Why Devil May Cry V Matters
WARNING: Here there be Spoilers for pretty much every Devil May Cry game.
There are problems in Devil May Cry 5. Whether it’s external from the game, as a wider greater audience finding out that Reuben Langdon is a believer in recent conspiracy theories about the “Deep State” government, as it tracks and fits the trend of his open admission in believing in conspiracy theories about government cover-ups, existence of alien life being kept hidden, etc. Or finding out that Joey Camen, an old white male stand-up comic from the seventies who opened for Richard Pryor and Marvin Gaye, would be tone deaf to think he could do blackface and transphobic jokes on his YouTube channel.
Or if it’s internal, like the unusual lesser amount of screen time given to the Leading Ladies of the DMC franchise, and their needing to be rescued by the big bad boys of the franchise. While playing momentary rescue to help out a baddass friend, 5 makes a strong departure from the usual strong and empowering nature of the women. It might be because so much screen time is given to the family dynamic of the main three playable characters, but it’s palpable. A great big hope is that future DLC or a Special Edition release will see the return of these incredible characters in a larger role, maybe even playable.
But aside from the personal issues of some of its performers, and a failing of one of the series staples in narrative, Devil May Cry 5 is perfection. These blemishes do nothing to tarnish the game that individuals spent years making, in their attempt at redeeming previous mistakes, and reclaiming a series long since thought lost.
DmC: Devil May Cry is a game that many people are fond of. I’m not one of those people. I have very little to say about this game for which many people have a special shine. It’s funny, because I was pretty pumped for the game leading up to its release. A lot of people made comments about his hair, the idea of Virgil being some wannabe Guy Fawkes-esque mask wearing anonymous fedora wearing cyber hacker, and more. But me? I saw the combat from a low-res video from a game conference and seeing Dante’s black hair shock to white for what is essentially a proto-Devil Trigger felt like an incredible notion. But then I got my hands on the demo. That’s when I knew something was wrong.
The other night, when I popped into DMC5 during some of The Division 2’s scheduled maintenance, I found myself wracking up S-Rank and even SS-Rank combos with ease, as I entered combos I hadn’t used in about two and a half weeks to lay waste to these demons as I casually plowed through the Son of Sparta mode. It’s not that I’m some legendary player, but I know it’s not easy either. Instead, I knew that I got this way by playing hours on end of Devil May Cry games. Devil May Cry games, when they are released, stand atop the mountain of character-driven action games. There is nothing like them in a way that shows that this team, this series, knows how to do this better than just about anyone else. That the veterans who have departed from this team have become legends of gaming in their own right. Just take a glance at the earliest Platinum Games entries for evidence. This is not a team that lacks understanding of how to make a game feel right. In a niche genre that demands, it’s above just about everything else.
Ninja Theory was given an impossible task: Make a DMC game that was NOT like DMC enough, but still similar enough to appeal to traditional DMC fans. It was an impossible task on which they, in according to reports from sales figures and Capcom, failed to meet expectations. The backlash from traditional fans was so enormous the Special Edition of DMC4 outsold it. The feelings of the fans were heard and, to those who became attached to the DmC resident Donte, it was a harsh blow.
The upcoming release of DMC5 was met by those fans with “Reminder:” or “Did you know” type posts about the game. But, despite the improvements to platforming the series desperately needed (and the questionable decision to abandon the charm of the old Dante), it was clear from the beginning that Ninja Theory didn’t understand what DMC is about. At least not from a narrative stance. Underneath the over-the-top cheesy infused antics and narrative there was a story about vulnerability, about what it means to be human. That in our frailty and weakness lies the very traits that allow us to feel empathy and care about others. It’s the theme of the entire series, and it’s something that Ninja Theory attempted to tell. Instead, they fell into their own trap. They took away the human mother and made her an angel. Rather than a story of two men, one who abandons his humanity in an attempt at power and the other who gains greater power by accepting it, is lost. It becomes a story of two brothers who could be otherworldly saviors, who will save humanity from themselves. It comes off as something akin to self-righteousness, an idea that this character knows better, bleeds into the idea that the game knows better than we do what DMC is about. It’s a level hubris matched, as the outlet GameInformer literally published an interview where they call the game’s director, Tameem Antoniades, the savior of the series. It reeked of presumption and was received negatively by longtime fans.
The story of Devil May Cry is that two thousand years ago, the Underworld, a world of death and destruction, invaded our world led by the Demon King Mundus. His most powerful general, a demon named Sparda, “woke up to justice” and single-handedly pushed back the demonic army and sealed it away with the help of a human priestess. He then spent his life defending the human world before passing away mysteriously. He had two sons, Dante and Vergil, who lose their mother Eva in a demon attack and are separated for several years.
Devil May Cry 3, the third entry but telling the oldest story of Dante and Vergil’s reunion, is about how Vergil works to unseal the Demon World to gain access to the power their father sacrificed to seal it. Dante sets out to stop him. The story is one of inheritance, of two young men on the cusp of manhood trying to piece together what the father they never knew and whose shadow is so enormous neither can possibly fill or come to terms with it. It ends with both of them fully understanding, but coming to blows over Vergil’s dismissal of their father’s will, and Dante taking up the mantle of the human world’s protector. Mourning over the loss of his brother, the last remnant of his family, Dante quietly cries, sparking his companion and friend Lady to inspire the name of his business and the very theme of the games – that maybe devils can cry.
In Devil May Cry, the first entry, Dante faces Virgil again, who is now enslaved to the Demon King Mundus and who is attempting to resurrect himself in the human world. Despite gaining an enormous amount of power, Virgil is defeated and thought dead. Becoming a slave to their father’s arch nemesis results in the high cost of his pursuit of power in DMC3.
Dante accepting the strength of his humanity, and his ability to care for others becomes is his greatest strength. In Devil May Cry 4, Dante meets a young man named Nero who also carries the bloodline of Sparta, though this is unknown during the game’s events. Nero is awakening his own demonic heritage physically represented by his demonic arm, and struggles to accept it. Over time, Dante warms to him, and slowly guides him into fully accepting himself, without directly telling him to do so. Showing him that gaining power doesn’t require him to sacrifice his humanity. He leaves his brother Vergil’s sword, Yamato, in his care, not telling Nero his reasons.
In Devil May Cry 5, the family takes center stage once more. Surviving his supposed death to Dante in DMC, Vergil, weakened and on the verge of falling apart, attacks Nero, tearing off his arm and taking back the Yamato. Using the sword’s ability, he separated his human self from his demonic self, giving rise to the Demon King Urizen, and leaving his humanity now taken shape in the form of the playable V. The story of the concept of humanity, as the key theme of the DMC series, is put on display here like never before.
Devil May Cry 5 is a perfect game of its genre. There is no doubt about its technical fidelity, its incredible controls and, while the story it tells matters to fewer members of its fanbase who largely will admit caring far more about the gameplay and style of the game, it displays the best narrative since Devil May Cry 3. It’s hard to say its better, but outside of its missteps with its incredible and awesome female cast having so little to do than be fun references for long time fans. They definitely suffer the most from the enlargement of the cast but, in Nico – a character less femme fatale who plays Nero’s supportive business partner and who happens to be his girlfriend’s best friend – to V’s asshole bird’s nemesis, to Dante’s devoted fan girl. She fills in the gaps of the female narrative of the games, but never has the traditional badass factor Lady and Trish are known for. While it has these blemishes, the nicks to its otherwise perfection, it is the best the genre has to offer.
Devil May Cry 5 matters because its story matters. This is seen in the development of the game itself, what it means to fans to see the series return, and what its story means. It also matters as far as the spirit of what the game stands for, that you can find an incredible power inside yourself when you accept yourself. Dante and Nero show that by accepting and embracing the parts of yourself others like Vergil see as holding you back, that you become stronger for it. It’s what’s important to Devil May Cry as a series. And its why Devil May Cry V matters.
