So this was going to be just a regular ol’ article about just Devil May Cry in general, and why I’m so damn excited for the long-awaited 5th entry to the series… And this article will be that; but now with the added bonus that I actually got to play the demo that dropped on Xbox One… And boy did it sure pull my fucking Devil Trigger.
If you’ve known me for pretty much any period of time, you’ll quickly figure out that Devil May Cry is one of my favourite series of all time. I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid, simply watching my brother play the first one a long-ass time ago. I still remember the day I got Devil May Cry 4, and how unbelievably hype I was for an 8-year-old. It’s kinda hard to determine when a game drops where I live (Pakistan), because it can either drop somewhere between a month early or two weeks after release – My brother went out to see if it had arrived from the game store that we often went to, and I sat patiently by the door waiting for his return. When he came back he looked at me disappointed for a bit until he pulled it out from under his shirt, and then I popped off harder than I could ever pop off.
We slapped that baby in and waited for it to install. As it was installing, my tutor showed up and the pure dread that crept up my body was worse than anything I’ve ever felt at the time. Forced to go study and not play my wacky-yahoo-pizza-time game killed me, but an hour later I sat my ass down and sessioned that game like an absolute motherfucker.
So since I don’t own an Xbox One, to get my first taste of Devil May Cry V, I went down to Gamer’s Revolution in Lahore, so huge shoutout to Usman Burki there for actually having the demo set up. If you’re in Lahore at any point, and reading this, check that place out – It’s great. I sat my ass down and started up the demo with my friends behind me, just watching me close to tearing up at this because I legitimately cannot believe that I am about to play Devil May Cry V – something that I’ve been dreaming about since I beat 4 – and something that I thought was never going to happen since Capcom decided to hire Ninja Theory to make “Don’t-e” May Cry (DMC: Devil May Cry).
But anyways let’s finally talk about DMCV. Right off the bat you’re going to notice that the camera is pulled in super close; not God Of War (2018) close, but it’s definitely going for a more cinematic approach; however this pulled in camera – unlike God of War – didn’t feel like it affected gameplay too much considering that almost all of the time all enemies were on screen, and I knew what was going on. No dumb radial indicator here, no sir, not in my Devil May Cry.
The next thing you’re going to notice is that everything has a lot more weight to it. “Oh no” some of you concerned readers may say, thinking that heavier feeling gameplay would make this the “Dark Souls” of character action games. Oh silly reader, didn’t you hear what Itsuno San said? He said, “I am confident that this game will exceed expectations”, so sit your ass down and listen. Everything has a lot more weight to it, and when I say that I’m not saying that the gameplay is slower – In fact, I was playing DMC 4 an hour before I played the demo, and it was pretty much just as fast paced and balls to the wall in comparison. The new added weight to everything just makes everything feel 10x better. The gunplay is no longer something you just spam, but something you shoot with very defined gunshots that feel nice and just have a whole lot more kick to em’. Best way I could describe what this new added weight brings to the table is just a whole lotta UMPH.
The music was also absolutely fantastic, and because I’m a styleboi. I got myself those cheeky S ranks more than once so I can really hear it going. This whole gradual-music-engine-thing is probably one of the coolest things about the game, simply because of how it incentivises you to do better if you wanna hear that sick chorus.
Next up we have the Devil Breakers -These things are just amazing. They all have different properties when you’re in the air or on the ground, and all of ’em have a super strong move if you hold the Devil Break button and let go that is just so fun to pull off. You also have a breakaway which essentially just makes the Breaker explode and do decent damage, and it’s used for breaking away from enemies, creating distance or just cycling through Breakers.
The two Breakers you get in the demo are Overture and Gerbera, and boy, are they great. If even one of the Devil Breakers were just the big change to Nero’s toolkit, I wouldn’t even be mad because they’re that fun to use. My favourite move on Overture has to be the hold where you break off the arm inside of the enemy, and then set it as a ticking time bomb. You can blow up the bomb fast by shooting that enemy and it looks stylish as hell. Gerbera is amazing because of what it gives you in the air. You basically just get free infinite aerial movement – It’s dynamic, stylish and really goddamn helpful.
The other thing I wanna mention is that taunts are back and they’re cooler than before. Taunts have always been, in my eyes, the sickest shit ever – Being a cheeky cunt is one of the best things about the series that’s all about being a cheeky cunt. Who woulda thought huh?
This time taunts have more gameplay elements added to them; remember that taunt in Devil May Cry 4 where Nero revs the Red Queen, and because the boys over at Capcom are mad lads about their attention to detail you could notice that the Exceed gauge actually goes up a lil? Well now you actually just get a proper Exceed bar from it. You also have one where Nero stylishly reloads his gun and bing bang boom you’ve got a fully charged Blue Rose.
“Oh look it’s my husband,” said Salman as he saw a vision of Nero right before he went into a coma before the release of DMCV.
So in conclusion I’d like to say that I am so fucking hype for the full game that I am going to shit a goddamn brick. Holy fucking Daddy Dante needs to hurry the fuck up… For real though, if I die before this game comes out I’m gonna be fucking pissed. Keep those Devil Triggers tight.