Devil May Cry 5 is ludicrously good fun

I had never played a Devil May Cry game before but was obviously aware of their existence. It’s a pretty legendary series. It came on sale, I had just finished Ghost of Tsushima, and I was in the mood for something shorter, purely fun, and full of action. I chose well.

I didn’t even fully understand what kind of game it was before playing. I stupidly thought it would be a bit like Witcher 3 or something, but with more demons. There are definitely more demons but the similarity ends there barring the hair colour. As for backstory, there is a lot, going back to the original Devil May Cry but it isn’t necessary to know.

In fact, I won’t bother telling the plot, because it is a bit baffling and not really relevant in the review. There are humans fighting demons.

Coming from a precision fighting game like Ghost of Tsushima meant rewiring my brain a fair amount. You start playing a character called Nero and learning the moves took a while to get my head around. Without knowing what type of game it was, I was going for a more skilled Souls-like approach. This is a bad approach. The way to fight in Devil May Cry is to remember a few moves and then just go batshit aggressive. Once my gaming mind had made the leap, it was all good. Then the game became ridiculous fun.

You play three separate characters and they are all really different and, surprisingly, great fun. One of the best things about the Devil May Cry 5 is that is primarily designed to be pure enjoyment and doesn’t take itself seriously.

First up, you play Nero, who has a sword and a detachable hand that can do cool things. He also has a sword that revs up like a motorbike for some reason. Then you play the emo man of mystery V, who has three pets that fight while he wanders around reading poetry. Finally, there’s the man himself – Dante. Dante has a huge sword, guns, a kind of exploding hat, and a motorbike that splits in two and becomes a dual-wielded weapon. Again, for some reason.

The most important takeaway and all you really need to know is that Devil May Cry 5 is stupidly good fun. If you’re a complete noob like I was, it might take you a bit to realise what kind of playstyle to go for, but once you do, you’ll be grinning as you smite. It’s all about the sweet, sweet combos.

There was a 13 years gap between DMC4 and 5. Now I know what I am in for, I will be buying the next one. Given that the latest incarnation was the best selling one of them all, I suspect the wait won’t be as long.

As a newcomer to the whole Devil May Cry world, I was pleasantly surprised. If you want shallow fun, with great characters, I highly recommend it. Here is a trailer.

In fact, while I’m at it, here is the Honest Game Trailer too.