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Oh boy what a ride has been the past couple of months playing this amazing saga. Just as a quick step out of the topic of DMC5 my Devil May Rank would be: DMC4 - DMC3 - DMC5 - DMC1 - DMC2 (all this must be seen as someone who never played them; also, I love my deadweight! lmao)

Anyways, lets see if those Devils Are Gonna Cry this time.

The Alpha and the Omega

I’ve been hocked by the plot of DMC5 since minute one. There is something in the “in medias res” approach to the story that felt good in contrast of it’s past linearity. Dante loosing? And where is Nero’s arm? I’m in.

Nico and V being the novelty of our cast is top notch. And they’re like the sun and the moon. The complete opposite and I wish they would’ve interacted more. Nico being funny, sharp and a bad mouthed cookie pookie, it has the best synergy with Nero and could not think of a better partner in crime for him. V on the other hand is our edge lord and I bet he’s playing some Three Days Grace in his head.

Other than that, the whole adventure just feels good to be played. The balance between segments of lore combined with the hack and slashing, every mission pushing you to just hit “Next” and play one more, and even the Secret Missions has it’s gimmick of not only beign hidden, but to play a little cute perspective minigame to active them. Every revelation, every nook of light in the mystery’s fog we jumped into. **All a bit overshadowed by it’s last 3 missions.

But let’s not skip to the finale, because, yet again like with each entry I’ve played, it’s gameplay reaches it’s PEAK. And they’re more connected with the character we control than ever.

Dante - The Good…

Still the powerhouse he always has been on past entries of the series. For me, it’s fun resides on the versatility and power he has. Nothing scares him (almost), and he’s always facing his enemies with a smile and a sharp comment, and his gameplay matches this.

The adaptability that having a whole arsenal at your disposal give you is what always made Devil May Cry fun, and here I’m afraid that still shines over the gameplay of Nero and V (very much like DMC4). I’m not inclined to think about Nero and V as mere “let Dante and his gameplay rest for a bit” kind of troupe, but it surely pops of that thought from time to time when playing with them.

V - …The Bad…

My big oof of the game.

Not much a fan of having a set of two familiars whose attacks deppends on two buttons, one per familiar. I’ve encountered many times just SMASHING the buttons like I’m at a arcade playing some Street Fighter 2 without any combo knowledge of the character I’m playing. And even sometimes the familiar whose button I’m smashing lost himself in the battleground because I was aiming the joystick the opposite way for V to escape the enemies.

I think it’s the least fun of the three, but it has purpose. V is fragile, hasty, impulsive given his backstory. And if there is something DMC5 does really well is matching the personality of our protagonist with their respective gameplay.

Nero - …and the Deadweight

Love how related is the fact that that he lost his arm (THE gimmick of the whole DMC4), and presumibly part of his identity, and how… disperse his gameplay is. You don’t feel like a snappier version of Dante anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I think this change is necessary because Devil Bringer was too overpowered and they kept with the thing that made the gameplay’s flow much better -the snap-, so a win win situation?

But I get constantly the feeling of loss here. Devil Breakers would’ve been so much versatile and comparable to Dante’s arsenal (and by such, more versatile combat) if they would let us change them without destroying them. I would’ve prefer them to be destroyed by using them AND getting hit while triggering them. But as I’m a bit of a conservative player (never used potion in my life in Pokemon, f.e.), I’ve never got one destroyed after the first missions.

Something is not quite right with how controlling Nero feels.

Devils DO Cry…

…but Nero doesn’t, and I think that summarizes very well how rushed the three last missions of the game feels like.

He didn’t even had time to process everything happened on those missions and could’ve been much more emotional if the game gave him space to do so. But no, he got over it, just got angry and because the power of EMOTIONS he got a bad ass power up to be in league with the other two. Call that a glow up.

The final fight was very good with Dante and the whole storyline has closed well most of the unknowns of DMC4 (we still don’t know WHY Nero had that arm in the first place tho), I can't help but feel that it was a missed opportunity to have a great closure after everything I've played in DMC5.

Not only did we not get some final cinematic with the end of the Qliphoth, or see how or protagonists are left after the closure of the portal (beyond two combat scenes with credits as we've already seen in DMC4). This, I guess, at the time it came out sure gave gamers hope to see a Devil May Cry 6; but we’re in 2025 and it's been 6 years since DMC5 was released… and not even half a hint of seeing this sixth installment.

In my opinion, they should have taken advantage of how great the whole plot journey was to close the saga or leave it open in a less... broad way. The most surprising thing of all is that Kyrie has had the same plot weight she had in DMC4, they have the poor girl mistreated (figuratively).

Enough yapping

Nonetheless, even having it’s flaws, DMC5 was a hell of a ride, and a fun one I must say. I’m glad to have played now every single entry of the franchise and had a blast of a time doing so. Now I’m left with the void of having played great (and not so great but important) games.