

Especially during the second phase, where Mortimer turns into a snowman, and he and all of his projectiles are constantly moving and changing forms. One difference that was very noticeable was the amount of animation and detail going on. Mechanically, he looked largely straightforward, with things getting a bit spicier in his last phase, when the floor falls away and the battle becomes a bit of a platforming juggle in the sky. I got a look at one of the new bosses, an ice wizard who uses snow and a whale to pummel you with chilly cruelty. “The things she can do are offset by some limitations,” he told me, “like being down a charm slot to even use her.” Also, as her suite of abilities seems especially powerful in the context of the original bosses, Studio MDHR promises that her movement tricks will be essential with the new big bads introduced in Delicious Last Course. All of these tools, on one character, with abilities that you'd previously need to commit charm slots for, seems like a clear attempt at making an “easy mode” adjacent experience, though Lead Designer Jared Moldenhauer didn’t agree. She has a double jump and an air dash right out of the gate, as well as one extra hit point. Then of course there's Chalice herself, who becomes playable after either Cuphead or Mugman equips her special cookie charm. Players can choose to use their parry attack on it before it burns out to launch the whole turret at the enemy like a cannon doing massive damage. Its powerful EX shot creates a spinning, planet-shaped turret that fires homing bullets on its own. Taking the aiming out of the equation helps focus on evading enemy attacks, making this a far more newbie friendly choice. Crackshot is a homing weapon, shooting little red bullets that find the nearest enemy. The peek I got at the new stock suggests some interesting new strategies for taking down bad guys.
