Devil May Cry 5 Looks Like Another Crazy Party

It’s been a little over three months since Capcom revealed Devil May Cry 5, which was one of the biggest showcases at E3 this year. It was rumored to be in development for nearly a year prior to this, and though some details from supposed leakers turned out to be false, the franchise’s longtime fans were impressed with the showing.

Nero, who’s returning from Devil May Cry 4, has been the focus of the advertising campaign thus far, which makes sense considering he’ll once again be the central playable character. The other playable characters will be series mainstay Dante and a new character named V, and Capcom saved the grand reveal of everyone’s favorite demon slayer in their home country at Tokyo Game Show. But it’s not like they couldn’t share the details with everyone worldwide simultaneously, since this is 2018.

“Familiarity” is what fans expected of Dante’s reappearance, a character who’s been playable in every franchise installment since the original Devil May Cry released in 2001, 17 years ago. That’s mostly what they’re getting. Dante himself is noticeably older compared to previous appearances, shown through how he’s sporting white facial hair. Yes, that’s partly due to his matching white hair, but the combination of that and his beard makes him resemble an old rocker who yearns for his halcyon days. He also retains his carefree attitude from the last two games.

He also looks older because Capcom took the brave step of finally setting a DMC game after the deservedly-maligned Devil May Cry 2. Count on them to keep forgetting about Dante’s extremely serious attitude, but I’ll be overjoyed if they actually acknowledge it here.

In terms of gameplay, Dante plays like he did in the last two installments, especially DMC4. He retains the option to switch between four key styles: Trickster (which gives more maneuverability), Swordmaster (which provides several extra melee attacks), Gunslinger (which gives Dante more long-range attacks), and Royal Guard (which focuses on defensive abilities). It’s nice to have them available all at once instead of, say, being in the middle of a mission and needing more evasive maneuvers when you have Swordmaster equipped, and so on. But if adjusting to, abilities on four styles at once sounds intimidating, let alone mastering them, that’s because it will be — especially when you factor in how different attacks are attached to his variety of melee and long-range weapons.

Speaking of that: Some of Dante’s new melee weaponry is shown in the trailer and several gameplay videos from TGS. The Balrog gauntlets work similarly to gauntlets from previous games, though these have new attacks. Also shown is the Cavaliere, a motorcycle that transforms into chainsaw-like weapons that can additionally be driven in battle for special attacks. Dante also can wield the Sparda sword again, though it’s not shown in motion too extensively.

Dante’s trusted partners, Trish and Lady, have also returned. Trish keeps the same outfit she’s worn since the first game, though her face received the biggest changes out of all the returning characters, thanks to this game’s more realistic facial styles. Lady, meanwhile, has a modified outfit that offers slightly less fanservice than her previous ones, but is otherwise unchanged.

The biggest point of contention with Dante thus far has been his theme “Subhuman,” which was met with far more criticism than praise thanks to its horrible vocals. But the criticism got far worse when it was discovered that the lead singer responsible for those vocals, Eddie Hermida, was accused of sexually manipulating a 17-year-old fan last year. Capcom responded by taking the video down, though reposts are still available. The theme was also replaced with “Devil Trigger,” Nero’s battle theme, in the English version of the TGS demo, though the Japanese version retained it. Capcom responded by saying they’ll try to replace it for the release version, but they can’t make any guarantees with the game being less than six months off.

This wasn’t enough to take away from how great Dante looks in motion, especially with this installment’s more realistic art style and animations. But they didn’t completely forget about Nero at TGS. He’s briefly featured in the trailer with Dante, but the real focus on him here is how he’s receiving a special Devil Arm that resembles Mega Man’s Mega Buster. The trailer previewing how it works also resembled a Mega Man level from its camera angels, and Nero even jumps like him. It’s a shame that won’t be an option in the game, as it’s indicated to be adjusted for the trailer. The Mega Buster is included with the Deluxe Edition, and is one of four Devil Arms packed in as a bonus.

The edition also includes the “Sweet Surrender” arm, which has this description: “A Devil Breaker created by Nico to relieve Kyrie’s tension. Nero is too rough to do the job without hurting Kyrie, so this device is made of soft materials. Its vibration feature is especially effective at alleviating shoulder and hip pain.” Okay! At least they didn’t stuff Kyrie in the fridge between games, like some fans feared.

Meanwhile, the third playable character will be a man named V, whose origins are currently shrouded in mystery. He also looks a lot like Adam Driver, particularly as Kylo Ren in the new Star Wars movies. He’s not modeled after him, and Itsuno claims he was designed before The Force Awakens was revealed (see the third question). V will be properly introduced in the coming months.

Another bit of controversy surrounded DMC5 after the reveal that it will have microtransactions for players to enhance their characters. The feature was easily ignored in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, but it was no concern because the game was already balanced without the need for them with the original DMC4. This game was considered a different story, until some who previewed it at TGS noticed how the options won’t make too much of a difference. But it’s nonetheless scummy for full-priced games to have these options at all, and you can always count on gamers to defend the practice if it’s not too much of an inconvenience.

DMC5 will release on March 8th next year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. I probably don’t have to tell you that there will be far more information from here, but I am, so stay tuned. Make sure you watch out for spoilers, too.