Devil May Cry 5 is an action-adventure hack-n-slash game by Capcom. It is the 5th mainline entry in the legendary Devil May Cry series and focuses on Dante, Nero, and V fighting the Demon King Urizen. Read our review to see what it does well, what it doesn't, and our thoughts on the game.
Overview
What is Devil May Cry 5?
Devil May Cry 5 is a hack-and-slash style action game from Capcom. The 5th mainline entry in the Devil May Cry series, the game centers around Devil Hunters Nero and Dante, as well as the mysterious V, fighting against Urizen and his demonic forces. It is a fast-paced action game where players perform stylish combos on demonic enemies and bosses, featuring in-depth combat mechanics and a Style Rank system which grades players' performance in a level.
Devil May Cry 5 features:
⚫︎ Deeply fluid, fast-paced combat
⚫︎ Mutliple, scaled difficulty options
⚫︎ Photorealistic visuals and heavy metal/electronic soundtrack
⚫︎ Bloody Palace, an arcade-style survival mode
⚫︎ Multiple playable characters with their own unique movesets
⚫︎ Direct continuation of the mainline Devil May Cry storyline
| Digital Storefronts | |||
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| $29.99 | |||
Devil May Cry 5 Review | The Last Great Hack-and-Slash Game
Nearly Perfecting the Hack-and-Slash Formula
The Devil May Cry (DMC) series, iconic, influential, and outright fun as it may be, is nonetheless marred by an inconsistency that brings it down a notch. The best games in the series, the first Devil May Cry and DMC 3: Dante’s Awakening are masterpieces brought down by frustrating levels, bosses, and the general creep of aging. Devil May Cry 4 is a mechanical wonder with some of the worst level design in the series, while the DmC reboot went from a disastrously controversial and clunky title to an underrated gem with a few blemishes like the character design. We simply don’t talk about Devil May Cry 2.
With such a tumultuously erratic pattern of quality plaguing the series, it's no wonder Devil May Cry 5 stood tall as a genuine hit amongst fans and critics alike when it released 7 years ago. Hack-and-slash games are at their best when they focus on the combat that makes them so fun and captivating, and Devil May Cry 5 has almost perfected the formula. More than anything else, simply playing DMC 5 and stringing together flashy, stylish combos as the music and style ranks encourage you to keep going is what makes the game so intoxicating. It's the ethos of why the whole series has persisted even now, 7 years removed from its last release.
It is with the benefit of hindsight and the passage of time that we can see Devil May Cry 5 for what it is: a continuation of the series’ ethos in the best and worst ways possible. While the narrative is stylish, ridiculous, and over-the-top, this wackiness and love of fanservice continues to outshine its otherwise subtly strong character writing and allusions to classic literature. It introduces new, interesting mechanics to existing characters and even an entirely new playable character with V, but Lady and Trish get sidelined both in gameplay and in the story. It takes the series to new aesthetic places with urban photorealism while decimating the frustrating puzzles of games past, but it comes at the cost of losing the gothic, stylized art style that made the game so distinctive.
That said, Devil May Cry 5 leaning into what it does best and simply deciding to be "more" DMC is ultimately why it succeeds far more than it fails. It’s still a devilishly fun time all the same, and its replayability, difficulty, and expressive bliss only makes it that much more captivating to play. It now seems to be the swan song of the character-focused, mission-oriented hack-and-slash (with Capcom’s agonizing apprehensions towards releasing a sequel not helping matters), and if this is where it really ends for now the genre at least gets one last great game to its name.
DMC’s Revered Combat System, Aging Like Fine Wine
Devil May Cry 5, much like the series as a whole, is known best for its fast-paced, highly fluid and expressive combat system. As one of Sparda’s half-demonic progeny, you will be playing as one of four Devil Hunters with their own unique movesets, playstyles, and attributes. The main campaign will see you switching from Dante, the series protagonist and demonic mercenary, Nero, a hotheaded, young Holy Knight turned demon hunter, and V, a mysterious poetry quoting figure who commands demonic summons and assists Dante’s crew on their journey.
On a base level, Devil May Cry 5 refines the series’ combo-based combat mechanics, which remain as strong as ever. As a Devil Hunter, players fight demonic entities across different levels. Fighting isn’t focused around mere survival, but rather it rewards and highly encourages style, fluidity, and high-risk engagement. This is best seen with the series’ classic "Style Rank" system, which actively grades players based on the creativity of their combos and and the variance of their attacks and movement.
Devil May Cry’s emphasis on mechanical freedom and expression are also present in other areas of the moment-to-moment combat. For instance, Nero, Dante, and Vergil can switch between multiple weapons freely, even in the middle of attack animations, which makes stringing together combos and attacks on the fly that much more enthralling. Every character also has ways of moving in and out of enemy range nearly instantaneously, such as teleports, grapples, and dashes, which makes properly maneuvering the demonic hordes an extra layer of depth to consider when fighting.
Much like Street Fighter II or Pokemon Red and Blue before it, the first Devil May Cry came out of the gates swinging with a combat system that sprung forth fully formed, and decades of revisions, refinements, and additions have made it stand the test of time years later. Devil May Cry 5, while giving Nero, Dante, and Vergil a slew of new weapons and abilities alongside adding V and his entirely new playstyle, doesn’t actually do much to change this formula at all. Instead, the game adds layers of refinement to an already fantastic foundation, which is ultimately Devil May Cry 5’s greatest strength.
A Demonic Cavalcade of Characters to Play
Devil May Cry 5 adds onto its fantastic combat system by introducing new weapons for its legacy Devil Hunters, while integrating an entirely new playstyle with V. For the former, Nero gets access to Devil Breakers, new prosthetic arms with abilities that range from slowing down time to firing off jet propelled rocket punches that he can ride. The Sons of Sparda, Dante and Vergil, gain new and revised weapons while maintaining access to their core kits and unlocking the new Sin Devil Trigger modes. Sin Devil Trigger is a super-enhanced DT mode that grants them unparalleled durability and attack power.
V, as the series’ latest experiment, is a ranged, resource management focused character that uses his summons, Griffon, Shadow, and Nightmare, to attack opponents in his stead. In turn, only V can kill demons, which makes space control and properly timed engagement crucial to play the character. This type of playstyle has never been done before in Devil May Cry, with the closest being Lady in DMC 4: SE. It can feel a little button-mashy, but the intricacy of the playstyle really shines in higher difficulties like Dante Must Die mode where high-risk space control and resource management are crucial in merely clearing a level with V.
Devil May Cry 5’s roster of playable characters contains a degree of depth and expressiveness that remains unmatched even by the standards of its contemporaries. The differences between each character is clear cut, with Dante’s technical, free-form fighting style requiring a radically different approach to combat than Vergil’s cold, cut precision and Nero’s more streamlined aggression. It feels closer to a fighting game, with a roster of mechanically complex and distinct characters to choose from, than any singleplayer game.
Players don’t need to be mechanically gifted combo savants to properly understand the combat, though, since movesets flow together seamlessly. True to its vision, Devil May Cry 5 cuts through the filler of passive buffs, incomprehensible stat pages, and even advanced tech (at least in lower difficulties) to focus purely on the technical execution of combos.
The game even gives players tools like move lists, specific character load outs, and upgrades which help make each character easier to understand. This skill floor is complemented by a seemingly endless skill ceiling, with mechanics like Dante’s real-time Style switching and Nero’s Exceed Gauge handing the agency to the player on how far they want to learn the game.
It is, ultimately, through this incredibly expressive combat system and its unending depth that Devil May Cry 5 still stands as its generation’s gold standard for character action combat, still uncontested years later. Hitting SSS Rank combos in Dante Must Die while evading ruthless enemies feels less like a standard singleplayer campaign experience and more like hitting a high-execution combo in a fighting game or playing a technical guitar solo. It is the pure, rhythmic bliss of performance, technical mastery, and expression isolated in a solo-player campaign, and it is utterly intoxicating once it gets its claws in you.
A Divine Comedy With Infernal Flaws
Apart from its stylish, badass combat, Devil May Cry as a series is known for one other thing, its ridiculous, over-the-top, and sometimes incomprehensible narrative. The series is full of hilarious, meme-worthy moments, even when only some of them are actually intended to be funny. Beneath that, though, there is a central heart and poignance that, while usually overshadowed by the wackiness, still keeps Devil May Cry relatively grounded. On that front, Devil May Cry 5 continues to do what it does best, play on and refine the series’ strengths, and it works well for what it is.
Devil May Cry 5’s story is effective enough to provide context for the different setpieces and fights throughout the game. It crucially stays out of the way of the combat and maintains the series’ lopsided balance between hilarity and profundity. The game mainly follows Nero, who aims to defeat the Demon King Urizen while approaching the origins of his lineage and his demonic right arm, the Devil Bringer, which has been stolen from him by a mysterious figure.
Nero is undoubtedly the heart of Devil May Cry 5’s story, as it is through him that the game introduces its other main characters and establishes its themes of choice, generational trauma, and identity. All of its wackiness aside, the story focuses heavily on how Nero comes to terms with his demonic lineage and how he serves as the key to mending the Sparda family together, even when it has always been fractured. He's a fantastic character to follow, as his mix of confidence, insecurity, and raw kindheartedness is deeply relatable and human in spite of all the otherworldly forces he fights.
In general, the character writing in Devil May Cry 5 is conceptually strong, but not presented in the best way. In a vacuum, characters like V, Dante, and Nero are fascinating in their familial relations, and in past games like Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, the diametric opposition between Dante and Vergil has been used to great effect to make every single character shine. DMC 5 doesn’t quite reach this level, as it presents its most prominent characters in less-than-interesting ways while leaving previously significant characters, like Lady and Trish, completely to the wayside.
Devil May Cry 5 isn’t exactly a standalone story, but it heavily caters players who have paid attention to the stories of past games. Its many callbacks to Devil May Cry 1, 3, and even 4 are fun for veterans, but they also come at the cost of specific lore retcons like the effects of the Yamato katana while landing flat for newcomers. It doesn’t help that the game’s non-linear story structure lends it severe pacing issues which makes otherwise significant moments feel less earned.
It's telling that, for all of Devil May Cry 5’s strong character writing and direct references and quotations of classic literature and poetry, the game is more known for its meme-worthy moments than the heart of its story. The narrative, much like most other Devil May Cry stories before it, barely leaves any breathing room for its characters and their dynamics to shine in a meaningful way. Devil May Cry’s overarching story, in general, has not commanded attention beyond its most devout players and fans because the story isn’t where the focus usually is, and that’s especially true for DMC 5.
A Paradise Lost and The Devil Blues
Devil May Cry 5, in a first for the series, takes Dante and his crew to a relatively more grounded, urban area that’s nonetheless been overrun by grotesque, demonic flora and fauna. Aesthetically, this meant applying a more photorealistic style to the game, as opposed to the series’ usual, stylized approach to character design. This, ultimately, is as sharp of a double edged sword as Vergil’s Yamato.
On one hand, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, even 7 years later. Capcom’s RE Engine has been praised endlessly, and this game is another example of how it shines. The lighting is stunning, especially on current-gen hardware and PC, while character models still look expressive and convey incredible amounts of personality and emotion even when rendered in a photorealistic style. None of the characters cross over to the uncanny valley either, as Devil May Cry’s iconic cast gets brought to life seamlessly.
On the other hand, something has definitely been lost in the transition to photorealism. In an almost Faustian exchange, Devil May Cry unfortunately loses its distinctive and wonderfully inspired gothic level and world design and stylized, anime-style character design. In turn, the world can feel much less memorable, especially towards the later parts of the game. In particular, while the city of Redgrave is gorgeous and even has a liminal quality to it, the Qlipoth levels in the back half of the game melt together into an uneasy wash of reds, greys, and purples that get monotonous over time.
The game’s visual direction certainly succeeds more than it fails, but the loss of its gothic aesthetic will be palpable for veterans. What is a definitive upgrade, though, is the soundtrack. Devil May Cry 5’s OST succeeds as an upbeat, high-stakes blend of electronic, orchestral, and heavy metal. Not every song is perfect, some songs are mostly unremarkable, but when the moment calls for fantastic musical flourishes the game’s score excels.
This is especially true for the vocal character themes in combat which, in a stroke of genius, only intensify and progress as the Style Rank increases. This mechanic is a fantastic, non-diegetic reward for players who optimize their combos and style points, made better by the fact that the songs themselves are infectiously great.
In this regard, "Bury the Light" is an absolute masterpiece, clocking in at a staggering 10 minutes. Vergil’s theme song, with its dynamic, multi-suite classical composition, blend of symphonic and heavy metal in the instrumentation, and a stunningly visceral vocal performance, is already a modern classic, and it makes playing Vergil that much more imposing and empowering.
The other character themes are also great, but your mileage may vary depending on how much you like specific styles of rock and metal. Nero’s theme "Devil Trigger" is a confident, catchy, high-energy J-Rock style song with an anthemic chorus, and it’s almost as good as Bury the Light while being infinitely more accessible. Dante’s theme Subhuman is a guttural deathcore song that may throw off players who prefer Dante’s more confident and wackier side, but it represents the aggressive, unrelenting nature of his combat exceptionally well.
Is Devil May Cry 5 Worth It?
A Devilishly Good Purchase for Action Game Fans
Devil May Cry 5 still holds up today as one of the best hack-and-slash style games of its generation, and with industry trends moving away from character-based, mission structured action it now serves as one of the last bastions of the genre. It offers AAA production value at over half the normal price, while its mission structure, difficulty options, score system, and expressive combat ensure that every fight and campaign playthrough are different each time. That said, Devil May Cry 5 will test your mettle with its relatively high skill ceiling, even when it still stands as one of the more accessible games of its kind. It’s a fantastic, action-packed adventure despite its flaws, and since games like these don’t really exist at this scale anymore it’s a fun entrypoint to an almost bygone era of action games.
FAQ
Do I need to play the other Devil May Cry games before playing Devil May Cry 5?
No, newer players can jump directly into Devil May Cry 5 as there is an in-game primer that retells the series' overarching story. While the story will be confusing, the gameplay represents the core of the Devil May Cry experience handily and is a good starting point for new fans.
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