Devil May Cry 5 Review

Don't you dare say it -

Onwards to the end. It's actually a little surreal to think that my first real desire to play the famed and beloved Devil May Cry franchise was spawned the very first time I played the demo for Devil May Cry 5- and now I've finally had the chance to satiate my curiosity for What lay beyond that small snippet I played and what context defined it to begin with. Whilst speeding through over 2 decades of video game history I can finally deduce that the answer to one of those questions is at least- nothing, never once has this franchise ever deigned us worthy to learn why it is that Demons just populate the world every now and then. I mean sure, we can blame the Qliphoth but why? Why does a demon tree mean demon summons? Why did the events of DMC 4 suddenly summon demons? Why were they summoned in the prequel Vergil cutscene? DMC 3 one's kind of make sense, there was specifically a portal to the underworld mentioned- but otherwise: are demons just a natural thing that people of the DMC world deal with?

Questions that shall go an unanswered because at this stage in the game no one involved in this franchiser was interested in deconstructionism, especially not after their last game, just named 'DMC' was lambasted for attempting exactly that through a reboot of the franchise. Casting a younger Dante, reframing the elements of the story in order to tell a founding narrative that was a bit more constructed and deliberate in the style of DMC 4 ended up slightly erasing all the things that fans loved about these games, the history they shared with them. As well as the personality quirks of post DMC 2 Dante by some people's reckoning. The result was that when time came around to do Devil May Cry once again, the team decided to abandon the new universe and do their best to return to what DMC fans wanted in such a hard U-turn that they low-key kind of just retold DMC 3 in broad strokes- albeit in a totally new fashion.

In many ways DMC 5 is an amalgamation of everything I've wanted from a DMC game up until now; it tells a active and fairly engaging story with properly written characters that have actual stakes in the plot's events, (Weep harder: DMC 2) and it brings memorable set-pieces, decent missions and fun bosses. Unfortunately it never quite catches the level of difficult intensity that DMC 3 boasted, but on the flipside the combat this time around was so smooth, flashy and brimming with character, (between the three playable characters. 4 with DLC) that I never got bored. Despite being about 4 years old now, Devil May Cry 5 looks pretty enough to put most modern games to shame both in cutscenes and in the heat of battle, which might be a comment on how we're reaching the edge of the visual fidelity arms race, but I just like to appreciate the pretty looks.

I quite like the effort that went into the visual design of both gooey bubonic terrain of the demonic tree which has infected the world called the 'Qliphoth', (Yes, it's another random word from mythology that the team borrowed and used without any thought put into it's potential thematic significance.) and the red-phone boxed streets of a demolished city called 'Redgrave' which that tree is growing out of, a city I would have found instantly identifiable as this universe's version of London even if I didn't already know that because I'd see a making of video years ago. The solid design work, much stronger than this franchise's earlier days, actually persists to the various monsters and bosses you'll encounter and stops only short of the main bad guy, who is back to being a sludge monster. (What the hell is it with this franchise and sludge monster main villains?) At least his final form for the last two missions is more... shall we say... palatably familiar. 

In gameplay Devil May Cry 5 is exactly what you would have come to expect by now only refined to it's flashiest and, in my opinion, best feeling. Of course, now that we have three protagonists there are some curious points to each hero that makes their playstyle tantalisingly unique. Nero, for example, features a collection of robotic 'Devil Arm's' that replace the one he lost, all providing new functionality to the 'B/O' button (Some much more useful than others) and each will break if Nero takes damage whilst using them. A curious risk and reward style mechanic that can spice up your combo chain in a manner that feels flowing and dynamic depending on whatever arm it is you have lined up, making Nero's playstyle feel just that little more than 'Dante without the variety'.

Dante plays much the same as he did in 4 with the insta-switch melee weapons, ranged tools and styles to back up a movement set that has never quite gotten old. He's still perhaps one of the most utilitarian fighters in this genre-type, made even more accessible with the modern simplification of his 'Royal Guard' stance making dodge play obsolete if you know how to time a quick switch or two. (It can make those more frantic boss fight moments flow like wine when you catch that perfect block/retaliate combo.) He almost feels like the Kiryu of the franchise, the baseline you just can't go without. And with the focusing down on Dante's close combat tools rather than ungainly briefcase canons- there is an unparalleled smoothness which makes his levels a blast.

V is the newcomer to the rooster bringing with him a quite unique take on 'Summoner gameplay'. V himself isn't capable of hacking or slashing, but his retinue of demons, including a tiny version of Griffon, a panther and a special rock golem, all fill different roles of combat in his stead. However as individuals, each creature has a certain amount of health before they get knocked out of the fight for a bit, and V himself is helpless if all his critters are knocked out at the same time, so there's a curious aggression versus defensive rhythm to get into whilst playing his levels which is quite unlike any other character in DMC. It can hardly be disguised that his levels are slower and can be somewhat frustrating even if you have a decent hand of the basic moveset of the game, but for the change of pace alone I rate V's levels as adequate. 

Now as I've teased, this time around the team actually tried to tell an evolving narrative in the vein of where DMC 4 went and in doing so created a very straight forward and digestible campaign with memorable story beats- only this time starring a plethora of well performed and distinctive personalities to breath life into the sillier moments. I particularly am a fan of the fact that Dante's constantly breathy performance now perfectly fits since the character is getting a little older, and the fact that newcomer Nico is just... the best. She seems designed from the ground up to seem like she's going to be a forgettable and unlikeable character but she just... isn't. I really like her. More so than the other reoccurring girls who, with all due respect, were utterly superfluous throughout the entire game. I have no idea who the girl opposite of Trish is, but she ain't the badass character Lady we got to know back in DMC 3. For Nico's sake I hope she managed to stay away from the core team lest she get her personality sapped dry until she's just a mindless valley girl archetype eye-candy waste of screentime.

Devil Trigger is back and being useful in this game, with a brand new extra mode tacked onto the late game called 'Sin Devil Trigger', which adds a new game changer transformation capable of stunlocking and performing just gross amounts of damage. It takes a while to build which is supposed to be the trade-off, but when you go SDT it's practically like you take over the entire fight for a brief few seconds of unbreakable carnage. You don't even heal during SDT, nor are you invincible, because either would be too broken. Honestly, and this might be the first time you'll ever hear this said about the franchise, I might actually prefer how DMC 2 did it's alternative Devil Trigger. Desperate Devil Trigger only activated when you were on the last slither of health and that would change a losing beatdown into a heroic resurgence anime-style. However, Desperate Devil Trigger didn't come with the Devil Sword Dante, now did it? And I love the summon sword powers of the Devil Sword Dante. Finally Dante feels as cool as Vergil to play as, it only takes half the game to unlock it.

And finally there is the music, which is indeed good enough this time around to deserve it's own shout-out because wow- this game has the best soundtrack without any serious competition. To be absolutely transparent I did actually know about both 'Devil Trigger' and 'Bury the Light' before I played the game to experience them, but what I didn't know was that both of those insanely catchy, great tracks were standard battle music! Most games would save epic handbangers like those for epic character moments but not Devil May Cry! They want the desire to hear the songs themselves to be enough to dry you into each fight, and you know what? It absolutely is! I will prolong fights as Vergil just so I can absolutely annihilate alongside announcements of how "I am the storm that is APPROACHING! PROVOKING black clouds in isolation!" Nero and Vergil got down right by this game's soundtrack, which I suppose is fighting when you think about it...

Summary

I've reached the point in reviewing these games wherein I know them all well enough to be arguing semantics. They're all some baseline version of good (apart from 2) so rating always comes down to splitting hairs and personal preference over what I think makes the better action hack'n'slash. Or rather, whatever features bring the experience closer to Metal Gear Solid Revengence, which is objectively the best action hack'n'slash game that exists. (That's just a fact.) Still 3 presents the most interesting challenge experience, and 4 takes you on the best feeling journey. But 5 looks the best, brings the best characters and now, I can slip this accolade off of 4's shoulders, feels the best to control by a country mile. I once speculated that 4 might be the game I keep installed on my Xbox to come back to when I'm feeling the need for "Motivation", but 5 supplanted that. In many ways, 5 is the experience I was kind of looking for out of this franchise, and I'm glad it rose to this point. That final fight could have laid on the fire a bit more, but I came out wanting to jump right back in and that's the kind of excitement these types of games are born to engender.

So of course I'm going to be recommending this game. You already knew that was coming just from how I'm talking about it. But what you didn't know was that I loved this game enough to slap it a solid A grade on my arbitrary grading scale. That's right, this game manages to be as fun to me as Metal Gear Rising is, thus earning the exact same grade. That is as high praise as I can dish for a game like this, because I absolutely loved my time and I'm still playing even now because of how kick-ass of a game it is. Coming to this franchise I was expecting slightly more at times, especially out from the characterisation of characters which the gaming world have told me are untouchably iconic, but I can't deny that the level of reverence this franchise has enjoyed feels just about well earned by the time I reached 5. And it was the general overall quality of this game which pushed me over the edge, because I was shaking on whether we'd ever reach the 'A' bar until now- but 5 just brought the whole package, in pristine wrapping, and solidifying the Devil May Cry games as one's I will try to trick people into becoming helpless addicted to in my years to come. 

Now I've finally put this behind me, it's time to get back to a franchise I was right in the middle of so I can finally get around to capping off- what do you mean there's been 5 Yakuza games either released or announced since I stopped reviewing them? And the franchise changed name? Oh god... I'm never going to catch up...

Jackpot!