Few games have disappointed me as much as this game. When AC was at its peak, this game seemed like a huge next-step, but in the end fell completely flat for me, and really started, in my opinion, the decline of the franchise, barring the next game. The game looks great, with amazing renditions of Colonial America, and a great adaptation of the freerunning system to the less urban and more sparse setting, with fantastic animation work to boot. Slight improvements to the gameplay made for a more engaging combat experience versus the 1-button counters of the previous game, even if the new combat wasn't exactly great on its own. The introduction of ship combat, while a bit awkward narratively, presented an excellent blueprint that Black Flag would iterate upon to great success, and the foundations here are a strong addition to the gameplay loop of the franchise. Sadly, all of the praise ends here, since what has defined the good AC games from that bad has been the narrative, and AC3 is the first game in the series that, for me, truly dropped the ball when it comes to the story being told.

The game starts out very promising, with the first few chapters being rather on-brand for strong narrative with interesting questions being asked with regards to the setting and the series themes of control vs freedom, a theme that is ripe for exploration in the burgeoning US of A. Sadly, that strong start quickly falters, with the game choosing to skirt around a lot of the more damning explorations of American history that this era and these characters could achieve. The fact that the protagonist, a Native American, is so casually integrated into this setting without exploring the true tragedy that befell these people at the hands of this nation and these historic great men just strikes of cowardice for a series that has up until now done an excellent job of exploring history. In the end, the story here feels much more like an amusement park history ride, a theme that the series would sadly replicate going forward. The present-day narrative also comes to a head, and sadly that end is also a disappointment, so much so that the series would essentially abandon that element of the storytelling moving forward, another casuality in the franchise narrative.

Overall, AC3 fails to really bring anything particularly noteworthy to the table. The story is bland, toothless, and unengaging. The gameplay, while improved by a new engine and tech, is let down by the fact that the setting fails to illicit the same sense of wonder that previous settings would, and the core combat loop lacks any real engaging mechanics. While the next game in the series would use a lot of the foundations built here to better results, AC3 feels like the turning point in the franchise, where the old style of storytelling was replaced with cartoon meet-and-greets with famous figures pf history, and the ballooning of the game world with activities and collectibles has become the new norm for how the game is structured. Assassin's Creed was never the same after this game, and while Black Flag would stand-out as an all-time series high, it would take a while for the series to right the ship after the course change that this game initiated.

I wanna drink whatever is inside Cuphead. Just pick him up and consume his essence. I don't know whether this would kill him or not, and frankly? That doesn't even matter to me. In fact, I might just throw him on the ground to make sure it happens, then make Mugman drink a little bit of himself in a smaller cup, fuck him up like Ray Liotta in Hannibal.

I've occasionally found myself thinking about doing a second run through Cuphead ever since the game launched back in 2017, but with the release of The Delicious Last Course and the Physical Edition, now seemed as good a time as any to actually sit down and take a second jog through Inkwell Isle. Of course, by this point I've spent such a considerable amount of time away from the game that it was less a second run and more a semi-blind playthrough. When you get to be my age, you start having trouble remembering faces, but most of the bosses started to come back to me after getting bodied by them a couple of times. "Oh yeah, this medusa lady was tough as hell 30 years ago..."

The easiest way to describe Cuphead is to compare it to Alien Soldier, Treasure's 1995 run-and-gun/boss rush hybrid for the Sega Genesis that everybody, everybody, has definitely played. Basically the same game except you get to fight Bluto instead of wolves riding mechanical unicorns with names like WOLFGUNBLOOD GAROPA. Just like Alien Soldier, Cuphead is all about presenting the player with unique boss battles that are equal parts spectacle and challenge, placing a strong emphasis on reflexive gameplay and memorization of boss patterns which sometimes requires multiple attempts before you sink into a good rhythm.

There's plenty of games out there that expect a similar level of willingness on the player's part to fail and learn, and they live or die on how satisfying the constant loop of death and progress feels. While Cuphead occasionally tows the line, it's ultimately satisfying, and the inclusion of a progress bar upon each death is a definite check in its favor. There were multiple instances where I took a death and felt a big meaty sigh of defeat coming on only to see I was maybe a hit or two away from beating the boss, and that told me I could do it. Even when you fail on earlier phases, pinpointing your progress gives you a good sense of where you're able to take hits and where you need to tighten up your approach. Cuphead is very good at encouraging the player without ever pandering to them.

I think the only area where Cuphead really falters is in its run-and-gun stages, which at times just feel like filler. They're still rich in that same Fleischer flavor that informs the entire look of the game, but you can tell in the way they play and how they're presented that Studio MDHR's passion was elsewhere. To again evoke Alien Soldier, it's a very similar feeling that I get from that game's run-and-gun levels in that they almost feel obligatory, even though they weren't really required at al.

Viewed in isolation, I think The Delicious Last Course sticks the landing a bit better than base Cuphead. The new bosses the DLC introduces are all fantastic, though I would caution new players from sailing off to Inkwell Isle IV the second they're able to (basically the start of the game.) I decided to do this and since I'm so obstinate, I brute forced my way through without any upgrades outside of the homing shot, a weapon that's not great outside of a few key instances - though the Last Course's final boss happens to be one of those, as being able to hold the attack button and simply focus on the obscene amount of projectiles he spits out helps tremendously. Last Course also adds a colosseum comprised entirely of smartly designed bosses that can only be fought by parrying, and I kinda wish there was more of them. They're a lot of fun and way more engaging than the considerably more simplistic mausoleum challenges sprinkled throughout the main game.

Back in 2017, I never would've thought I'd have a physical copy of Cuphead that I could hold in my own very real hands. It even comes with a little member's card and some very nicely designed single-panel gag strips, which definitely sweeten the package. Physical editions of previously "digital only" games is something that appears to be happening with more regularity and with far shorter gaps of time between versions. Take Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, for example, which had its own physical edition announced less than a week after I paid 40$ to download the game in what I'm sure was an act of deliberate aggression against me, personally. Even Signalis and Sonic Origins are getting their own physical copies less than a year from release and given my strong preference for owning hard copies of games, I'm glad to see these titles break out of the realm of digital downloads. Cuphead's physical edition is a solid release of a great game and is well worth having on your shelf.

This game gets FAR too much hate from the DMC fanbase for what it actually is, understandable considering the conditions of how it came to be. With the future of the franchise in question, the move to have Ninja Theory, a Western studio, develop a reboot of the franchise is already a red flag for dedicated long-time fans. The result is a game that ends up being a VERY bad representation of the original franchise, leading to many to dismiss it on that basis alone, without appreciating it's strengths. For me, this was my introduction to the franchise, so the context was lacking for me at first, and there's a reason I have played the whole franchise since playing this game. This game made me a DMC fan, and I still hold it up as one of the better entries in the series, even if it only loosely relates to the others.

The visual aesthetic of this game is just fantastic, superior to any of the other DMC games in my book. The design of Limbo is just otherworldly, and combined with the vibrant colours and hard outlines, really sell the idea of this parallel world better than many other games. The character designs aren't as great, and the writing of those characters is arguably the game's worst offence; these are nothing at all like the original characters. The writing is very edge for the sake of edge, and the dialog makes these characters rather unlikable. The actual story being told here is nothing fantastic, but has potential, it's just a shame it is run through the filter of a teenage edgelord.

The gameplay is definitely a step down in complexity from the absolute insanity that was DMC 4, there is no doubt about that, but when taken out of the context of the high bar set by that game, it is still a great system unto itself, one that mixes well with the world design. The weapons each fill a niche, and it's only by combining all of them that the true depth of the gameplay can be achieved to maximize the combo meter for those all important style points. The bosses in the game are, for the most part, lackluster, but there are a couple of standouts that elevate the experience as a whole. Overall, the gameplay isn't quite what DMC offered, but it excels on its own merits, with a great variety of enemies to keep things interesting.

This game is extremely divisive. If the characters and dialog are too annoying for you, it really can harm the whole experience. If you can look past that, there is an excellent action game here, framed within a beautifully distorted world. Love it or hate it, it did leave the franchise on a rough footing, and it would take a while until DMC returned, and when it did, this game would be left behind. I do think that is a shame, because I really like this game, and I do hope that something could take up the torch of the unique experience it created.

showing up to the bank with a note that reads

"darksiders is my favourite 3D zelda"

aghast, the teller knows I can't be reasoned with and Sir Robert Bordens flood my sack