Cuphead Review (iriyap)
"A brawl is surely brewing, you're up!"
I want to talk a bit about the difficulty, because it can be a little overwhelming at first and might scare off newcomers, but the game is actually not that hard, it just throws you into the thick of it while you're still learning the controls and how the game is meant to be played.
By which I mean, it's a boss rush game, there's no "beginning area" where you can fool around, it immediately opens up with a multi-stage boss fight pelting you with projectiles. In addition, the default control scheme is a little strange, to say the least. I recommend rebinding right away to e.g. LT = aim lock, RT = shoot, X = dash, A = jump.
Granted, there are 2 side-scrolling levels with no bosses per each world, but they're paced like Ghouls 'n Ghosts stages with constantly respawning enemies and deadly hazards. While the rest of the game is elaborate boss fights with many phases.
Is it harder than Dark Souls? Yes, you can't level up, there's no healing, no OP builds, you die in 3 hits. The game plays more like the classic run & guns like Contra Hard Corps, Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier, except there's virtually no punishment for death, aside from restarting from the first phase.
There's a shop where you spend coins to buy a variety of weapons, e.g. a spread shot for close range combat, a charge shot a la Mega Man for potentially the highest damage but you'll need to constantly charge it and aim well. You can carry two weapons into battle and swap between them. There are also passive charms, most people will probably settle on the smoke bomb which adds i-frames to your dash. If you own the DLC, you can immediately visit the DLC area to unlock an additional character who has 1 more HP and a few extra moves (such as double jump and dash parry) to make the base game a little easier.
In conclusion, you'll get your face smashed in when you start, that's normal, don't rush to refund the game, because 15 minutes later you'll be dabbing on bosses once you get used to how the game plays. I wouldn't say it's a try hard game, I'm pushing 40 and awful at games, and I'm doing just fine (cleared the first two worlds in 5 hours and 50 deaths). If you're able-bodied and don't have anger issues, you can beat this game and have a lot of fun doing it!