DmC: Devil May Cry: A “Retrospective” — The Bane

DmC: Devil May Cry was a solid, if different, take on the series. It was clear by the game’s conclusion that developer Ninja Theory fulfilled most of what they wanted the final experience to be. It was similarly clear that it fulfilled Capcom’s wishes in presenting a title that markedly differentiated itself from previous titles while keeping similar gameplay fundamentals. Even if Capcom’s Devil May Cry team helmed by director Hideaki Itsuno provided several gameplay pointers, it was Ninja Theory’s best game at the time it released and a better experience than most fans expected from it.

But who am I kidding here? It is not possible to discuss DmC: Devil May Cry without mentioning the piles upon piles of drama that occurred around the game’s promotion, and the virulent fan reaction to it. Capcom and Ninja Theory wanted this to be a different DMC installment in a time when not everyone wanted something different. I wish I can say that I wasn’t part of the furor that surrounded it, but several posts on this very blog should suggest otherwise.

The fun started right when the game was announced, in a trailer with a tone that couldn’t have been more different from the vibe the established DMC franchise went for, one that approached a dark European punk vibe. This alone was interesting, not simply because of the content. Though director and lead writer Tameem Antionades and Capcom liked to imply they weren’t listening to the fanbase through their desire to target a new audience, the initial backlash did influence a change in direction. The final product took a bit more inspiration from older DMC titles, with Dante not being as brooding and lanky as seen in the first trailer and the subplot it teased being nowhere to be found. But the game still very much went in its own direction.

The aforementioned direction was well received critically, for good reason. The core gameplay feels like a happy wedding between Ninja Theory’s action style and Capcom’s, both of which combined to make a deep action game. It keeps the overall combo system from the DMC franchise in terms of Dante’s (and, from the downloadable content, Vergil’s) need to continue hitting enemies while avoiding taking hits from them to maintain the combo meter, but changes it up from the main DMC series by mapping the use of alternate angelic and devilish weapons to holding down the shoulder buttons. This takes adjustment for anyone who’s played other stylish action games, but this makes it easier to rack up big combos.

The core combat driven gameplay was mainly held back by the gaming platforms before last. Precision-driven games need at least 60fps to feel good to play, something the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 couldn’t provide with a game running on Unreal Engine 3. This was no longer an issue with subsequent platforms, which could easily run the game at a great framerate.

In fact, the Definitive Edition released for PlayStation 4 (which the screenshots in this post are from) and Xbox One came with several changes that improved the experience, like a combo meter that directly mimics the older DMC games. It was easy to keep the combo meter going in DmC by using the same move over and over again, a key difference compared to older games that required using a variety of attacks. The DE version incorporates the latter, though this also had the side effect of making the end-stage grading much harsher than any other DMC title — too harsh, in fact. I would get Bs and Cs for finishing levels despite powering through them without using items or dying. Even the notoriously difficult Devil May Cry 3 takes it easier.

By the end, I liked the European punk tone and aesthetics it went for, and the changes to the level design compared to previous DMC games. But their overall enjoyment depends on whether the player is a fan of linear or nonlinear progression. The main DMC games all had a sort of Metroidvania-style openness to their design, though the first game did this best. But it was clear that Ninja Theory and Capcom heard all the complaints about the excessive backtracking from Devil May Cry 4 and wanted to avoid that all costs. Said cost involved too hard a course correction for my tastes by making the levels extremely linear, but I appreciated how they maintained the pacing throughout the entire experience.

It’s the overall tone, however, that made my eyes roll. The writing and characters were some of the most try-hard edgy stuff I’d seen since PlayStation 2-era titles like Shadow the Hedgehog and Jak II. The common defense for this is how the DMC games never had good stories in the first place; but while that’s true, the main DMC games often know how dumb they are. That’s less prevalent throughout DmC, which often takes itself seriously in the worst way. The story is thankfully not prevalent enough to bring the experience down too far.

DmC turned out well, despite the promotion and any issues with the storytelling style. It was unfortunately that very promotion that did it in, which included the straight-up nonsensical idea from Capcom and Ninja Theory to alienate older fans to make an attempt to appeal to an audience that largely didn’t care about it. DmC will live on as one of Ninja Theory’s best efforts — perhaps their overall best until Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice came along. But it will also live on as a textbook example of how a company shouldn’t promote a game, and how development studios need concrete plans to target the audience they intend to seek.

There’s a reason why Devil May Cry was one of the few franchises to reboot itself, only to un-reboot for the next installment. I’ll also talk about what that resulted in for my next, and final, DMC “retrospective” post.