The Art of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is written by Eli Cymet and Tyler Moldenhauer and published by Dark Horse Books.
The Art of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is available from today, in print where all good books are sold. Grab your copy from Amazon UK here.
Review
Cuphead took the gaming world by storm in 2017 with its devilishly hard boss fights and its colourful art style reminiscent of 1930s cartoons. It wasn’t until 2022 when Cuphead received an expansion in the form of The Delicious Last Course DLC, which fans seemed to love just as much as the base game. Now, with The Art of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, Eli Cymet and Tyler Moldenhauer take a deep look into the artwork as they go through the many elements that went into making The Delicious Last Course DLC.
The book goes through the art of the game in order of when things appear in the DLC, starting with Ms. Chalice then moving on to the locations and then through each of the bosses, cutscenes, merchandise and even ideas that never made it into the final product.
One of the most fascinating things about this book is seeing the various stages and evolutions of the animation. As everything in the game is hand drawn, there are many fine details that the animators put into all aspects of the game and it shows in every page of the book. You are able to see all the concepts that make up these individual elements which takes the form of a trial and error approach in the game making process. For instance, when the book shows off the various expressions and animation cycles they had for Ms. Chalice you can see just how many differing versions they had made. Including an evil form of the character that didn’t end up in the final game yet looks absolutely psychotic in its design.
The boss character designs are also interesting to read about as the book does a great job of exploring the potential directions each one could have gone down as well as core influences for the looks of every boss. Mortimer Freeze’s design for example was heavily inspired by Fleischer’s 1934 Jack Frost short film whereas The Howling Aces boss fight took its influences from games such as The Phantom Express and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Even when the book looks at the physical sets and props that were created for the tutorial sections, something which isn’t immediately evident in the game, it just proves the amount of passion and dedication that went into the development of a simple little DLC for a video game such as Cuphead. In the later stages of the book, Cymet and Moldenhauer even decide to take a moment to look at the toys, physical releases and merchandise for the game which requires just as much intricate detail as the game itself.
Verdict
The Art of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is an insightful read that showcases the sheer level of detail that went into the game’s DLC as well as the beautiful artwork that makes the world of Cuphead so inviting in the first place.
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