➤ Devil May Cry 5, the review 🎮

The importance of Devil May Cry 5 it transcends that of the nostalgia operation, and its arrival is not even entirely attributable to the need to restart a genre - that of Japanese action hack 'n' slash - for a long time lacking in prominent releases. No, Devil May Cry 5 is a symbol, a new demonstration of the power of one Capcom reborn, and a clear message to the fans: "we are great again, and we can give you back your myths as you have never experienced them before". And with Resident Evil 2 and Monster Hunter World this message will have already passed, repositioning the Japanese team in the Olympus of the development gods, but in the case of the series created by Kamiya and then passed to the good Hideaki Itsuno things are a bit more complicated.

We are still talking about a brand that has faced a reboot, of an unfinished symphony closed with a fourth chapter with incredible mechanics, yet disappointing in every other aspect ... Here it is, in short, to recover the soul of a historical name , with an eye to the fans and fanatics of combat systems, and at the same time with the need to make the new generations understand "why" the adventures of Dante and company boast such consideration. With the burning desire to find out if this herculean task had been completed or not, we then faced the review of the game. The house's response was not long in coming, but be warned: it may not make everyone happy equally.

Narrative and characters: brothers knives

La narrative of Devil May Cry has never been particularly memorable, beyond the charisma of the characters and the bombastic scenes that represent the lowest common denominator. Bringing her back on track in Devil May Cry 5 with a complete change of direction would have been a mistake, and in some ways a sort of betrayal of a long epic that has always made the incredible tamarraggine and spectacularity of its central moments the heart of the 'experience. The choice of Itsuno and his people, therefore, was to go in pure fanservice mode: reconnect all the events of the predecessors in a cornucopia of excessive scenes and glorious returns, with only a few distant hints of the forgettable second episode. It was a good move, and the story of this chapter benefits enormously, although it inevitably falls into the predictable at times.

While lacking in brilliant writing, this Devil May Cry 5 manages to stand out from the previous ones thanks to the enormous injection of charisma and personality brought by the RE Engine and the exceptional level of its animations. Add to all this a narrative formula fragmented with criterion, where the continuous temporal leaps between one story and another outline the story in a rather crystalline way (even if a little atypical compared to its predecessors), and you will undoubtedly get the absolute chapter. more accurate in this aspect. You will quickly forgive the fair number of naivety of the campaign, carried away by the exchanges between Black, Dante Alighieri, V, and all the other colorful supporting characters. However, we appreciated more than expected the rude, a little crazy and at times absurd characterization of Nico: on the other hand, a shoulder with the ability to reach any place on earth aboard a van is not seen every day. Curiously, then, the game also tries to broaden its narrative and give it a little more general solidity with the help of Nicoletta's notes (which describe in detail enemies, characters and weapons found), as well as a handful of letters that do not fail to reveal some interesting background.

Gameplay and fighting: the art of the sword, boxing and the demonic panther

The fact that the team has clearly cared more about the storyline of the title is however secondary when it comes to a title of this saga: in Devil May Cry 5 the gameplay he is king, queen, divinity, and there is no aspect that can match his importance in production. We are still talking about a video game that builds on the foundations of the fourth chapter, a title still played by fans today due to the incredible possibilities offered as regards the combinations of shots and the execution of spectacular offensive actions with each character available (especially in the Special Edition, which has a lot of usable characters). These stainless foundations have been maintained almost in their entirety - to the point that in the role of Nero and Dante you will find maneuvers and balances already explored in the past if you have played the previous chapter, and it will not take you long to get used to the system - only that Itsuno and the his have expanded the whole with countless new moves, a whole new system dedicated to Nero, and a new character named V, whose functioning differs from anything previously included in the saga. That's a monstrous amount of meat on the fire, and we assure you that it won't be easy for a novice to adapt to the various warriors during the twenty missions of the campaign. Capcom, however, has at least included in the game more than one "found buffer" for those who Dante heard it mentioned only because of the Divine Comedy, as well as a real training mode called The Void, where you can test every move at will, with customization options that closely resemble those of fighting games.

And that's, in layman's terms, Devil May Cry 5 when it comes to gameplay: a game whose combat system it is so complex that it is comparable to that of a three-dimensional fighting game. Nero and Dante can perform spectacular combos naturally, but at high levels they can cancel the animations of the blows (mainly by jumping on the enemies, but there are various other maneuvers useful to lengthen the combinations and obtain unpredictable effects), and create extraordinary deadly choreographies. As it should be, therefore, Capcom has not gone to distort so much good of god, but has simply decided to offer our heroes a number of possibilities that simply did not exist in Devil May Cry 4, and new weapons equipped with fantastic surprises for the virtuosos of the slaps in flight. Do you want an example? In Devil May Cry 5 the red-clad demon hunter can surround himself with red gems, lash out at an opponent with a flying kick, jump to cancel the animation, land him back in the face with a sword while the gems are still hitting him, throw him in air with those same floating stones, chase him with a teleporter after changing style, lead him with a motorcycle (yes, one of the weapons is literally a transformable motorcycle), re-scale him in the air with a missile once he changed style again, and finish him in a number monstrous of ways. We know that it seems complex to you but ... this is basic stuff compared to what you can combine once you have all the available moves (which can be purchased with the red gems used in the combo described above), and the only reason why let's not go into more detail is that we do not want to spoil what is made available to the heroes once they arrive at the final stages. Keep in mind, meanwhile, that the fears related to the presence of one shop and the possible effective cost of the skills are unfounded: getting the game's purple currency is a breeze, and by the end of the first run you will have unlocked most of the moves.

Two other hunters, Nero and V

You may have noticed how the piece for now has focused mainly on Dante to praise the mechanics of Itsuno's work. Well, the truth is that the original protagonist, thanks to a refinement that goes on from the origins, is once again the character with the greatest flexibility, the most exciting to use, and by far the most spectacular. Do not believe for a moment that this diminishes the validity of Nero and V, however, since both are in their own way brilliant, even if in particular on the newcomer the criticalities are not lacking. In Devil May Cry 5 Black, as already mentioned on various occasions, he begins the game deprived of his demonic arm, but thanks to Nico he earns robotic prostheses called Devil Breaker, which vastly expand his move list. The Devil Breakers are a nice change of current compared to the original version of the warrior: they are all equipped with unique skills and particularly suitable for certain types of enemies, they can be sacrificed on the fly, equipped in large numbers (the slots can always be increased with gems red) or overheated and torn apart to perform devastating enhanced techniques, which do enormous damage and greatly increase the style score of a mission. Considering that even without the Devil Breaker equipped Nero is still able to use some sort of grappling hook to launch himself towards enemies or pull them towards himself, and all his more complex maneuvers remain unchanged, this is really a nice evolution, whose only weaknesses there are two: the arms are not selectable at will and must be sacrificed in series, and some of them are much more flexible and fun to use than others. We speak, clearly, of fairly negligible defects: the first deriving from the desire to make the experience with the young man different from that with Dante - who is entirely based on the switch of weapons and styles - while the second simply linked to a question of balance general (if all arms had been effective against all kinds of enemies, the whole equipment system would have made no sense). We are sorry, however, that, despite being a fabulous character and perhaps even more devastating than the others if used in the right way, Nero still fails to get to the grandeur of his "mentor" because of these flaws.

On the other hand, it is more difficult to sum up V, because the peculiar third protagonist of Devil May Cry does not fight directly, but is a summoner which controls creatures from a distance and therefore requires a significant change of perspective on the part of the player. More precisely, V can control three different demons taken from the first Devil May Cry: Griffon, a miniature version of the electric bird of the same name; Shadow, a shadow panther capable of changing shapes, e Nightmare, a huge slime golem capable of firing laser beams and delivering slow but powerful blows. All three have a precise function, with Griffon in particular being the equivalent of a very versatile firearm (in addition to attacking from a distance he can summon columns of lightning, place electric traps, or unleash energy fields in an area), and Shadow who instead it represents the summoner's primary ground attack means. The commands given to the summons, however, use directional inputs very similar to those of the classic moves, but with some substantial differences: V must stay at a distance and finish the enemies with a blow of the stick after they have taken enough hits, and it is the the only character who can constantly unleash multiple attacks on a monster at the same time (apart from some advanced skills of Dante's weapons, and Nero's missile arm). In practice, therefore, ours is a real bringer of chaos, which once evoked Nightmare - whose operation is driven by artificial intelligence, as long as you don't "ride" it for a while - is able to unleash unparalleled devastation on his opponents for a limited period of time. If he is not the most unbalanced character in the game, it is only because his demonic beasts must be repositioned properly in battle with the right maneuvers, and both Nightmare and the enhanced versions of Griffon and Shadow require the activation of the Devil Trigger (an energy bar filling with white orbs or fighting) to function.

Diamonds, with some imperfections

Conceptually, the new V system is a real bomb, the problem is its application, which precisely due to the nature of the character makes it less technical than the other two choices. The primary lack of V, called down to earth, is that often with him you get superlative results simply by hitting keys at random, and can not apply the maneuvers that cancel the animations usable great by the other two. In Devil May Cry 5 V can still buy moves like jumping on enemies and the like - a feature that could indicate some advanced mechanics yet to be revealed - overall, however, the mysterious tattooed man seemed to us the least tantalizing of the three for a lover of high-level action. We underline it again: "the least tantalizing of the three" does not mean that using V is not fun, quite the contrary. We are talking about a character, however brilliant, with a very laudable number of maneuvers available, and capable of turning the gameplay upside down for the missions that see him as the protagonist. Overall, we are after all facing a title with an absolutely extraordinary combat system, more elaborate and technical than any other exponent of the genre, and fun as ever.

The paradox lies in the fact that perhaps the only equally mechanically complex game is the direct predecessor, Devil May Cry 4, and that this contained an additional element linked to inertia, strongly limited in the new episode. To explain it better: in the fourth chapter the aerial movement of some moves was significantly adjustable, and this made it possible to perform complex combos with sudden and absolutely spectacular (but very difficult to execute) movements in the sky; in Devil May Cry 5 instead this factor has been dampened, returning to a physics similar to that of Devil May Cry 3 and to less customizable aerial combos. Overall, the weapons available to the game still offer absolutely insane options when it comes to offensive, but truly experienced players might turn up their noses slightly for this choice.

On the contrary, we fully approve the choice not to insert a key dedicated to dodging in the game (dodging exists, but requires using the jump in combination with targeting): the series has always linked these maneuvers to the jump, thanks to some invulnerability frames at the beginning of the animation. In this chapter the dodges revolve around the targeted enemy and give a greater idea of displacement, but we are talking about a game that is not based on them and on counterattacks like the Bayonettas, but mainly on the offensive mechanics, so this vision of defense is second us perfectly sensible.

Level design infernale

We have confirmed the quality of the combat system, but this has never been the problem of the series. Now we move on to the level design, since especially in the fourth chapter (released hastily also due to budget problems) the structuring of the missions and the repetitiveness of the campaign ruined a potentially extraordinary experience. Well, you'll be happy to know that Devil May Cry 5 is much closer to the philosophy of the third episode, and offers one campaign which, in addition to being a concentrate of fabulous tributes to fans, makes some nice strides from practically every point of view. The maps of the twenty available missions are more extensive, full of secrets and varied than ever seen in the saga (reboot excluded), and it's nice to be able to explore here and there finding extra resources, secret missions, additional battles and unpredictable surprises between a combo and the other. Improvements to missions also make the initial stages more pleasant - an important quality when you can't count on most of the maneuvers, and you have to limit yourself to the fundamentals. Here, wanting to make a criticism, it must be said that in the second part of the game the level design is simplified to give way to a series of arenas full of enemies and increasingly numerous and spectacular boss fights. It makes sense, given that by then the progression of the various characters should be well underway, but a little more effort even in the most advanced maps would, in our opinion, have further raised the quality of an already adrenaline-pumping campaign like never before.

Are we almost in front of a perfect product, then? Not really, despite the overall quality being very high. Devil May Cry 5 is indeed a refined title, completely crazy and fun beyond all limits, but curiously it has taken some steps backwards compared to the previous chapters. An example is the rest of the campaign management, this time completely devoid of backtracking, yet it can only be faced with "fixed" characters, with the exclusion of certain replayable missions with the other fighters following alternative paths (however, they are very few, and not all allow you to select the trio in its entirety). Ok, considering how the narrative is managed it would not have made much sense to have these phases play with characters not available at that moment in the story, but it was still an acceptable stretch to increase longevity, now linked only to the pursuit of the maximum style score in each mission, and upon completion of the difficulties major. Speaking of the latter in Devil May Cry 5, we don't even understand why they should be unlocked every time by completing the previous one, considering that the game really gives its best if faced at the "Son of Sparda" challenge level, and not at normal difficulty. . Pure element online leaves us a bit dumbfounded: the game makes use of a system called "Cameo"which allows other players to intervene in real time in your mission (sometimes in cooperative fights, others in separate but visible areas of the map) or simply to" register "them to help you. It is possible to make the system tend to give priority to your friends, but not to start a real cooperative mission, and although the idea is very interesting we would perhaps have preferred something more classic and less outline. hours and the extreme replayability given by the incredible combat system, there is not much else to rely on for the moment.

For heaven's sake, even with these flaws, Devil May Cry 5 remains within its genre a godsend, a mechanically divine game, which takes all the best of the series and merges it into a respectable package. If we are underlining the aforementioned problems, it is only because it bothers us that such a marvel is diminished by some not exactly clever gimmick, also because the game is extraordinary even from a technical point of view, thanks to the majesty of a RE Engine which today makes its jaws drop every time a character appears on the screen. Capcom has truly learned to manage its engine with unparalleled craftsmanship, and Devil May Cry V boasts a fabulous level of detail, facial animations of an at times absurd realism, and extremely detailed maps, for a visual impact really shattered jaw. Not only that: we played it on PC on a very powerful configuration, but it never gave us half a problem, maintaining a granite frame rate from start to finish (which is fundamental for an action of this type). The only thing left to do now is to wait for a future support plan from the Japanese team, trying to understand if there is any intention to expand the character park (which is quite logical to do) or to create some extra content. valid outside the Bloody Palace on arrival.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Operating System: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-8700
Memory: 32 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

Minimum requirements

Sistema Operativo: Windows 7 (64 bit)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760

Recommended Requirements

Operating System: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Resources4Gaming.com

9.0

Readers (83)

8.7

Your vote

Itsuno and his are a talented team, and Devil May Cry 5 is clearly a project packaged to be their great work: a fusion of all the best features of the series, in a technically extraordinary and mechanically superfine title. Getting a little lost in the filing of the main campaign, and the whirlwind of the fanservice, however, this team of experts has slightly neglected the contents of their work, and made a few minuscule missteps in the management of systems and characters. Not bad, however, we are talking about one of the best games of the year, and an action that will keep fans glued to the screen like few others. But we hope to see some extra content shortly besides the Bloody Palace coming in April; such a title deserves all possible support.