Sometimes a game is generally fine, but it’s a little element of its design that keeps it from feeling great. Cupiclaw is a lot of fun, and it’s the type of roguelike that can be played in short bursts! The graphics and presentation are very cute, and the story is low-stakes silly and fun. It’s just that it’s so simple that it’s very easy to work out the right way to win, as well as incredibly easy for RNG to ruin everything.
The concept behind Cupiclaw is quite silly. Morris had bought an engagement ring for his partner, but loses it moments into the game. This happens right outside an arcade filled with claw machines. Fortunately, there’s a way to make up for everything. While he’s broke, he has enough money to play machines on the first floor. By working his way up through the floors and selling his winnings, he might be able to get a new ring eventually!
Gameplay in Cupiclaw is incredibly simple. You get five rounds to make enough money to get to the next floor of the arcade (which is always more expensive) and need to have enough money to play every round on the current floor so you can keep progressing. How? You use the Super Catcher claw machines! You move the claw and drip in as many times as possible to grab items before time runs out for each round, each of which has a positive or negative value. Some items also can allow bonuses like extra rerolls or could involve a negative effect like a bomb that blows up everything around it. Combos can also take effect if you have certain items each run or get certain amounts of each type of item. Add to that each floor’s machine having a different gimmick that makes it more difficult to grab and needing to get a key before your rounds on the floor run out once you hit the coins necessary to advance, and it’s a lot of grabbing for hopeful success.
The thing about Cupiclaw is that it can get incredibly repetitive. It’s very easy to work out how to win. Invest in upgrades to certain items, then pick perks that tie in to that or continued updates to them and ones in their category, and you’ll profit. Which means the only way in which you can really “lose” is RNG when it comes to what’s actually in the machines on each floor. If luck is with you, then you are typically assured that a substantial number of items you need will be there. But there are always negative elements present, and it’s very easy to either have the best run ever or fail after only the first two floors for elements completely outside of your control.
Especially when it comes to the key. Now, I do appreciate that progress in Cupiclaw isn’t only tied to meeting certain monetary requirements. Needing to also grab the key ties in to the idea of grabbing things from the claw machine and proof of skill. But the nature of some of the cabinets mean their gimmick could lead to it being impossible to actually get the key through, again, no fault of your own. Which is disappointing when that ends a run.
However, Cupiclaw isn’t that deep! Which is a good thing, as it makes failures feel less traumatic. A good run could end up being about 15-30 minutes. A bad one? You’ll likely be done in under five. When things go that swiftly, it’s hard to feel too badly when things go awry and you know it isn’t because you weren’t skilled enough.
Cupiclaw turned out to be the type of roguelike you can pick away at in 15-30 minute intervals as a palate cleanser. It’s not too deep. It’s pretty easy to figure out the path to success. Admittedly, it can feel frustrating when many of your runs end because luck wasn’t on your side and you did everything right otherwise. But playthroughs of it tend to be quite pleasant.
Cupiclaw is available for PCs.
Cupiclaw
Cupiclaw turned out to be the type of roguelike you can pick away at in 15-30 minute intervals as a palate cleanser.