The 10 best video games you should have played in 2017

Cuphead

If you haven’t seen anything on Cuphead, just watch this trailer above from this year’s E3:

Yes, that is actual gameplay in the trailer. Yes, it looks like it’s straight out of a time machine. And yes, it’s all kinds of fantastic.

Cuphead feels more like a work of art than an actual game. And it truly is one, as the backgrounds and animations are hand-drawn and painted by one of the creators, Chad Moldenhauer (the backgrounds started as watercolors). It looks and sounds like a cartoon from the 1930s, anything from Disney or the original “Steamboat Itchy” from The Simpsons (which itself is a parody of Disney…).

It’s the aesthetic that really sells you on Cuphead. Even the music takes you back to that 1930s feel. It’s all horns and old school jazz. And the sound effects make it complete. The overall quality and craft is top-notch.

The game play is a bit of a different story. It’s much more difficult than you anticipate, and at times, you almost have to rely on muscle memory to get past certain obstacles and particular bosses rather than timing and skill (though there is a fair amount of skill still needed). It can get overly frustrating.