Three and Out – ‘Devil May Cry V’

The Devil May Cry series is known for over-the-top presentation and a complete lack of player limitations. With a lineage of games that kept pushing forward in their absurdity and a focus in pure fun, Capcom’s Devil May Cry V is a product with a complete understanding of what fans want and a perfect execution in presentation. With a story that isn’t incredibly complex nor intuitive, the beauty is in the campiness of Devil May Cry V, and how well it takes itself seriously without ever breaking the charm fans have come to love. 

Devil May Cry V quickly establishes the usual situation of a big bad demon named Urizen devastating the world, and introduces the three main playable characters: Nero, the legendary Dante, and a brand new character to the Devil May Cry series, V (the letter V not the number five). Devil May Cry as a series loves to focus its gameplay into making the characters as free and as stylish to control as possible, and Devil May Cry managed to go even further beyond that freedom and style. The sheer amount of how much I was able to do in combat felt phenomenal. Each character has their own style of gameplay to make sure the game never feels stale, running through the missions with its seemingly endless hordes. The first character to hit my hands was Nero, whose gimmick comes in the form of the Devil Breaker, a prosthetic hand that is fixed with many different weapons ranging from a rocket arm that you can ride on to a cannon that shoots an orb that slows time inside of it. There’s something right about a game that lets you ride your own arm while shooting up demons with a charged-up hand cannon and descending with a revved-up claymore. The newest addition to the devil hunting troupe is the “Mysterious V,” whose gameplay is focused on his familiars. The first familiar is Griffin, who is a demon hawk that focuses on ranged combat. The next is Shadow, a panther that acts as the main physical attacker. And then there’s Nightmare, who is a giant golem monster that becomes available when in Devil Trigger. The last playable character is the Legendary Devil Hunter himself, Dante, and he plays much like he has in the previous Devil May Cry games where his combat comes from wielding an assortment of ranged weapons (pistols, scarf, rocket launcher) and melee weapons (sword, motorcycle, nunchaku) while being able to freely switch between each weapon during live combat. Devil May Cry V’s gameplay was always rewarding to play, and with these three characters in my hands, I never once felt bored or had a need to stop playing the game.

Outside of Devil May Cry’s focus on gameplay, the main other characteristic this series is known for the crazy presentation that shapes the inherent campiness of the story. At its core, the story of Devil May Cry V is the culmination of Dante’s relationship with his brother Vergil and all the people that get stuck in the wake of their schism. It’s a very basic story, but when you get cutscenes of Nero slicing up a group of demons midair in slow motion while setting up a kill with a bullet ricocheting off a street sign, culminating into one of the best intros to a mission, you’ve got something pretty damn special. Everything is over the top, whether it is Nero just waiting for Nico to show up in her van-turned-weapon-shop or Dante turning his introduction to Dr. Faust into a musical number that rivals most finales in Dancing With the Stars. I’m repeating myself, but there’s never a dull moment in Devil May Cry V. Where might be low points in the story or just what seem to be throwaway scenes, they almost always find a way to either highlight a character’s growth or move the story forward in a way most other games probably wouldn’t get away with. This is a game that met its potential during development, taking chances and trying out everything the developers figured they could get away with, resulting in an experience that I would wait another eleven years for. Devil May Cry V is another jackpot that Capcom can proudly flaunt in its recent line-up, and is a game I will continue to play with its additional content coming up on the horizon. 

Thank you for reading. Your Patreon support keeps our community entirely Ad free.