Cuphead’s one of my favourite games, period. I’ve spent countless hours shooting from those Rubber hose gloves, pushed through the game on Expert mode, and even dressed as the titular Cup himself for Halloween. Despite all this, I’m still floored whenever I see those stunningly animated bosses, no matter how many times they kill me. So, when I say that the boss design in this long-awaited DLC is the best of the, previously thought untoppable, best, that should hopefully get you excited.

The base Cuphead experience is, in my opinion, a pivotal landmark in modern gaming. It showed that if you put enough care and (a metric shit ton of) time into each aspect of a game, you can create something truly extraordinary, that stands out as highly original, while still paying obvious homage to the classic 1920s style of animation. It’s been 4 years since this DLC was announced, and I was honestly starting to lose hope we’d ever see its release, as it was originally slated to launch back in 2019. Now that we finally have it though, the high-quality experience that Studio MDHR delivered all those years ago, in many ways feels expanded upon, giving us a truly refined version of what made Cuphead so special.

The concept of The Delicious Last Course is simple. After the main game’s conclusion, Cuphead and Mugman are beckoned by their spectral pal, The Legendary Chalice, who has a plan to return to the world of the living! This takes the boys to Inkwell Isle IV, a brand spanking new island with 6 (standard) new bosses to conquer. Collecting ingredients as you do so, Chef Saltbaker plans to make a cake that can change Chalice back to her living self.

Along with the ability to play as Ms. Chalice, the new island comes with a new selection from Porkrind’s Emporium, including three additional shot types and some new and mysterious charms. There’s also a new combat tournament held high in the clouds, where you have to face rounds of mini-bosses, all with a unique gameplay twist. On top of the previously mentioned bosses, a hidden, spooky boss unlocks a new way to play, that once you’ve obtained, you will rightly never want to use.

I’ll say it again, Studio MDHR have outdone themselves, clearly taking what they learnt when developing the base game and using that to refine most aspects of the Last Course. The most obvious example of this is in the character design and animation quality of the new bosses. The visual storytelling in the most recent lineup is remarkable, you’ll face a huge mountain troll, along with his army of gnomes, who decides that his final phase should take place in his belly, swallowing you whole when you’ve ticked him off enough. You’ll face the Moonshine Mob, whose Don uses below-the-belt moves to throw the player for a loop. The Canteen NPC who teaches you the basics of aerial levels returns for the level Howling Aces, where you take part in an aerial DOGfight, where a top team of canine pilots uses flight manoeuvres such as a barrel-roll, which rotates your entire screen 90 degrees. Some of the transitions between phases, like in High-Noon Hijinx, are so beautifully animated that I don’t mind dying a couple more times if it means I get to watch them all again.

The new shot types, along with their special moves are pretty fun, each feeling at home alongside the base 6. I will say that Twist-up seems too level-specific with its upwards trajectory (perfect for some of the new bosses) and while Converge is a cool looking electricity based shot, I think I’d still rather use Spread when it comes to a triple shot weapon, as it’s easier to use without having to focus the fire. Now the third shot type, Craskshot, is quite possibly the strongest weapon in the entire game and meant I almost never used the other two. When you miss a shot with it, you get follow-up smaller blasts that home in on enemies, plus a neat special that acts as an auto-turret, or a parry-able extra large shot depending on what you’d rather use. Crackshot, for me, really borders that line between fun to use and feeling overpowered. After so much time spent playing Cuphead, it’s difficult to tell (on the first playthrough of this DLC) if this new shot type is a contributing factor in breezing through the new selection of bosses. But I’ll get onto that after talking about the slightly misleading new addition of a playable Ms. Chalice.

What I, and I imagine a lot of other people presumed to be a third playable character you can choose instead of Cups and Muggsy, turned out to be an equipable charm instead. At first, I was a tad disappointed, but then I realised just how powerful Chalice is, and why she’s more than just a reskin of the original boys. Story reasons of her being trapped in the Astral Plane aside, the clear reason she is a charm is her set of unique abilities, which include a double jump, invincibility rolling, a dash that automatically parries, and an extra health point to boot. On top of these already pretty hefty advantages to choosing her charm, Ms. Chalice also has her own set of new shots in aerial fights, along with three unique super arts, one of which summons a shield that can take a hit of damage for you, which is definitely overpowered and was used for the final fight to make it a breeze. I’m torn because I love the entirely new playstyle, and her being an equipable charm, means you cant use other powerful ones like Smoke Bomb, but that still doesn’t stop it from feeling a bit too good. It essentially contains the extra health charm, and who cares about Smoke Bomb when you have a roll which is basically the same thing. I think the enjoyment of playing her and learning the new moves, even if it means never wanting to play as the other two again, just about justifies her as a good addition. As with Crackshot’s power though, are Chalice’s advantages a contributing factor to the biggest complaint with this new DLC?

Not just from personal experience, but as a consensus from quite a lot of people who played (and then very quickly completed the game) is that The Delicious Last Course is either too short or too easy. Despite the fact it took 4 years to release, I always presumed it was going to be a third of the size of the base game, with just 6 new bosses, so when it turned out to have additional challenges as well, I was pretty chuffed. That still doesn’t change the fact that I completed everything, including every new boss and mini-boss, even going back to fight old ones with Ms. Chalice, In an insanely short 2.5 hours.

People are understandably a bit annoyed about this, especially the die-hard fans that have been waiting for quite a long time, and while I’m one of those who patiently waited for this to come out, I don’t find myself disappointed by this DLC, quite the opposite. Other than the fact this costs £6.79, which is a very reasonable price (I would have paid a lot more), the overall quality of this DLC is just spectacular. From all the gushing I’ve done throughout this review, It’s clear that I’m satisfied with the job they’ve done, and it follows up the original game so bloody well that I really do not mind how quickly I breezed through it. It’s also, again, difficult to tell just what contributes to this short experience, whether it’s based on how recently and how much you played Cuphead, or as previously pondered, could it be the new overpowered mechanics, that make the bosses feel easier than usual? I think the latter is true, but if you want to have an experience closer to the original, then just don’t play as Chalice or without Crackshot.

Overall, I’m just happy we got the chance to return to the beautifully crafted world of Cuphead. For the first half-hour of playing The Delicious Last Course, I had a beaming smile on my face just because of how lucky I felt to have more of one of my absolute favorite games. So in the end, was the highly anticipated Cuphead DLC worth the wait? Absolutely.