Handmade Visuals in Video Games Can Signal a Different Kind of Play

Ever since the release of Studio MDHR’s acclaimed Cuphead in 2017, game studios and distributors have been trying to find novel ways of luring audiences with aesthetics that seem handmade. The look of Cuphead is based on cartoons from the golden age of animation, like Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1928) or the early films of Tex Avery. It’s a basic action game: a series of difficult boss battles alternating with short “run-and-gun” platforming levels. But Cuphead caugh