Plenty of video games have had distinctive art styles but few have managed to soar quite as high as Cuphead, the vintage cartoon inspired run-and-gun that took the world by storm back in 2017-and fans are going to have a chance to relive all that visual magic this coming October.
From Dark Horse Comics and Studio MDHR, Cuphead is getting a brand new, oversized, 160-page art book full of early concepts, hand drawn frames, and retro designs as Cuphead and his pal Mugman worked to reclaim their souls from the devil. And that’s not all-the game’s stunning artwork will be accompanied by commentary and insight from game directors Chad and Jared Moldenhauer.
In our review, we cited Cuphead’s art as a major asset of the challenging side-scrolling game. «But difficult battles only tell half of the story. Cuphead’s 1930s cartoon aesthetic is endlessly charming, popping with color and expression unlike anything seen at this scale in a video game before. The sheer variety of characters and settings yields consistent delight as you go from one stage to the next, with everything bearing the telltale signs of grainy ’30s film and rudimentary production techniques. Cel-shading means something to a lot of people, but Cuphead truly re-creates the look of hand-drawn cel animation.»
Want even more Cuphead goodness to tide you over until October? Cuphead is getting its very first DLC-«The Delicious Last Course»-this year! We’ve got a look at just what to expect here from Studio MDHR themselves.
The Art of Cuphead goes on sale October 22 and is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, TFAW, and at your local comic shop for $30.
