Whilst I appreciate I was somewhat late on arrival, and therefore, did not have to come to terms with fully waiting for half a decade for some form of additional content, it's still a peculiar set of circumstances to see post-game content arrive so late.
It's bizarre if only for the fact that 5 years is longer than a typical development cycle for a full game, let alone a single piece of downloadable content.
From the less-cynical perspective, The Delicious Last Course is just a little bit more Cuphead, and that will never be a bad thing. There are some notable additions, mainly the fact you can now play as Ms Chalice - whose ghostly figure has been trapped in the Astral Plane. Cuphead and Mugman are promised by Chef Saltbaker that if they can defeat Inkwell Isle IV's selection of bosses, and collect all the necessary ingredients from them, he can bake a recipe that will release her.
Ms Chalice isn't just a re-skin though - She comes with her own unique abilities and superpowers. She has an invincibility roll, which, if timed right, can pass through and evade any attack - Something Cuphead and Mugman do not possess. She can also double jump which often gives you greater ability to avoid attacks, and her parry mechanic involves pressing R2 to dash-parry, rather than X. You can still choose to use Cuphead and Mugman if you prefer, but Ms Chalice offers a fresher experience.
There are also a range of new weapons to purchase from Porkgrind's shop to use in the small selection of fresh boss battles, as well as an alternative to the Run N' Gun levels of before in the form of the King's Gauntlet, which sees you play through a selection of mini-bosses akin to the pieces found on a chess board. The catch is, you can only pass the level using the parry mechanic, and offensive weaponry is barred from this mode. It's clever and a nice change of pace from the regular game.
Now for the more cynical perspective. For something that took 5 years post-release of the main-game, it does feel very limited. The new selection of bosses are excellently vintage. Wild, full of character, cleverly presented and provide a chaotic experience with every fight, but there are just 6 of them to get through before you've exhausted all the content on offer.
I'd managed to go through all these bosses within a couple of hours, and this included most of the King's Gauntlet too. The trophy list promotes a healthy amount of replay value here, and there is still great intrinsic satisfaction to be had going back through some of these boss fights on the toughest difficulty to A-Rank them, but it definitely leaves you wishing there was just a bit more to it all, and that viewpoint of mixed appraisal should be taken as a testament to the quality of the game and the high standards it had set for itself.
Regarding the trophies, there are 12 in total to earn, and this list mainly fits within the same standards as the main game.
Progressing the questline and defeating all 6 bosses in order to recover all the key ingredients for Chef Saltbaker's recipe is where most of the focus lies, and there is a pro-active promotion of Ms Chalice within the trophies, with a couple of dedicated tasks specific to her so it makes sense to choose to play as her whilst you progress the questline. You will sacrifice your charm slot due to the fact you have to equip the Astral Cookie charm in order to play as Ms Chalice, but her stronger ability set compared to Cuphead and Mugman offsets this nicely.
The "Ranger" trophy, awarded for Obtaining an A-Rank or Higher on all bosses in Inkwell Isle IV, is the exact same standard set for defeating bosses as the main list, and whilst there is a noticeable continuity in the difficulty of bosses carried over from the end of the main game, this shouldn't be too much of an issue if you have already earned the Platinum trophy.
It's also definitely worth looking into the range of new weapons offered up for purchase in Porkrind's shop. Once I'd purchased the Crackshot ability, the challenge to strive towards an A-Rank for each boss became noticeably more manageable, due to it's auto-lock nature. You can win the coins to purchase these abilities via the King's Gauntlet, which you'll need to progress through separately for a couple of extra trophies within the list anyway.
You'll only have access to the "Simple" and "Regular" difficulties for each boss from the outset, and beating them on "Regular" will unlock "Expert". However, you can still earn an A-Rank on "Regular" difficulty - albeit an A- rating - though this does still count towards the Ranger trophy, so there isn't a necessity to unlock and beat each boss on it's hardest difficulty mode. However, you will also need to beat just 1 boss to an S-Rank, which can only be done on the hardest difficulty.
The biggest thing that makes Cuphead so endearing is the fact that it's the sort of game that relies on the right kind of trial and error. The bad version of this involves tons of randomness, broken game logic and usually only rewards the player success through luck or fortune. The good version involves mastering pre-set attack patterns, but still tweaked enough to include a little element of randomness to keep you on your toes and realisation that the reward comes through practice.
If you're like me, and you already had the Platinum trophy, you'll probably jump straight back into this without having to negotiate a learning curve, beat the bosses with relative ease and even go back through to obtain the A-Rank for each of them after purchasing a few key abilities, ultimately finding this fairly trouble-free. Including the King's Gauntlet, and a couple of miscellaneous trophies in-between, I reckon you could wrap this whole package up within 5-6 hours.
It's a nicely balanced piece of content, with enough of a challenge to keep you on your toes, but not to the point where it hits some of the lofty difficulty heights of the main game. It is a shame there wasn't a bit more to it, but it's great whilst it lasts.
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