinct identity with painstakingly hand-crafted animations, a buoyant, original jazz soundtrack, and offering a surprisingly challenging boss rush experience that, currently, less than 15% of players on Steam have completed. This first and only extra content bit of content for the game ended up being worth the wait, cementing Studio MDHR as a developer with an unwavering commitment to quality, polish, and providing high value to consumers of their products.

Set up as a side quest to the main plot, the Delicious Last Course sends players to the fourth Inkwell Isle to help save the newly introduced Ms. Chalice from living eternally in Limbo. Cuphead and Co are told that, by defeating five bosses on this isle who house a group of specific ingredients, the resulting creation would see Ms. Chalice cured of her unfortunate predicament.

Mechanically, all four of the additional ground-based bosses have something new to offer. For example, one encounter is fought in the air, where your platform is a plane that can move left or right based on your positioning, and the final phase seeks to disrupt your ability to dodge by reversing your movement controls. Another fight features a group of creatures who are essentially a gangster mob, with every subsequent phase replacing your target with something completely different. They are all really fun to defeat and show that the developers put a genuine effort into making a new group of foes that wouldn’t feel like reskins of the base game. The one additional aeroplane level feels the most derivative of enemies you’ve fought before, showing that there weren’t many new ideas on the table for this level type, but the bit of variety it adds to conquering the island is appreciated.

After defeating these enemies, there’s one final foe to beat before the quest is over, and this one is easily one of my favourites. Your enemy is a chef who doesn’t hit you directly, opting to chop and carve various foods into deadly projectiles. It has such a creative design, and was one of those moments where I wanted to stop and admire the phenomenal animation work on display here. While the animations are exceptional throughout the DLC, the final boss takes the cake as one of the finest efforts yet from this developer. The soundtrack is as phenomenal as always too, with over an hour of additional material to help keep you motivated against each foe. I appreciate how the music near the beginning of the final fight uses a church organ to create a great sense of dread before slowly bringing back in the jazz instrumentation as you enter the later phases.

The DLC also offers three new weapons and two new charms that are all useful additions to your arsenal. Twist Up fires shots in an upwards projectile and is an invaluable tool against bosses who tend to float just above your head. Converge fires a tri-shot electric bolt which can have its spread narrowed by holding down the lock button, dealing incredible damage if used correctly. Crackshot unleashes small homing projectiles that can be easily fired whilst focusing on avoiding damage. While these do tend to hit minions by accident, that’s a small trade-off for what’s arguably the most useful new weapon to this package.

The first of the new charms transforms you into Ms. Chalice at the start of every level, meaning the trade-off for using her is the inability to equip core charms like Smoke Bomb. She can double jump, immediately parry anything she dashes into, and can perform a dodge roll that provides brief invincibility if timed correctly. She also has distinct weapons in the aeroplane levels, consisting of a tri-shot projectile and bombs that are fired quickly but with little regard for accuracy. While her move set is undoubtedly more diverse than Cuphead, the lack of a reliable in-air dodge means that you have to use her kit carefully, else you’ll end up in the firing line numerous times over. I ended up completing all of the new bosses using her and had a blast doing so, as it is arguably the most gameplay-changing charm in Cuphead.

The second charm addition is much tamer, providing you with health regen on your first, third, and sixth successful parries, and I can certainly see this as a situational choice for fights that offer easy parry opportunities. There is one final charm that is more of an extra difficulty modifier than it is a useful tool. After buying it and beating the secret boss, this charm will leave you with less health and start randomizing your weapons. By beating bosses on regular or expert difficulties, its effects will become progressively less damaging to the user. There’s no incentive to use it outside of an achievement, but I’d certainly recommend buying it to access the secret boss as it’s a great encounter with a cool mechanic that requires your full attention to avoid getting hit.

To unlock these new pieces of equipment, you won’t be engaging in run-and-gun activities as you would within the base game. There are a couple of coins hidden about the island, and a further three are provided if you talk to a specific NPC after beating the Devil. The remaining coins are awarded by engaging in the King of Games’ side activity, consisting of five mini-bosses themed after chess pieces, with the gimmick being that your only option of damaging them is through parrying. These fights don’t become more difficult as you deal damage, meaning once you’ve figured out the gimmick to beat each of them, they won’t prove too challenging for the average player, especially if you use Ms. Chalice whose parry dash feels tailor-made for this activity. Beating each piece for the first time unlocks a gauntlet option that requires you to beat all of the pieces in one sitting, but this won’t take many extra attempts as you are healed after each fight here.

Even though this DLC was advertised as the hardest bit of content Cuphead has to offer, I’d say this island was probably the easiest to complete outside of the first one. While I certainly welcome mechanical variety over forced difficulty, the new mechanics sometimes felt like gimmicks that resulted in easy fights once you figured out how to overcome them, and I feel that veterans may be disappointed in this DLC’s level of challenge. In total, it took me 4.3 hours to beat the new bosses, the king of games’ champions, and the king’s gauntlet.

Nevertheless, for an expansion offering such a high level of quality with practically no bugs to speak of, I think that’s some pretty exceptional value, though others who don’t care much for the developer’s efforts may see it differently. This is certainly one of those cases where being a completionist will substantially increase the value you’re getting here, as there are 14 new achievements to test your mastery of this new content, and there’s even more value if you feel interested in returning to some of the base game’s bosses with the new weapons and charms.

Cuphead will stand the test of time as one of the most iconic indies, and the high bar of quality set by this DLC is likely to be one of the top reasons cited by people looking back upon it. Even though it may not be super long or difficult, it is an essential addition to the experience that I could easily recommend to anyone who is a fan of the original. I cannot wait to see what this studio cooks up next!

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[h1] A Sweet Extra Slice [/h1] [b][quote] This review will spoil the full contents of this DLC. [/quote][/b] Cuphead didn’t disappoint when it was finally released in 2017, carving out a distinct identity with painstakingly hand-crafted animations, a buoyant, original jazz soundtrack, and offering a surprisingly challenging boss rush experience that, currently, less than 15% of players on Steam have completed. This first and only extra content bit of content for the game ended up being worth the wait, cementing Studio MDHR as a developer with an unwavering commitment to quality, polish, and providing high value to consumers of their products. [h1] New Isle, Different Kind of Pain [/h1] Set up as a side quest to the main plot, the Delicious Last Course sends players to the fourth Inkwell Isle to help save the newly introduced Ms. Chalice from living eternally in Limbo. Cuphead and Co are told that, by defeating five bosses on this isle who house a group of specific ingredients, the resulting creation would see Ms. Chalice cured of her unfortunate predicament. Mechanically, all four of the additional ground-based bosses have something new to offer. For example, one encounter is fought in the air, where your platform is a plane that can move left or right based on your positioning, and the final phase seeks to disrupt your ability to dodge by reversing your movement controls. Another fight features a group of creatures who are essentially a gangster mob, with every subsequent phase replacing your target with something completely different. They are all really fun to defeat and show that the developers put a genuine effort into making a new group of foes that wouldn’t feel like reskins of the base game. The one additional aeroplane level feels the most derivative of enemies you’ve fought before, showing that there weren’t many new ideas on the table for this level type, but the bit of variety it adds to conquering the island is appreciated. After defeating these enemies, there’s one final foe to beat before the quest is over, and this one is easily one of my favourites. Your enemy is a chef who doesn’t hit you directly, opting to chop and carve various foods into deadly projectiles. It has such a creative design, and was one of those moments where I wanted to stop and admire the phenomenal animation work on display here. While the animations are exceptional throughout the DLC, the final boss takes the cake as one of the finest efforts yet from this developer. The soundtrack is as phenomenal as always too, with over an hour of additional material to help keep you motivated against each foe. I appreciate how the music near the beginning of the final fight uses a church organ to create a great sense of dread before slowly bringing back in the jazz instrumentation as you enter the later phases. [h1] New Tools for Walloping [/h1] The DLC also offers three new weapons and two new charms that are all useful additions to your arsenal. Twist Up fires shots in an upwards projectile and is an invaluable tool against bosses who tend to float just above your head. Converge fires a tri-shot electric bolt which can have its spread narrowed by holding down the lock button, dealing incredible damage if used correctly. Crackshot unleashes small homing projectiles that can be easily fired whilst focusing on avoiding damage. While these do tend to hit minions by accident, that’s a small trade-off for what’s arguably the most useful new weapon to this package. The first of the new charms transforms you into Ms. Chalice at the start of every level, meaning the trade-off for using her is the inability to equip core charms like Smoke Bomb. She can double jump, immediately parry anything she dashes into, and can perform a dodge roll that provides brief invincibility if timed correctly. She also has distinct weapons in the aeroplane levels, consisting of a tri-shot projectile and bombs that are fired quickly but with little regard for accuracy. While her move set is undoubtedly more diverse than Cuphead, the lack of a reliable in-air dodge means that you have to use her kit carefully, else you’ll end up in the firing line numerous times over. I ended up completing all of the new bosses using her and had a blast doing so, as it is arguably the most gameplay-changing charm in Cuphead. The second charm addition is much tamer, providing you with health regen on your first, third, and sixth successful parries, and I can certainly see this as a situational choice for fights that offer easy parry opportunities. There is one final charm that is more of an extra difficulty modifier than it is a useful tool. After buying it and beating the secret boss, this charm will leave you with less health and start randomizing your weapons. By beating bosses on regular or expert difficulties, its effects will become progressively less damaging to the user. There’s no incentive to use it outside of an achievement, but I’d certainly recommend buying it to access the secret boss as it’s a great encounter with a cool mechanic that requires your full attention to avoid getting hit. To unlock these new pieces of equipment, you won’t be engaging in run-and-gun activities as you would within the base game. There are a couple of coins hidden about the island, and a further three are provided if you talk to a specific NPC after beating the Devil. The remaining coins are awarded by engaging in the King of Games’ side activity, consisting of five mini-bosses themed after chess pieces, with the gimmick being that your only option of damaging them is through parrying. These fights don’t become more difficult as you deal damage, meaning once you’ve figured out the gimmick to beat each of them, they won’t prove too challenging for the average player, especially if you use Ms. Chalice whose parry dash feels tailor-made for this activity. Beating each piece for the first time unlocks a gauntlet option that requires you to beat all of the pieces in one sitting, but this won’t take many extra attempts as you are healed after each fight here. [h1] A Downwards Difficulty Curve [/h1] Even though this DLC was advertised as the hardest bit of content Cuphead has to offer, I’d say this island was probably the easiest to complete outside of the first one. While I certainly welcome mechanical variety over forced difficulty, the new mechanics sometimes felt like gimmicks that resulted in easy fights once you figured out how to overcome them, and I feel that veterans may be disappointed in this DLC’s level of challenge. In total, it took me 4.3 hours to beat the new bosses, the king of games’ champions, and the king’s gauntlet. Nevertheless, for an expansion offering such a high level of quality with practically no bugs to speak of, I think that’s some pretty exceptional value, though others who don’t care much for the developer’s efforts may see it differently. This is certainly one of those cases where being a completionist will substantially increase the value you’re getting here, as there are 14 new achievements to test your mastery of this new content, and there’s even more value if you feel interested in returning to some of the base game’s bosses with the new weapons and charms. [h1] Verdict [/h1] Cuphead will stand the test of time as one of the most iconic indies, and the high bar of quality set by this DLC is likely to be one of the top reasons cited by people looking back upon it. Even though it may not be super long or difficult, it is an essential addition to the experience that I could easily recommend to anyone who is a fan of the original. I cannot wait to see what this studio cooks up next! [h1][b]9/10 - Excellent[/b][/h1] Click [url= https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2757650830] here [/url] to see what my DLC review scores mean! 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