As someone with no experience with spectacle fighters, let alone DMC, this game fuckin' rocks.

One of the best damn combat systems I've ever found in a video game. Remarkably inviting for a newcomer like me, but with so much depth to sink your teeth into, yet it never feels overwhelming.

A fantastically wild story, with hilariously stylish characters and tone. It's one of those things where the characters take everything kinda seriously, but with such a hilarious over-the-top style it becomes intoxicating to watch.

It's very much its own thing, both in gameplay and design. It's pretty distinct from other popular combat systems like modern God of War and the Star Wars Jedi games. And I love it all the more for it.

Important to note, it's not one of those games where you have a million different things you can do, with minigames and gameplay variations - you do one thing, and one thing very well: whoop some demon ass. Might not be everyone's thing, but I'd still recommend everyone give it a try.

It's one of the most damn fun experiences I've ever had, and I'm jealous I can't go back and play it for the first time again.

Oh, and get the special edition if you can, for extra stuff.

Did I play the same game as everybody else? Maybe it's because this is my first DMC game, but this game is so poorly paced and juvenile.

On the first playthrough, you constantly learn new skills even at the endgame so it's impossible to master any of the late game weapons/skills before credits roll. The fact that blood orbs are shared among Nero, V and Dante also doesn't help. You barely play as V and spending blood orbs on his skills feel like a waste. The game benefits on subsequent playthroughs as you learn to master all of the battle systems but I'm more interested in strong narratives rather than being able to S rank every level on every difficulty.

The story is plain bad. It's something a hormone-raging teenager would come up with. Characters lack any depth, spout zingers that are comparable to "your momma" lines and the entire female cast is present either to be comedic relief or sex objects. Lady and Trish could have played much more interesting roles but their "finest" scenes are of them completely nude and fragile.

The battle system is the only thing that really shines in this game with Nero, V and Dante all having very distinct fighting styles. Nero is a burst heavy fighter with moves that can charge up for more damage. V is a summoner and plays kind of like a hero-based RTS. And Dante is a mix-up specialist where you can change weapons and stances mid-combo for very stylish results. Lastly the Live Action Cutscenes DLC is fantastic and is worth watching after completing the game.

You wanna know how much I love this game? I played through this game twice within less than a week after buying Devil May Cry 5.

DMC V is a love letter to DMC fans yet it is also a warm welcome for newcomers. No one has to/nor should say "yOu HaVe tO pLaY tHe GaMes In ChRoNoLoGiCal oRdEr tO gEt ThE fUlL DmC eXpErIeNcE" because there is a recap to tell you the story of all the 3 Devil May Cry games(we're never going to mention nor include that game). This game has me interested in the franchise and the fanbase.

I love the self-aware tone of the game, along with the previsualization cutscenes adding that silliness. I love the nods, animations, and playstyle of each character, representing their personalities. V is more quiet and laid back while his familiars are the ones who attack, kind of like Vergil aka Urizen. Dante is still, well, crazy in this game. His set is my favorite as it is the most rhythmic and varied in the game. You can't just button mash all the time. Sometimes, you have to do something at the right time like whenever you are using the Trickster and Royal Guard. Nero starts off as deadweight in this game as you are weak without an arm, but as the campaign goes on, you find more types of arms, making him more varied than he was in DMC 4. Devil May Cry V has the best cutscenes ever made. Just watch the opening and you'll see what I mean. Devil Trigger is a friggin bop that I can't stop listening to whenever I'm driving. Despite the microtransactions to progress faster, the progression without them was really smooth. There were no roadbumps at all.

Now that I have played this game. It MOTIVATES me to play the other games in the series (except for DMC2). This is easily one of my favorites and quite possibly my favorite this year. We'll see on the latter. I loved a lot of games this year, but yeah. If you're a DmC fan or even a newcomer, please play this game.

FINAL RATING: SMOKING SEXY STYLE/10 aka 10/10

I enjoyed it quite a lot but it definitely had more issues than it should. Having 3 different protagonists that you can't freely switch between in every stage means that the gameplay sections can't focus on any of them, and it doesn't allow any specific character to shine properly, all of them are fun for sure but none are stand out.

The story is fine, do note that I haven't played any of the previous games but I am planning to play dmc4, so take this opinion with a grain of salt. I already had a good idea of who the 2 brothers were, so the nero reveal at the end didn't shock me, and considering I've heard some say this was already heavily hinted at in 4 means that it's even worse that it's expected to be this grand reveal. But you're not playing this for the story so it doesn't really matter.

And now for a controversial opinion, the visuals suck really bad. It's gray, too much gray, it's downright ugly 90% of the time, and having seen some of the previous games, I could tell that this is a dmc5 only issue, it's samey, visually dull and uninteresting, cohesive sure, but it could have been better. Thankfully the unbelievably lifelike character models make up for it, seriously, wow, I have a rather lowtier pc, yet, I was able to get 60fps with these photorealistic models running around them on medium graphics, so I've gotta applaud the optimization on pc, seriously impressive.

EDIT: forgot to mention that I adore the music, it was really good, especially the 4 battle themes, especially Nero and Vergil

So overall, really good, and I'm glad this is how I got into this series, but Bayonetta 2 is still my preferred game in terms of hack n slash. I won't give scores anymore because that would miss my point and make you think that it's either about it being bad (0-->5), average (6-->8) or excellent (9-->10).

OVERVIEW

• Rating: 10/10
• Hours played: 15
• Pros: combat quality, variety and depth, replay value, presentation
• Cons: level design, story pacing

I have completed Devil May Cry 5 on Devil Hunter Mode once, which took me about 11 hours. I also played a bit with the Bloody Palace mode, and have an ongoing run through Son of Sparda mode.

GAMEPLAY

Devil May Cry 5 (DMC5) is the return of the original series, stepping away from the infamous (and likely unfairly hated) reboot from 2013. After 10 years of wait, Capcom gave fans the sequel to the fourth game that every fan was expecting, taking the old gameplay to a whole new level of sophistication and fun, while making use of the RE Engine to create the coolest looking DMC to date.

The most important element to DMC’s gameplay has always been the combat, and that was clearly the focus of development with this instalment. DMC5 shines not only on the quality of combat mechanics, but, specially, on variety and depth. The game has 3 playable characters for the main story, Dante and Nero making a comeback from DMC4, and V, a new character. They all have very different skills and toolsets, with varying levels of depth between them: V is the most unique, but also the easiest to use from a beginner’s perspective, while Nero acts as an intermediary character, with a growing set of Devil Breakers in place of his Devil Bringer from the last game. Finally, Dante returns with an incredible set of weapons that can all be switched on the fly, alongside his 4 fighting styles from DMC3 and 4. They are all viable and useful characters, but the amount of mileage that skilled players can take out of Nero and, specially, Dante, is absolutely incredible, as it is to be expected from this series.

If from one side the developers looked to expand the design of combat, the approach to other elements of gameplay was fairly streamlined. DMC5 has the most straightforward level design on the series, mostly focusing on straight paths that takes players to one combat encounter after another, with some ligh platforming at times, and eventually exploring a corner for extra orbs or a secret mission. It’s by far the most basic game on the series outside of combat, levels rarely have any mystery to them, and exploration doesn’t feel as rewarding as it used to be. At least that are some standout memorable levels, and the secret missions do add a few unique challenges that are not combat-exclusive.

Perhaps a reason for the simple levels is to enhance replayability, an element that has been incredibly important to DMC games. In fact, DMC5 is possibly the most replayable of the bunch, because of the variety and depth of characters and playstyles, the numerous difficulty settings that are progressively unlocked every time you beat the game, the bloody palace mode, the variety and quality of enemy and boss designs, and, finally, the Void, a very strong training mode that is great for newcomers and experienced players.

The series is known for being challenging, and the incredible array of new modes that this game has really works to garantee that everyone can have something for their taste and skill level. I did, however, feel that Normal mode was a little bit easier than I’d like – I never died to mobs, and no boss killed me more than once. Going through hard mode now I’m feeling it is more appropriate for someone who’s played the older games, and makes me wish that it was unlocked by default, since the really great DMC players (whose level I’m nowhere near of) are probably walking through their first playthroughs. At least newcomers are going to have a more balanced experience, as DMC3 could be a bit too much on normal for someone who never played this type of game (which was actually my case when I played it for the first time – it was painfull).

STORY

DMC games are not known for great storytelling, but that doesn’t mean that the writing isn’t important to enhance the experience. A good DMC needs to be like watching a popcorn action movie, or even most of the superhero ones: you watch it for the cheese, it’s fun, you have a laugh here and there, and, with luck, you’ll find a bit more substance in the middle. While DMC5 excels at the first part, it didn’t do a great job on the second.

Apart from the funny elements, the good parts are because of the characters, a trademark of the series. Dante is awesome as usual, Nero actually seems to have been through some growth after the last time we saw him and the new characters, V and Nico, are excellent. It’s a shame that Lady and Trish were relegated to background noise.

The problems I had with the story happened when the game tried to deal with more important stuff. No only the villain’s motivations didn’t sit right with me, the pacing of the plot was terrible. I believe they made a mistake trying to build mystery where there was none, and when all the information was at the table and characters were expected to react to and grow from them, it was too late, with the ending missions feeling extremely rushed.

In the end, I still believe it was a worthy journey, I had a lot of fun and the presentation was fantastic. Voice acting, music, sound, graphics, art style and animations all helped to improve the experience with both story and gameplay, making DMC5 the most polished of the series.

CONCLUSION

Devil May Cry 5 is one of the games of the last decade and one of the best action titles I have ever played, providing me with tremendous levels of fun. I still think I prefer the third game (level design, atmosphere, story and bosses give it a slight advantage), but that can change with time, as the gameplay was phenomenal. I recommend this game for every fan of action games, and I'm glad to say it was worth the 10-year wait.

The graphics are pretty, particularly the character models. I loved the glowing reds and almost gory designs of the roots taking over the city.

The characters are fun, charismatic, interesting, and if you've played the former DMC games they're endearingly familiar. My personal favourite is V, who neatly slots into character tropes I tend to enjoy, but I also liked (the sadly little we get of) Lady, and Dante was hilarious as always. I particularly enjoyed the Dante-and-Vergil dynamic.

The voice acting is brilliant, particularly Dante's. Nico's accent grated on me a little, but that's entirely a me thing.

The plot is nothing mind-blowing or unique, but you probably don't come to Devil May Cry for the complex story. It's interesting enough to service the game.

It's genuinely fun to play through, and combat feels satisfying and flashy. I found V's combat style most fun to play, Dante's trickiest to do well at, and Nero's easy to master but not as engaging.

I didn't focus on the multiplayer overly much during my playthrough, but it had a fairly interesting take on it from what I recall. In certain sections of the game, you can see other players controlling the other playable characters in the distance in their own sections of the map, and at the end you can give them a ranking on how well they did. I pretty much just gave everyone a Stylish rating, which grants them a gold orb, because why not? I'll have to delve more deeply into this aspect of the game when I replay.

For how long fans have had to wait for this follow up to DMC 4 I got to say it was worth the wait. While there's nothing revolutionary here, unlike the original DMC or how much depth DMC 3 added to the established formula with the stances and seamless weapon swaps, this is the most refined combat has ever felt for the series. It's responsive, fast, over the top and a ton of fun to play.

Dante has never felt so complex and good to play, featuring 4 melee, 4 ranged weapons all of which swap seamlessly with a push of a button allowing you to string together impressively stylish combos together with ease. Nero, while annoying in his first foray, feels fresh to play with the added Devil Breaker arms. Each offering it's own mechanic to add more depth and variety to his play style. The best easily being his rocket arm that he can shoot out and then jump ontop of to hoverboard around and beat the shit out of demons with. He has a rev mechanic with his sword, but honestly I didn't really like how this worked. If you pre-rev outside of combat, you will lose it if you smack a red orb collect or anything of that nature. Which made me stop pre-reving almost entirely and not really using this mechanic. Then there's the high school Emo kid V who reads his own fan written Edgar Allen Poe. Honestly, while none of it is good, I found it amusing and endearing. Certainly added flavor to this character. He plays very differently from Nero and Dante (while both are distinct from one another, they still have an air of similitude in their general play styles), where he uses summoned monsters to fight for him. His playstyle is significantly easier, both in terms of executing combos and getting high style points without really trying. I didn't mind his sections. Certainly less challenging and engaging than Nero or Dante, but I still had fun with his section of gameplay.

There is technically a story, but let's be real. This is DMC so who cares.

The only real quibble I have with the game is how stagnant and repetitive the environments are and the lack of boss variety for the second half of the game. You end up fighting the same boss 3 times which wears out its welcome. The early game throws a bunch of unique boss encounters which is cool, just kind of a shame that they seem to loose creativity past the first few hours. None of the bosses really feel like a puzzle like they did in the original DMC, but they are over the top spectacles that are fun to engage with. There is still solid enemy variety though.

There was a loose online community component to this game, wherein some levels could have a real player jump in and playthrough a parallel section of the level. Sadly I played this game too late and never encountered another player, but from what I read, it sounds like it wasn't that impactful anyways.

This feels old school in the best possible way. It's very linear, levels are small in scale, but the gameplay is hyper focused and refined. And it's sense of spectacle more than compensate for the limited scope. There's a lot of replay-ability if you click with the combat and it was a blast from start to finish. I prefer a game that isn't bloated and demands 50+ hours to beat.

It's pretty great and what's more, it's a modern, expensive character action game. We haven't had those, aside from Bayonetta games on Nintendo's consoles, since probably the DMC reboot. Everything has become a Souls game and this, being so unapologetically PS2-era in terms of the overall gameplay model, stands firm to remind players that it still has a place in modern gaming. And I mention PS2 not to imply that it's simplistic, but rather that it's straightforward: it's mission based with each being a short-burst one, with nice variety and almost every one having a boss fight. The cut-scenes are great, very well-produced despite the story being pretty simple.

The game lets you play as three characters, while also not forcing you to backtrack through the same levels like in DMC4. Nero and Dante have some new cool additions but otherwise they're like in the previous games, while V adds a new summoner play style.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the locations that much. In DMC1 and DMC3 the setting is one location with varied environments but still a coherent progression. DMC4 introduces a world where you make your way from one location to another which sometimes was a little boring but still gave you a feeling of a connected world. Here, the levels feel disjointed, one moment you're in the city, then in the Qliphoth. Furthermore, while the action is great and extremely satisfying, the levels lack any sort of puzzles or exploration-type activity, you're just moving forward constantly. It works, but I still think that DMC3 had the perfect balance between action and exploration/puzzles.

I also have some nitpicking about the difficulty. Upon dying, the game prompts you to revive yourself with red orbs or a gold orb. I don't think it's a very good system, because you don't actually need to beat the boss that way, or rather, you don't need to evade or defend yourself against the boss, just revive yourself a couple of times and at that point you should have dealt enough damage to kill it. You always had that ability, but here, the game gives you way to many gold orbs. And restarting from the checkpoint takes like 15 seconds, so it was a little annoying how the game was almost pushing me to cheat.

The story itself to me was a little simple, and the new characters Nico and Morrison are underwhelming, I always wanted to see Lady and Trish instead. Seeing Vergil come back is super cool and feels like the best way to end the series, if Capcom never returns to it.

I have my gripes with the music selection but that would be way too subjective, I'll just say that Dante's heavier themes resonated better with me. I really liked the industrial sound in DMC3 and here the music is more melodic which probably makes for better listening outside of the game compared to Taste the Blood from DMC3.

All in all, I think I enjoyed DMC5 a lot, it wasn't better than DMC3, but it definitely beats every other game in the series. A game like this coming out in 2019 is worth a lot and I have a lot of respect for Capcom for sticking the landing.