Cuphead vs. Dark Souls: Which Notoriously Difficult Game Is Harder? (2024)

As a medium, video games are designed to be interactive experiences that offer a challenge fit for the style or genre of the game. They are often designed to teach players to pick up on patterns, puzzles, or strategies so they can overcome more difficult levels and adversaries. However, some games are not only deceptively more difficult than they appear, but they can also be so punishing that they seem nearly unbeatable. Two perfect examples of this are FromSoftware's Dark Souls and Studio MDHR's Cuphead.

While these titles vary in style and genre, they require players to be incredibly attentive and never waver in their skill. Even the slightest mistake could be fatal, causing death and a restart from the beginning. However, the quality of their gameplay has also made them classics in terms of punishing titles. The question is, while both games feature challenges that aren't meant for the faint of heart, which of these two iconic games could be considered the more difficult?

Updated on July 28, 2024, by Natasha Elder: The notorious difficulty of both Cuphead and Dark Souls is well known, albeit for different reasons. Cuphead's difficulty is due to its fast-paced action and steep learning curve, whereas Dark Souls bosses hit hard and have lots of health. We wanted to examine further why one is more difficult than the other, as well as discuss how the multiplayer options in both games affect their respective difficulties.

Cuphead's Fast Pace Works Against The Player

Dying After Only Three Hits Means Cuphead Has a Steep Learning Curve

Cuphead is a love letter to the rubberband animated cartoons of the '30s and '40s, like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, right down to the perilous hijinks. In the game, Cuphead is tasked by the Devil to capture the souls of his various contracts in order to save his own, but they won't go without a fight. As a result, the player must take them on with only a few varied attacks and super moves at their disposal. The catch is that players can only get hit three times before a game over occurs. With so few tools at Cuphead's disposal, the game has its bosses throw anything and everything they can at the player — all at once. Coupled with the chaotic music, retro animation, and obstacles that require quick thinking, it takes more than good aim to get a win.

• Although Cuphead was announced in 2013, and had a preview at E3 in 2014, it wasn't released until 2017.
• The popularity of Cuphead resulted in the production of a show called The Cuphead Show!, which was released on Netflix in 2022.

In addition, the battles themselves are highly varied in terms of the bosses’ actions and the obstacles inherent in the environments. There are also three different types of battles in Cuphead. The first, being a run-and-gun style level, is not required to beat the game. However, it is one of the few ways to get coins that allow the player access to the few upgrades available in the game. The length of the levels and the difficulty in reaching the coins, however, means the levels are no easy feat. The second type is a more traditional boss fight, wherein Cuphead is in a one-on-one battle against his opponent. The third type is an aerial contest, with Cuphead piloting a plane against a flying villain. This completely changes the mechanics of the game, offering new evasion tactics and different forms for the super moves. The variety of level types ensures both that the game remains engaging, but also challenging as players switch from one mode to the next.

Ultimately, what makes Cuphead so punishing is how players can be at the top of their game for an entire level, but a bad string of mistakes towards the end will result in an immediate game over and restart. It's more discouraging than anything else and has likely been the cause of a fair amount of rage quitting. However, through repetition, players have the chance to improve their skills as they go through the random phases of each boss and learn how to outsmart them. As a result, the punishing aspect makes way for satisfying victories, so long as the player can maintain the patterns at the breakneck pace that the game presents them, as well as keep their own damage to a minimum.

Dark Souls' Enemies Require Focus and Determination

Enacting a Strategy is Imperative for Success in Dark Souls

Dark Souls uses its world and items to tell its story, with players controlling a cursed undead, named the Chosen Undead, who is granted the ability to resurrect after each death. On the surface, Cuphead and the Chosen Undead have a similar goal, as they both need to collect souls in order to achieve their end objective. The Chosen Undead’s quest involves facing multiple bosses on a journey to gain the Lord Souls of multiple ancient beings. By collecting the souls of these ancient beings, the player may either save or doom humanity. Dark Souls is gothic in its style and devoid of life, leaving a sense of total isolation for the player. Ironically, the only real company available could come out of nowhere and punish the player for no other reason than not paying attention at the moment, as the multiplayer system is often used to complicate the hosts’ games.

• The first Dark Souls was released in September 2011, and a remastered version of the game was released in May 2018.
• A Dark Souls comic book produced by Titan was released alongside Dark Souls III in 2016.

Dark Souls famously has only one difficulty level that players must overcome to beat the game. As a result, any enemy — from the lowest of grunts to the biggest of bosses — has the chance to kill the player, forcing them to retrieve the souls they'd lost from the place they died while risking death all over again. In the end, even the smallest strike could lead to death. Boss fights also require strategizing and a war of attrition to stay alive and continue inflicting damage, unlike Cuphead's relentless onslaught of attacks. In the end, Dark Souls isn't there to ease players to victory. It's a challenging game that requires players to have immense focus on their surroundings, enemies, and personal weapons and items.

Additionally, unlike in Cuphead, the Chosen Undead has to face enemies in their journey to the next boss fight. This means that players can never truly relax their guard, as they might have to transition into battle at any moment. Although the enemies faced in the wild are not as strong or powerful as the bosses, the number of them poses a threat to unsuspecting players, leading to their character's death. Thus, the player must maintain their care even outside the major boss battles where one expects the challenge.

Multiplayer Complicates the Difficulty of Both Cuphead and Dark Souls

There Are Equal Chances That the Secondary Player Will be Hindersome or Helpful

Both Cuphead and Dark Soulshave multiplayer options, although the multiplayer in Dark Souls is a bit complicated, and in both cases the helpfulness of the additional players is debatable. While having another player in the game sounds like it should be helpful, that is not always the case in either game. In Cuphead, the second player plays as Mugman, Cuphead’s brother. Having both Cuphead and Mugman face off against bosses doesn’t necessarily lessen how hard Cuphead is, though, as the bosses’ health increases when there are two players. Conversely, having a second person allows for the opportunity of resurrection after death, if the still-alive player can parry the dead player’s ghost before it leaves the screen. However, this can be a distraction as much as a valuable asset, as going for the ghost can be dangerous. Additionally, having two players onscreen adds to the amount of chaos as both are shooting and running around, potentially creating a hindrance instead of being helpful.

• While not a direct sequel, Dark Souls acts as a spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls, which was released in 2009.
• The development for Cuphead began in 2010 but took years to complete, in part because the animation was largely hand-drawn, with at least 50,000 frames being done in this style.

Dark Souls’ multiplayer situation is more complicated, as there is no inbuilt co-op mode. Instead, players can leave a summoning signal in order to attract other players who are online. However, this also leaves open the opportunity for players who have less helpful ideas in mind. The system is often used for players to hunt each other down for no reason outside of enjoyment from ruining another player’s run. So, while the summoning system, when used properly, could be very helpful, it also puts the player at risk. In this way, Dark Souls multiplayer option is more of a gamble than Cuphead’s, offering an increased challenge as often, if not more often, than it is a source of aid. So, particularly in the case of Dark Souls, these games are not necessarily the best multiplayer games available.

Cuphead Is Harder Than Dark Souls Due To Its High Stakes Pace

The Smallest Mistake in Cuphead is Punished

While Dark Souls is notoriously difficult for good reasons, Cuphead has proven that true punishment comes not from enemy difficulty, but defeat by the smallest mistakes. In Dark Souls, death doesn't mean that all is lost; players can essentially pick up where they left off and may even gain more items along the way. Additionally, in Dark Souls, the players are able to heal themselves mid-battle, so, while accruing damage is not insignificant, it is also fixable. There is no such option to heal in Cuphead, so the player must deal with the damage as it comes.

• The developers of Cuphead, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, began their development of the game using Microsoft XNA but transitioned to and completed the development of Cuphead using Unity.
• Over 35 million copies of Dark Souls games have been sold as of 2023, indicating the vast popularity of the franchise.

The possibility of having multiple players in both Cuphead and Dark Souls complicates the matter, but not significantly. Assuming that one requires help in Cuphead, having another player only helps sometimes. When working in tandem, Cuphead is made easier by the presence of another, as having two players makes death a bit less impermanent, but it also serves as a distraction. Additionally, the bosses aren’t actually any easier as the health scales to the number of players. Similarly, the multiplayer option in Dark Souls increases the difficulty more often than it helps. While the system allows players to help each other with boss fights, it is in actuality mostly used to disrupt other players. In each case, multiplayer is helpful on a case-by-case basis rather than consistently.

Cuphead players could finally come to understand the pattern of the toughest boss and still lose at the last second due to a small mistake, forcing a restart whether they want to or not. While Dark Souls players could also lose to a small mistake at the end, it would ultimately be a culmination of many mistakes made throughout the battles, as the Chosen Undead can take multiple hits, especially as the game goes on. Altogether, what makes Cuphead harder than Dark Souls is that there are no potential glitches or random enemies that can throw off the player by chance. Instead, victory is always within their grasp but can consistently and easily be lost at the smallest miscalculation.

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  Cuphead

  Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era: traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.

  Platformer

  Systems

  

  Platform(s)

  PS4 , Xbox One , Switch , PC

  Released

  September 29, 2017

  Developer(s)

  Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.

  Publisher(s)

  Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc.

  ESRB

  E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco

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  Dark Souls

  Action RPG

  Systems

  

  Platform(s)

  PS3 , PS4 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Switch , PC

  Released

  September 22, 2011

  Developer(s)

  From Software

  Publisher(s)

  Namco Bandai

  ESRB

  M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence

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