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The Shocking Truth: How Many Hours Does It *Really* Take To Beat Cuphead?

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The question of "How long to beat Cuphead?" is one of the most difficult to answer in all of gaming, because the playtime is almost entirely dependent on one factor: your skill and patience. As of late 2025, the community consensus remains that this classic run-and-gun action game, inspired by 1930s cartoons, offers a notoriously high difficulty curve, which can swing the average completion time from a brisk 8 hours to a soul-crushing 80 hours. This article breaks down the most current and accurate playtime estimates for the main game and the critically acclaimed DLC, *The Delicious Last Course* (TDLC), based on different player goals.

The Cuphead Playtime Breakdown: Main Story, 100%, and DLC

The playtime for *Cuphead* is not a fixed number; it's a spectrum defined by player experience with boss-rush and bullet-hell mechanics. The game's structure, which is heavily focused on challenging boss battles, means that a player who quickly masters the parry and dash mechanics will blaze through the Inkwell Isles, while a newcomer might spend hours on a single boss like the infamous Ribby and Croaks or Grim Matchstick.

1. The Casual Run: Main Story Completion (Normal Difficulty)

This completion goal involves beating all the bosses in the three Inkwell Isles and confronting the final boss, The Devil, on the standard "Regular" difficulty. This is often what players mean when they ask for the "time to beat."
  • For the Experienced Player: If you are a veteran of challenging 2D platformers or boss-rush games, you can expect to complete the main story in approximately 8 to 12 hours. This estimate assumes a moderate number of retries but a quick learning curve.
  • For the Average First-Time Player: Most players new to the "Git Gud" philosophy of games like *Cuphead* will spend significantly more time. The average playtime for a first-timer is closer to 12 to 15 hours. This time is heavily inflated by the initial struggle to learn boss patterns and the game's core mechanics.
  • The High-End Estimate: For players who struggle significantly or take frequent breaks, the main story can stretch up to 20 hours or more. Some community members have even reported spending 80 hours on their first run, highlighting the game's steep difficulty.

The key takeaway is that the "Main Story" time on Normal difficulty typically lands around the 10–15 hour mark for the majority of gamers.

2. The Completionist Grind: 100% & All Achievements

Achieving 100% completion in *Cuphead* is a monumental task that requires you to go far beyond simply beating the final boss. This goal involves completing a list of challenging requirements that test your mastery of every boss, run-and-gun level, and mechanic. The requirements for true 100% completion typically include:
  • Beating all bosses on Regular difficulty.
  • Earning a P-rank on all Run-and-Gun levels (Pacifist Run: completing them without killing any enemies).
  • Collecting all Coins and purchasing all Charms and Weapons from Porkrind's Emporium.
  • Completing the secret challenges, such as the Mausoleums.
  • Crucially, beating the entire game again on the punishing Expert Mode.
  • Earning an S-Rank on every boss on Expert Mode.
The playtime jumps dramatically for this goal:
  • 100% Completion (Including Expert Mode): Estimates for this ultimate challenge range from 20 to 25 hours for a highly dedicated and skilled player.
  • The True Completionist (S-Ranks on All Bosses): This is where the time becomes highly variable. Mastering the S-Rank criteria (beating a boss on Expert difficulty with a perfect score in time, health, parries, and super meter) can push the total playtime to 30–40 hours or more, depending on your commitment to perfection.
The jump from 15 hours to 25+ hours is due to the sheer difficulty spike of Expert Mode, which introduces faster attacks, new patterns, and fewer windows for recovery.

The Delicious Last Course (TDLC) DLC Playtime

The 2022 expansion, *Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course* (TDLC), introduced a new playable character, Ms. Chalice, a new island (Inkwell Isle IV), and a handful of incredibly challenging new bosses. While it's shorter than the main game, it packs a serious punch in terms of difficulty.

How Long to Beat The Delicious Last Course?

The playtime for the TDLC DLC is much more consistent than the main game, though still dependent on skill.
  • TDLC Main Objectives: Focusing only on beating the new bosses and unlocking Ms. Chalice's abilities will take most players about 3.5 to 5 hours.
  • TDLC Main + Sides: Including the optional challenges and secret encounters will extend the playtime to around 5 to 6 hours.
  • TDLC Completionist (100%): Achieving 100% on the DLC, which involves beating all bosses on Expert Mode, typically requires about 9 hours.
The DLC is praised for maintaining the high difficulty of the original, meaning those 3-9 hours will be intensely challenging.

Factors That Dramatically Affect Your Cuphead Playtime

Understanding what influences your time spent is key to setting realistic expectations for your *Cuphead* journey.

1. Co-Op vs. Solo Play

Playing in Co-Op Mode with a friend can either decrease or increase your playtime. On one hand, having two players means double the firepower and a revival mechanic (parrying a ghost), which can make some bosses easier. On the other hand, the bosses gain more health in co-op, and the screen can become incredibly cluttered, leading to more chaotic and frustrating deaths for uncoordinated teams.

2. The Power of Charms and Weapons

Your choice of Weapons (Shots) and Charms is critical. New players often stick to the default Peashooter, but experimenting with powerful options like the Spread Shot, the Lobber, or the new Ms. Chalice abilities can drastically cut down the time spent on a stubborn boss. The Smoke Bomb charm, for instance, is a game-changer that allows you to dash without taking damage, immediately reducing the difficulty of many encounters.

3. The Mindset and Patience

*Cuphead* is a game of pattern recognition, not reflexes. The hours you spend are essentially hours of learning. Players who approach each death as a learning opportunity, rather than a failure, will see their playtime decrease much faster. The game is intentionally designed to force players to memorize attack sequences. The playtime is a direct measure of your personal difficulty curve and resilience against frustration.

4. The Speedrun Community

For the ultimate benchmark, the world record speedruns for the main game are often under 30 minutes, and the DLC 100% speedrun is currently under 18 minutes. These times are a testament to the game's depth and the skill ceiling, but they are not representative of the average player's experience.

The Shocking Truth: How Many Hours Does It *Really* Take to Beat Cuphead?
how many hours does it take to beat cuphead
how many hours does it take to beat cuphead

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