Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course DLC Switch Review – A Perfect Meal

Well, the time has finally come for The Delicious Last Course! This special DLC for the awesome indie game, Cuphead, has been in the news for quite some time, and we finally got a solid look at it during the Game Awards Show last year. Now we have our hands on what is truly an amazing and beyond affordable package that makes Cuphead an even greater experience.

So just how well did Studio MDHR deliver on The Delicious Last Course? Is this the DLC Cuphead needs? Or does it not add a whole lot to the stunning title? Let’s find out!

The Delicious Last Course can be started by completing the first Mausoleum, and then a boat will be waiting for you to take you to the brand new Inkwell Isle IV. From here, we are almost immediately introduced to Ms. Chalice who coerces the two protagonists to eat a delicious cookie. You see, Ms. Chalice at this point is in the astral plane and looking rather ghostly, but the cookie allows her to swap places with the character who eats it.

We then meet Chef Saltbaker, another new character, who is apparently the greatest chef in all the lands. Chef Saltbaker is the chef who created the cookie that gives Ms. Chalice the opportunity to enter the real world, but there is one major problem: the taste is sweet, but the effect is brief. This means Ms. Chalice switches back to her ghostly form, and we are faced with a bit of a dilemma. This temporary status is not going to fly, but Chef Saltbaker has a recipe for the Wondertart that will give Ms. Chalice compete control over the astral plane. It is up to the team to find all of the ingredients in Cuphead fashion: fighting bosses!

I was not expecting much with The Delicious Last Course DLC’s story, but this got me. Such a silly concept, and it is executed tremendously from start to finish. The new characters, especially Ms. Chalice, are a delight, and it is simply amazing to see the stupendous world of Cuphead expand. The animated series has done an amazing job bringing the series to a larger audience, but this DLC gives the fans so much more to chew on. Let me tell you why!

Gameplay is right back where we were before. This is still a boss-focused title, even in the DLC, and the 12 new bosses are all absolutely amazing. Before I get into the new main bosses, The Delicious Last Course gives us something new and special with The King’s Leap, a series of boss challenges where you cannot use any of your attacks. Your only weapon is your parry, and this makes for such a unique, entertaining, and challenging side-quest that rewards you very well for completing the five bosses provided by the king. After completing the last one, you can return to any of the previous challenges for practice. These do not get grades after completing, but they are a great test of your parry and serve as a solid practice field.

Ms. Chalice is the new playable character, and she is quite different from Cuphead and Mugman. She parries by dashing, she can double-jump, and she can dodge roll. A lovely new control scheme to mix things up, and she’s perfect for her own DLC, as some of the bosses are designed to cater her gameplay style and not the other two. Cuphead and Mugman can still defeat the new bosses, but it is definitely more of a challenge than it is with Ms. Chalice. For those looking for something to do after clearing The Delicious Last Course, trying to get high grades with Cuphead and Mugman is easily something to further enjoy the new DLC.

The bosses this time around are all fantastic. It is not quite as extensive of a list as the main game, but this new lineup is definitely a worthy group that provides serious challenges and loads of fun. One of the cool things about this DLC is that it rewards its stronger players while still offering an easier way to play for others. This is because Simple and Regular are offered on each of the main bosses, but completing a boss on Simple just opens up access to the next boss. But since the mission is to collect special ingredients to give Ms. Chalice physical life, you can only earn these ingredients by defeating a boss on Regular difficulty. One thing of note is that there is even a fun little puzzle within Isle IV that gives you access to a “secret” boss. Great stuff!

The last thing to really say about The Delicious Last Course‘s gameplay is all the new goodies you can buy from Porkrind’s Emporium. The new shots and charms are great and provide tons of new options for gameplay in Cuphead, and the nice thing about collecting all of the ingredients to fully unlock Ms. Chalice and purchasing the new shots and charms is that all of them can be used on the other islands, too. That means that all of the content you receive from The Delicious Last Course can carry over and create new experiences in the main game, too.

When it comes to the graphics, animations, and art style in The Delicious Last Course, what can I really say? Cuphead just continues to be one of the best-looking indie games on the market because of its stellar art style inspired by 1930s-era cartoons, and all of the new characters and bosses just further cement this reality. There is so much detail put into everything, and the animations, especially when the bosses transform into their latter forms, truly look like I am watching a hand drawn cartoon.

What compliments the 1930s-era graphics but an absolutely amazing score! The soundtrack in Cuphead is truly one of my favorite parts of the game, and The Delicious Last Course continues this trend. The old toon-inspired music follows the action on screen, and boss transformations even follow suit with musical transitions. The piano riffs are an absolute joy to listen to, but I still love when the horns kick in! The only bummer is that the Barbershop Quartet does not return with new songs to sing, but considering how much content is packed into this low-priced DLC, I am not going to hold that against Studio MDHR at all.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course DLC is one of the best indie content packs I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Cuphead is already an amazing title chock full of things to praise, like its tough-as-nails yet fair gameplay, breathtaking animation, near-perfect soundtrack, and amazing characters. The Delicious Last Course only elevates every single one of those points, and it gives us another playable character that adds even more value to the overall experience.

Cuphead has never been better than it is now. This is the perfect DLC for the title, and it is a mega-package for such a low price. If you are a fan of Cuphead and have been longing for a reason to go back to Inkwell Isle, there is no better time than the present! The Delicious Last Course is here, and it is absolutely filling.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course DLC Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Studio MDHR
Release Date: June 30th, 2022
Price: $7.99, £6.79, €7,99 (Requires Cuphead game download)
Game Size: 1.6 GB