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.Theyare often designed to teach players to pick up on patterns, puzzles, or strategiesso they can overcome more difficult levels and adversaries.However, somegames are not only deceptively more difficult than they appear, butthey can also be so punishing that seem nearly unbeatable. Two perfect examples of thisare FromSoftware's Dark Soulsand Studio MDHR's Cuphead.

While these titles vary in style and genre, they require players to be incredibly attentive and to never waver in their skill. Even the slightest mistake could be fatal, causing death and a start from the beginning. However, the quality of their gameplayhas 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?

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Cuphead's Fast Pace Works Against The Player

Cupheadis 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. 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 various attacks and super moves at their disposal. The catch is that players can only get hit three times before a game over occurs. Withso 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.

What makes the game 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, if anything, and could cause a fair amount of rage quitting.However, through its repetition, players have the chance toimprove their skills as they gothrough 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 its breakneck pace and keep their own damage to a minimum.

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Dark Souls' EnemiesRequire Focusand Determination

Dark Soulsuses its world and items to tell its story, with players controlling acursed undead,who is granted the ability to resurrect after each death. Their quest involves facing multiple bosses in a journey to gain the Lord Souls of multiple ancient beings so the player may either save or doom humanity. The title 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.

Dark Souls has only one difficulty level that playersmust overcome to beat the game. As a result,any enemy -- from the lowest of grunts to the biggest of bosses -- has thechance to kill the player,forcingthem to retrieve the souls they'd lost from the place they died, while risking death all over again. In the end, even the smallest strikes 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.

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Cuphead Is Hardest Due To Its High Stakes Pace

While Dark Souls is notoriouslydifficult for good reasons, Cuphead has proved that true punishment comes not fromenemy 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.

On the other hand, Cupheadplayers could finally come to understand the pattern of the toughest boss andstill lose at the last seconddue to a small mistake, forcing a restart whether they want to or not. Ultimately, what makes Cuphead more difficult is that there are no potential glitches or random enemies that can throw off the player. Instead, victory is always within their grasp but can easily be lost at the smallest miscalculation.

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