Previews// Dispatches from EGX: Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil and Eitr

Chris O'Regan, host of The Sausage Factory (the inside baseball of the videogames world), has been out and about once again, keeping his nose to the ground at EGX to sniff out the best upcoming games you might not have heard about. Here's what he found...

Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil
Developer: Studio MDHR
Format(s): Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac and Linux

When I encountered Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil at the Xbox One indie booth within EGX 2015 I was blown away by the visual presentation. Ever since the promise of cartoon-like visuals was made when the PS2 arrived I have always hoped that one day someone would actually take that to heart and realise it.

So, when I saw Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil in its full glory I couldn't believe my eyes; it was like I was playing a cartoon from the 1930's, replete with faded colours, fuzzy outlines and wobbly animation. Not to mention the bulging eyes of the characters in the game and their exaggerated expressions. It was just like a very old cartoon, only it's a game. A game you fully interact with! I know it's taken 15 years to finally get to this point, but Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil blind-sided me with its visuals and I can't help but enthuse about them.

But what about the game itself? Is it as diverting as the visuals? Well from what I played of it yes, it is, if somewhat challenging. It's essentially a side-scrolling brawler of sorts, with players taking on a series of beautifully rendered and animated bosses that have patterns that need to be discerned before victory against them can be achieved.

There is an element of bullet hell involved, as players need to avoid slow-moving and deadly projectiles while they fire off a series of missiles of their own to a vulnerable spot on the boss creature. The main protagonist in Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil is, as the title suggests, a little man with a cup for a head. It sort of looks like a coffee cup that has a little handle on it. Why he has a cup for a head is never properly explained, but that doesn't seem to matter as it looks amazing anyway.

From the short play I had with Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil I can certainly see myself whiling away a lot of time with it. It's challenging enough to want to plough through the bosses without becoming frustrated. This is thanks to the ease with which each boss encounter can be read and progressed against by the player as they take them on.

Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil is due to appear sometime in 2016 on Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac and Linux.


Eitr
Developer: Eneme Entertainment
Format(s): Windows PC, Mac and Linux

Diablo, the game that gave birth to a host of 'me too' titles. Some great, like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, some not so great, like Nox. But they all shared the same mechanic; get stuff, kill stuff by clicking a lot, buy stuff, kill more stuff, listen to dialogue, kill more stuff. They never took a great deal of skill to play, just the ability to know what skill to use and when and how to 'min/max' the player character stats.

Now I have nothing against that at all. I'm actually a big fan of the Diablo games, but this is 2015 and game development has evolved a lot since Diablo first appeared. Notably, there are Demon Souls and its sequels Dark Souls I and II. They put skill into the dungeon crawler, while not really focusing on the acquisition of things. But what if these two types of games become one? What if a player's skill impacted on their ability to progress in a hack n' slash dungeon crawler? Well such a game is being made, and that game is Eitr.

Eitr features a warrior maiden who is really fierce with a sword and shield. The level of animation Eneme Entertainment have put into her is really impressive. The style adopted is one of fluid pixels, allowing for the detailed animations that are very important in a skill-based combat game such as this to be shown.

Enemies have a timed attack that needs to be dodged or deflected before landing a counter-blow against them. Flanking is also important as it prevents enemies from counter-attacking, but they are very quick to turn and face the player head on.

When I saw Eitr at the Indie Megabooth at EGX 2015 I was really taken by the animation and lighting of it. So much so, that I did spend some time watching others play it before attempting to do so myself. As I did so I did find players becoming frustrated with it as they assumed it to be a Diablo clone, only to be smacked around the head by a mere skeleton. All because they failed to appreciate the skill required to take on such a foe.

When I did eventually play Eitr I found myself torn between wanting to find treasures and dodging and parrying blows meted out by various beasts found in the demo's dungeon. I was really taken by the amount of design and thought that had been put into every player interaction with every enemy they encounter.

Eitr left a hugh impression on me and I will certainly be looking forward to its release on Windows PC, Mac and Linux sometime in 2016.