Pat and Simone need to play Cuphead for hours and hours

I’m going to tell you a story you’ve heard before: Cuphead is super beautiful and super hard. And I want it.

Last week at an Xbox Showcase event, Pat Gill and I got a chance to go hands-on with Cuphead in co-op mode. After months of being a little obsessed with Cuphead (visually, musically, historically), I was excited to play. But I was nervous, too. All I had heard about Cuphead was how dang hard it was.

I didn’t need to worry. Yes, Cuphead throws enemies at you like nobody’s business. But we walked away from it feeling like it was fair. What’s more, it wasn’t frustrating.

Every defeat came with a feeling that I had learned a little more, gotten a little better, and needed to play more.

Watch the video above to hear our post-mortem. We played three boss levels and a platforming level as a team.

Co-op gameplay offers players the option to use the parry action on their dead teammates to bring them back to life. Essentially, you high-five your friend’s ghost. Bad-ass.

Reviving Pat made me feel like a good friend, and a hero. I loved how reactionary parrying is — and it has to be, since there’s no pause in the onslaught of attacks that necessitate you dodging around like a jumping bean.

I’m looking forward seeing if Cuphead holds up to the hours I want to devote to it. The game comes out on Sept. 29 for Xbox One and PC.

To learn more about the cartoons behind Cuphead, check out the video below: