After the reboot of the series in the form of DmC: Devil May Cry by Ninja Theory, Capcom has returned the series to its roots with Devil May Cry 5. It is a true sequel to the fourth game that released in 2008. You play as three characters — Nero, Dante and a new one named V.
If you have played the previous games, namely DMC 4, you will feel comfortable with the move-set of both Nero and Dante. Nero can now use mechanical arms as attachments which allow him to utilise several different special abilities. These include a homing rocket, slowing down time, whips, Mega Buster from Mega Man and many more. When hit while using these abilities, that particular Devil Breaker will break, but you can do so on your own in order to damage surrounding enemies.
The four styles of Dante make a return and allow you to cycle between Swordmaster, Trickster Gunslinger and Royal Guard. You can also switch between various melee weapons and guns at will; which makes Dante the most versatile character in the game.
But V is the most interesting of them all because his combat style is different from anything I have seen before. He is an indirect fighter, which means his minions fight for him, but you can have direct control over their actions. Shadow is a panther that use melee attacks while Griffon focuses on range. Both of them have combos and skills you can purchase, but they are unable to finish off any enemy. Essentially, all combat encounters boil down to attacking with both and dodging with V, until the enemy HP is depleted, at which point V can use his ability to kill the demons. They are forced to retreat if they take enough damage, at which point you have to wait before you can resummon them. If your devil trigger is full, you can summon Nightmare, a golem that only appears for a short while but deals massive damage.
The battle system of Devil May Cry 5 is perfect. It is a unique combination of deep, accessible, intuitive and complex. All three characters play differently, but the laws of pulling off combos, as well as some button combinations, are the same. The excellent responsiveness and controls aide, the sheer variety of moves available to each character makes every encounter different.
But the complex move-set is smartly designed and easily understandable, and with enough practice, you will be pulling off unimaginable combos. It is a power fantasy made for everyone, in a sense that almost anyone can pick-up and have fun slicing enemies; but if you are set on improving your skills and remembering attacks, there is no better feeling than earning those high ranks. The sole purpose of this game is to make you feel like a badass.
It barely has any puzzles, awkward platforming sequences, or any such sections. It is an action game through out, which allows players to completely focus on the combat without worrying about things that generally held back the previous games. The level design is extremely straight forward, almost an anti-thesis of modern games. I do miss the over-the-top platforming sections from Ninja Theory’s DmC, but I greatly prefer the straight up action approach.
