Cuphead developer studio MDHR is celebrating its sixth anniversary by giving Xbox and Windows free-to-play behind-the-scenes bonus content. The DLC includes high-res photos, concept art, a video player, and the entire soundtrack from the game. Developers have described the new bonus content as a “love letter” to fans who have remained passionate about Cuphead. The bonus content will be available on Friday, September 29th.
This new DLC will include 100 behind-the-scenes photos, including “never-before-seen concepts and unused art pieces” from one of the game’s most stylistic titles. Among those images is a sneak peek at early art that Studio MDHR describes as akin to Microsoft Paint. MDHR is quoted saying with regards to the new art release, “With our process being so painstaking once we put pencil to paper, we often use paint tools during brainstorming sessions to communicate ideas very quickly to one another for the broad strokes of a boss attack or phase transition,” said MDHR co-director Chad Moldenhauer. “A few of these made their way into the photo gallery, and we think they’re a fun break from tradition for the more handcrafted art we usually put out!”
The bonus content also includes the entire 86-track Cuphead soundtrack which will release for the first time. Additionally, a never-before-heard MIDI demo track will play in the background as players navigate the stylized DLC menus. Moldenhauer says the team was at odds about whether or not to release music from The Delicious Last Course DLC as they were concerned about spoilers. He writes, “After much discussion, though, we came down on the side of giving the Xbox community access to as much of Kris’s great tunes as possible — especially as we feel most of the players enjoying a section like this will have experienced the full Cuphead game experience already!”
Apparently, the team utilized over 110 different musicians for the DLC which is way more than just the base game. Continually, Moldenhauer says,”We thought it would be fun to give this to our Xbox community as a gift on the game’s anniversary, as our Cuphead journey really started with the release on Xbox. “In game development, plans like that don’t always work out, but we were fortunate that all our testing and finalization for the update seemed to finish with enough time to launch on the game’s sixth birthday!”
The DLC arrives this Friday on Xbox and Windows.