DEVIL MAY CRY 5
Our red-coated hero is back with style, taking on a job from the mysterious V
Dante and Nero need to budge up – a third playable character’s joining the adventure.
We’ve met Dante and Nero before – now meet Devil May Cry 5’s mysterious new playable character, V, revealed at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
Dante needs to take a page from Nero’s book. Even in this economy, he insists on keeping up the spacious main Devil May Cry office, rather than take his younger version’s slayers-on-wheels approach. He even admits he needs to turn the water back on and get flushing toilets when offered a new cash-in-hand gig.
The client? V. (Also the name of Cyberpunk 2077’s lead. The name ‘V’ is clearly the ‘Harry’ of the future.) At this point, introducing a new character who doesn’t have white hair immediately raises suspicion. With a cane, hefty tome, and a penchant for speaking in verse, V seems to offer something different to the all-out action superstar antics we’ve come to expect from Nero and Dante, though we’ll find out more about him as the game’s January launch date looms ever closer.
IT TAKES TWO
The job on offer has to do with the underworld taking over the human world on what seems to be a global scale, and leads to Dante, Lady, and Trish meeting up with Nero and his mechanic Nico as they slay a hefty number of demons in an attempt to push back the legions of Hell.
The two groups will be working together in the fight, and it turns out that Nico’s grandmother was the one who created some of Dante’s original weapons, including Ebony and Ivory, his classic pistols. New character she may be, but she already has ties to the series’ story, and maybe even to Sparda himself.
And just who was it who stole Nero’s original Devil Bringer arm? Does it play a part in the hellish ritual that’s laying waste to the entire world? Does Dante’s brother Vergil, lost to the underworld since Devil May Cry 3, have something to do
with all this? While the game will be plenty of fun for newcomers, this first return to the main series in ten years is already giving long-time fans plenty to chew on.
TRIGGER HAPPY
We’ve now seen plenty of how Dante will play, and he still has a distinct combat style from Nero. He has a unique sense of style too, and seems to favour a slightly heavier, more considered approach to ploughing through his devilish foes.
If you’re familiar with the series, you will be pleased to see Dante return with the signature combination of Ebony and Ivory, plus his Rebellion sword. With these, combos are as you’d expect – you use the guns to juggle and keep the moves flowing between closequarters slices. Rebellion still has long thrusts, the million stabs move, as well as launchers and downward thrusts. On a basic level Dante will be far from alien, and it looks like he even has skill options to zip between enemies and dodge incoming attacks at the last second if needed.
Dante’s motorbike, the Cavalier, is of course a weapon too. The bike splits into two massive saw-blades which Dante waves around like your uncle when he insists on making you a bed rather than nipping down to Ikea. It’s got heavy weapons, which look like they’ll pack quite the punch, and he can even turn it back into a bike and do doughnuts mid-combo. Showboating? More like showbiking.
On top of that, we’ve also seen Dante strap on Balrog – this game’s version of the gauntlet weapons that power up his punches and kicks (like Gilgamesh in DMC4). Balrog, in particular, seems to make use of ducking and weaving, and then laying down close-up smackdowns on demons. The Coyote shotgun makes a return as well; Dante one-hands it, knocking enemies back as he fires, but at a much reduced fire rate compared with Ebony and Ivory. And it looks like Dante’s still using the awakened Force Edge (known as Sparda, after his demon father), with the transforming weapon shifting niftily between a scythe and a sword.
Further enhancing Dante’s hefty armoury is his Devil Trigger form, which allows him to power up for a limited time, enhancing his weapon movesets as well as making him more powerful.
With weapons like these, Dante’s ready to take on a whole army of
WITH WEAPONS LIKE THESE, DANTE’S READY TO TAKE ON A WHOLE ARMY OF DARKNESS.
darkness, so it’s a good job the underworld has one ready and waiting for him. It’s great to see his old comrades Lady and Trish taking on the job alongside him. While they’ll be present within Dante’s gameplay, it’s unclear yet how much – both were playable in 2015’s DMC4: Special Edition.
BUST A MOVE
Do you like shiny things? Who doesn’t? To satisfy our inner magpies, the game’s Deluxe Edition, which will give access to some extra content, has been announced. Nero will be able to utilise four bonus Devil Breaker arms, with highlights being the fork-tipped Pasta Breaker, and the Mega Buster – the latter being a replica of Mega Man’s signature arm-cannon. It’ll also give Dante the Cavaliere R, a red alternative to his standard bike; 12 battle music tracks from the first four games if you want to give demons hell to nostalgic bangers; alternative announcers for the style ranks; and – most intriguingly – live action cutscenes, whatever that means. If it results in us getting to see Reuben Langdon, Dante’s voice and motion actor, rocking the natty red coat in the flesh some more, then we just hit the jackpot. What weapons would you like to see in Dante’s arsenal? Let us know @OPM_UK!