Hello I’m Jordan Middler and welcome to Radge Quit, a show about video games.
Cuphead should be easier.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Jordan, games today are for gaming professionals not
tragic noobs like yourself” and as charming as that sentiment is, that’s not really
what the video is about. It should be called “Reasons Cuphead should allow players to
see its content without being amazing at the game” but that’s not really that catchy.
Cuphead is a magical game. Its art style is soo good that if I could plaster my entire
house with screenshots I would. The music is so good that I’m actually considering
buying the £100 LP collection of its soundtrack
One: Because I’m an insufferable hipster wank and
two: because it’s use of jazz and raglan is every bit the creepy, yet twee romp that
screams very early Disney cartoons
The backgrounds are so dense that light bends around them. There's nothing I can say. There’s
no hyperbole that can do the game more justice than well, this...
*Cuphead intro music plays*
So aye, it’s amazing.
I love it. It’s also as hard as well, anything, name something; Dark Souls, a Rock, The Rock
point is, it’s very hard. And I ain't no casual. I even got past this bit
Anyway, the point is, I can play it without much problem. It’s challenging but I generally
know how to beat bosses after a few attempts. It requires skillful execution but it’s
nothing too ridiculous.
The game has a simple and a normal difficulty. The simple difficulty changes fights and
removes a few forms, but in order to progress into the second and third world you need
to beat the levels on normal.
That’s not fair. I don’t think that people that aren't skilled enough to get through
fights that are way harder than the average game should be blocked from seeing two-thirds
of the games content. Just because they aren't amazing at it.
Unless you were really dialled into games culture and knew what Cuphead was before buying it,
there’s little indication of just how hardcore it is.
It would be like going to the shops to buy a John Denver CD and when you get it home it’s Cradle of Filth.
This isn’t usually a problem, but because a huge draw of the game is it's art style i
could easily see a more casual player buying the game for that, or maybe someone that doesn’t
even play games that are just big fans of animation or classic Disney.
For all that amazing art to be gated behind an extremely high difficulty seems unfair.
Especially when they literally include a lower difficulty but don’t legitimise that progression
by allowing players entry into later worlds.
It's like if they let you sit an easier driving test, under the one condition that
a third of the way to your destination your wheels are going to explode
It's kind of similar to when people talk about whether Dark Souls should have an “easy” mode
For the longest time I held the “git gud” attitude, but the more I think about it,
that’s just selfish and incredibly stupid.
What if someone isn’t physically able to conquer the rapid response button presses
necessary in a lot of those games. Does that person just not get to see those parts of the
games that they paid for? Also, It’s not like my game gets any easier or changes just because there is
an option for someone to play it on a difficulty that suits them better
Making a game hard at the expense of not being inclusive to a potential new audience isn’t really worth it
The more people that can play all games the better. There’s a brilliant video by Naughty Dog
that talks about how a disabled fan that wrote to them after being unable to play a part
of Uncharted and it made them totally reconsider accessibility in their games.
All games should look towards that as an example of how to include everyone in their art.
That begins with making things like Cuphead’s simple mode actually mean something, rather
than being an illusion of a difficulty setting.
In any other circumstance I would recommend Cuphead to literally anyone, but it’s just a bit too hard
for me to say to the average gamer go ahead. Especially to someone who doesn't play a lot of games
Even folk who would consider themselves “gamers” have told me that their turned off by its difficulty
which is a real shame because the amount of effort put into every single frame of the game deserves
to be seen.
Anyway, what do you think?
Of Cuphead, of difficulty in video games, of John Denver vs Cradle of Filth… hot button
issues.
It’d be great if you could subscribe to the channel and until next time I’m Jordan
Middler, I’ll see you later