The Devil May Cry 5 Demo has dropped for Playstation 4 and Xbox One recently, so I decided to try it out and give my impressions. This demo is mostly similar to the exclusive demo they dropped for the Xbox One a month or so ago, but with a few changes (being able to use red orbs in the “Customize” area of Nico’s van, having to buy upgrades, Punch Line Devil Breaker, etc).
I am excited for this game, as I had my itch scratched by DmC: Devil May Cry but did not quite get it satisfied like the main series did. I am going to tell you about my experience within this demo and give you my impressions.
RELEASE DATEDevil May Cry 5 will be released on March 8th, 2019.
SYSTEM(S) | Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
In this demo you only play as one character, Nero, the protagonist of Devil May Cry 4. It is noticeable that he looks different, sporting shorter hair than before along with a prosthetic arm engineered by his friend, Nico.
Nico is responsible for engineering the Devil Breakers, and it appears as though she is the one driving Nero around the dangerous city of Red Grave whilst it is in a demonic outbreak. We know from previous trailers that her intelligence when it comes to weaponsmithing runs in the family, as her grandmother is the person who made Dante’s Devil Arms that he uses in combat.
The only thing I really gathered from this demo is that Nico is incredibly cute; I think her expressions are really thought out and she is easy on the eyes. I like her outfit and her personality, not to mention she seems calm amidst all the chaos surrounding her. Even more than this, she seems absolutely fine when Nero has to go forward by himself even though demons could be lurking anywhere at anytime. Nero seems more laid back compared to his Devil May Cry 4 counterpart, he also seems more accustomed to fighting demons and have managed to pick up on the wisecracking Dante’s quips and rebuttals.
You will be utilizing Nero’s sword (Red Queen), double-barrel revolver (Blue Rose), and his prosthetic arm (through use of Devil Breakers) to take down your enemies.
The combat in this game is fluid, but it is something you are going to have to get acquainted with again if you are fresh off DmC: Devil May Cry. This game plays closer to previous games, and Nero is quite similar to his Devil May Cry 4 counterpart, even having a lot of the same moves for his weapons.
Overall, I think the combat fits so well with this game and brings back the type of Hack n’ Slash game I really love. “Dynasty Warrior Style” games like Onechanbara and Senran Kagura are fun every once-in-a-while, but games like this are what really makes me love this genre.
CONTROLS
Something I will have to say is that the default control scheme for Devil May Cry 5 feels very weird to me. Something that is going to be necessary for Nero to hit SSS and deal the most damage to enemies consecutively is going to be the ability to charge Blue Rose, lock-on to enemies, and use the Exceed function after hits to rev up Red Queen simultaneously without effort. I feel this is just not possible with the default control scheme comfortably, at least to me, so I made a few changes.
- MY CHANGES TO DEFAULT
- Change “Gun Attack” from Square to R1.
- Change “Lock-on” from R1 to L2.
- Change “Exceed” from R2 to Square
I am happy that the enemies so far in this Devil May Cry 5 demo are actually pretty fun and not annoying. One of the main reasons I did not like Devil May Cry 4 as much as Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening happened to be that the enemies were simply ugly, annoying, and not fun to fight against. Do not get me wrong, I like mechanics which allow you not to be able to just steamroll an enemy…but it also has to be fun.
Something that was annoying in the demo was that the enemies were incredibly weak, no ability to change difficulty made everyone die easily except the demo’s boss. I know they probably wanted people to have an easy time, but I did want to be able to really delve into the dynamics of the combat system.
The boss, Goliath, was pretty basic. Reminds me of the Belial enemy that you fought in Devil May Cry 4; he’s big, imposing, has wide swings that you can dodge, and an area-of-effect attack. Was not too bad, and having the Gebera Devil Breaker definitely makes it easier. Looking forward to harder bosses when the game hits.
Red Orbs have made their return in this game, making them appear within every single Devil May Cry game since the original. The primary use of Red Orbs as seen within this demo is either unlock new Skills or to purchase additional Devil Breakers.
It should be stated that within this Customize menu that you are able to go to the tab labeled “Equipment” and customize the order of the 3 different Devil Breakers available in the demo across 4 slots to hold them.
SKILLS- ABILITIES
- Air Hike — Concentrate demonic power into the area under your feet to perform a double jump that can reach higher locations.
- Enemy Step — In mid-air, use an enemy as a stepping stone to execute a double jump.
- RED QUEEN
- Roulette Spin — Spin the Red Queen’s blade in mid-air, cutting up enemies. This attack will allow you to gain a little altitude.
- Shuffle — After avoiding an attack by backstepping, rush forward and counter with a fast, powerful blow.
- EXCEED
- Exceed 2 — An upgrade to the Exceed system. Consume two stocks of the Ex-Gauge to use Level 2 Exceed moves.
Devil Breakers are a new addition in Devil May Cry 5, as the prosthetics made by Nico will be replacing Nero’s Devil Bringer which he lost during the game to an unknown assailant.
I am glad they are trying something new, but I wish it would have been something that did affect the core style of Nero, which I felt like focused around The Devil Bringer. Sure, we do have lock-on+Devil Breaker action to “pull” them in to mimic Nero’s “Snatch” ability from the previous game, but it does not feel the same. I mean, I really wanted to hear “Ha! Slam Dunk!” in this game, and now I very well cannot.
- Overture — A general-purpose Devil Breaker. Blow enemies away with an electric blast or thrust it into foes and detonate from a distance.
- Gerbera — A mobile Devil Breaker letting you cancel attacks with shockwaves or fire a converged beam of powerful energy.
- Punch Line — This Devil Breaker runs rampant, offering powerful strikes and flying rocket punches. You can even mount it to move around.
Devil May Cry 5’s Demo was pretty good; we got to see basic character interaction between Nico and Nero, a taste of the combat system, a few different enemies and a boss battle, not to mention a look at the upgrade system. Everything that needed to be shown was done in an environment where even newcomers would easily be able to get a taste of the combat in a low-stress setting where they had time to get acquainted with the controls without dying repeatedly.
The main problem I see with this demo is that the difficulty could not be changed. I find that many people, including myself, have found that enemies die too easily without being able to really crank into the combat system and see what is all possible. To be fair, this is suppose to be a demo and they probably do not want people going absolutely nuts on the first day of the game (though me and my friend Aria have already put significant time into the demo, even managing to find ways to achieve SSS on the stylish meter while in combat despite the easy enemies). Outside of the difficulty, they need a way to switch between Nero’s Devil Breakers without actually having to self-destruct them; would really make it where you can use what you want when you need them, especially if they are going to break anyway if you are hit whilst in the middle of an attack. Would have been useful to use Nero’s Punch Line against Goliath until he did his whirlwind vaccum-ish attack, then switch to Gebera until it was finish, only to switch back and continue to go to work.
Believe me when I say that May 8th cannot come quick enough!
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