On March 8, 2019, the long awaited next installment in the mainline “Devil May Cry” series was released.
“Devil May Cry 5” was released a little over 11 years after the previous game in the series, “Devil May Cry 4” came out initially on Jan. 31, 2008.
It is an action-adventure hack-and-slash video game that is developed and published by Capcom (known also for “Street Fighter,” “Mega Man,” “Ace Attorney” and several other franchises).
The director will be once more be Hideaki Itsuno while the producers will be Michi Okabe and Matthew Walker, replacing the previous entry’s producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi.
The artist is Tetsuya Yoshikawa and the writer is Bingo Morihashi, returning from the prior game. Casey Edwards, Cody Matthew Johnson, and Jeff Rona are the trio of composers for the soundtrack.
The game will be available on Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One. It was made with the RE Engine, which was first utilized in “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.”
Itsuno explained that their development team was aiming for a style that appeared more photo-realistic. Their target has been stated to be that they will get 60 frames per second across all platforms that will run the game.
Production for “Devil May Cry 5” was in development limbo for some time. Far back in 2013, there was interest expressed in continuing the series. Originally, there were thoughts after “Devil May Cry 4” that the series would go on hiatus or it would come to an end with that particular game, possibly depending on if sales for “Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition” would be successful or not.
Itsuno dismissed the fear, however, by stating that the sales wouldn’t have mattered in that regard, but it wound up doing well anyways.
“Devil May Cry” as a series, however, does not go in chronological order by game title. The correct timeline order is: “Devil May Cry 3,” “Devil May Cry,” “Devil May Cry: The Animated Series,” “Devil May Cry 2,” “Devil May Cry 4” and finally “Devil May Cry 5” completes the series as of now.
Originally, it was meant to be announced in 2017. However, the idea that it could be announced alongside “Resident Evil 2’s” remake came up, leading to it being pushed back another year. The team of developers behind the game have a goal in mind: to make “Devil May Cry 5” the best action game of the Heisei period (the current era of Japan).
The gameplay will remain around the same as the previous installments. There will be a focus on fast-paced and stylish action. Players will have to fend off demon hordes with a variety of different weapons and abilities that they gain and train over the course of the story.
From there, they will receive a style-rating for their fight through a number of factors such as move variety, combo length and how well they dodged attacks. Depending on the performance, the music that will play will change to fit the mood.
After the 2018 edition of the Tokyo Game Show, “Devil May Cry 5” won the “Future Division” award from the Japan Game Awards. From there, several different websites and magazines have reviewed the game, such as Metacritic, Famitsu, Destructoid, GameSpot, The Daily Telegraph and the Guardian among many others.
All sources have received “Devil May Cry 5” with overwhelmingly positive feelings. The lowest score is an 86 from Metacritic for the PS4 version of the game while several other sources have given it a near perfect or perfect scores.
Currently, it is shaping up to be a game that continues the game’s legacy without a hitch. Only time can tell when it hits shelves for fans to discover the new installment for themselves.
Erika Brandenburg
Arts and Entertainment Editor