DmC: Devil May Cry is a video game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Capcom for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.[4] The game is not related to the events that occurred in the numbered games as it is a reboot of the franchise.[5]
The console versions were released on January 15th, 2013 in North
America, Australia and Europe and January 18th in Japan. and the PC
version was released on January 25th.
A two part comic series tie-in that is a prequel to the DmC game, the
story revolves around the initial relationship between Kat and Vergil.
Kat, who does not understand her psychic powers, is tracked and found by
Vergil at a Virility factory. With Vergil's arival, Kat is arrested and
held under suspicion of aiding the "masked terrorist." Now dragged into
Vergil's schemes, Kat will have to help Vergil find information about
his long-lost brother, Dante.
DmC: Devil May Cry
DmC: Devil May Cry is a reboot, having no connection to the
current/canon of the original series while starting from the beginning
of Dante's exploits as a demon hunter, throughout this story he
consistently shows his growth into something similar to the classic counterpart.
The story takes place in Limbo City,
a contemporary metropolis secretly controlled from the shadows by
powerful demons, manipulating humanity through the comforts of life.
Living on the fringes of the brainwashed society is Dante,
a disenfranchised youth at odds with the demons who constantly hunt him
and have made his life a living hell for as long as he could remember.
The game's events are set into motion when Dante is taking two women
from Devil's Dalliance back to his trailer home at the Bellevue Pier. After a raucous night of booze-fueled promiscuity, Dante wakes up to a young woman warning him that he's in danger. As Dante opens the door, the girl explains that he left a trail for a Hunter Demon to follow, and Dante is subsequently dragged into Limbo.
After acrobatically getting dressed, Dante is guided through the
Bellevue Pier's carnival by the girl, who addresses herself as Kat, a
psychic medium who can see him in Limbo. Upon defeating his demon
pursuer, it referred to him as "Son of Sparda," to Dante's confusion,
and taunted the young man that he was found. After returning to the
human dimension, Dante is asked to join Kat in heading back to speak
with her boss. Reluctantly, Dante accepts the proposal to repay the
assistance Kat gave at the pier.
Along the way, Kat explains that she is part of The Order, a rogue group led by who Dante calls "that masked freak on the 'net,"
hell-bent on exposing the demons to the world and releasing Limbo City
from their clutches. The leader of The Order introduces himself as
Vergil, and asks Dante about his past, which he remembers very little of
thanks to a bout of meningitis when he was younger. Vergil explains
that he too had lost his memory, but the instances that cause their
amnesia was something only humans suffered from. Vergil explains that
Dante is exceedingly important, and with his help The Order can bring
down the demons. Dante scoffs at the idea, but Vergil pleads with Dante
to at least let him show Dante their shared past.
Vergil, Kat, and Dante arrive at Paradise,
a dilapidated mansion outside of the city that seemingly holds the key
to Dante's past. There, he discovers a portrait of a man named Sparda,
which he deduces to be his father. Along the way, Dante's sees
apparitions of his youth, playing games with another boy named Vergil,
coming to the realization that he and the white-haired man are brothers.
Further investigating the mansion, Dante finds a portrait of a
red-haired woman named Eva, whom he fondly remembers as his loving
mother. Coming to terms with all he's learned, Dante sees more
apparitions, this time of Eva screaming that "they found us" and running
from armed assailants. As Limbo starts to tear apart the simulacrum of
Paradise, Dante can do little but escape back to the gateway Kat made
for him. Once back in the human dimension, Dante requests more
information from his brother, Vergil.
Vergil obliges, taking Dante to an old playground within the city
limits. Dante remembers the area as a place that Eva used to take the
brothers. Looking over graffiti-slathered walls, Vergil explains how a
war between angels and demons has been raging for generations, and
during that time, their father Sparda had fallen in love with an angel,
Eva. Eva soon gave birth to the twin boys, which infuriated the king of the demonic realm and Sparda's blood brother, Mundus. Having created a Nephilim,
Sparda and Eva created the only race of being that could slay Mundus,
so he attacked and killed Eva, tearing out her heart. Dante watches as
his mother gave her life to protect her family, but Vergil was nowhere
to be seen, so Mundus only knew of one Nephilim. As Sparda escaped with
Vergil and Dante, he wiped their memories and split them up so they
could attempt to live normal lives. Vergil was adopted by a wealthy
family that provided for him, but Dante was unfortunately taken to a
demon-run orphanage, St Lamia, where he was abused for much of his early
life. Sparda returned to Mundus to prevent him from following after the
children, and was sentenced to eternal torture and captivity.
Recapping their destiny, Dante asks how they can end Mundus'
reign, and avenge their fallen family, but before Vergil can explain
more, a Demon Collaborator
finds the brothers and pulls Dante into Limbo. After fighting his way
to a gate Kat made, Vergil explains to Dante the more insidious side of
Mundus' actions, and outlines the plans to take out the Raptor News Network for its demonic propaganda, and the Virility
Plant that brews the spiked energy drink of the same name. During Kat
and Dante's journey to the Virility factory, Dante is once again pulled
into the demonic dimension. As he fights his way through the twisted
streets, he learns a bit more about Kat, who was taught much of her
psychic abilities with Vergil's help. Once they arrive at the Virility
Plant, Kat guides Dante from the mixing room and to a rift where she can
spray paint a glyph to bring Dante into Limbo. From Limbo, Dante makes
his way back to the mixing room, where he finds grotesque tubes feeding
into the mixing tanks that people sampled cups of Virility from.
Kat helps Dante descend to the bottom of the mixing room's center
air duct, where he soon confronts the "secret ingredient," a
disgusting, monstrous slug-like Succubus demon hooked up to the same
cords and tubes that lined the walls of the factory. During his battle
with the Succubus, Dante systematically removes the demon's intubation
until she falls into a river of what could only be years of her own
vomit, where Dante then forces her into an industrial fan at the back of
her chamber, which promptly tears her apart.
Some time later, Dante, Kat, and Vergil stand on an overpass with
a clear view of the Raptor News Tower, Dante's next target. Using one
of Kat's glyphs on the bridge, Dante plunges into the water below,
coming out in an upside-down realm, walking along the underside of the
structure. On his way to the tower, Dante is obstructed from his
straight path, making his way through a penitentiary that confines human
souls, and ends up coming across a helpless demon, Phineas,
who lost his one good cybernetic eye to harpies. In return for
retrieving Phineas' eye, the blind demon offers to help Dante. Dante
follows the harpies through the subway system to their nest, where he
snatches up Phineas' eye, kills the demons there, and returns to the
blind prophet.
While walking with Phineas, Dante learns that Phineas was
imprisoned by Mundus over a century ago, and that other Nephilim have
come before the Sons of Sparda. One in particular, Assiel, did much for
the world before her demise. Guiding Dante, Phineas helps the young
Nephilim unleash a hidden power within him, the Devil Trigger, and then questions his purpose of targeting Barbas and Raptor News. Dante divulges his intentions of killing the demon king, and Phineas in turn divulges to Dante that Lilith,
Mundus' concubine, is pregnant with an heir. Dante is unsure of what to
make of Phineas' commands of killing the child, but he thanks Phineas
for his help, and continues on to confront Bob Barbas in the Raptor News
Tower. Dante is left pondering Phineas' parting words, "When Mundus is
defeated, who will take his place?"
Within the Raptor News Tower, Dante and Barbas face off, with the
demon badmouthing the young Nephilim and riling him up, even breaking
up the fight to show Dante a newscast that local enforcement agencies
found Kat and the ringleader of The Order, and were mobilizing on their
headquarters. An angry Dante subdues Barbas with bullets from his twin
pistols, and then quickly hurries back to The Order.
Dante gets pulled into Limbo upon his arrival at The Order's
headquarters, just as SWAT teams are entering the compound. Dante
watches in horror as the armed forces mercilessly kill any members of
the Order they come across, while specifically searching for Kat. When
Dante finally reaches Kat's location, she guides him down to the server
room where Vergil is holed up. In the server room, Vergil helps Kat to
expunge terabytes of data and back it up to a secure location, while
Dante fights off incoming waves of demons. When all is done, Kat sets up
the headquarters to self-destruct, and Vergil intends to leave her
behind while he and Dante escape from Limbo. Dante stays behind to
comfort Kat, instructing her on how to endure being taken into custody
just as SWAT teams swarm through the server room, shooting Kat in the
arm, and then beating her into unconsciousness as Dante watches
helplessly from Limbo. With Kat dragged away, Dante meets up with
Vergil.
Some time later, Vergil receives a video message of Mundus
requesting to trade Kat for the Nephilim, Dante. Vergil is surprised to
know that Mundus still doesn't know of his existence as a Nephilim as
well, but nonetheless denies Dante the opportunity of saving Kat's life.
Dante then offers up the information about Lilith and her unborn demon
child, and the two brothers come to an agreement of kidnapping Lilith in
exchange for bringing Mundus away from Silversacks Towers and possibly
saving Kat. Dante returns to Devil's Dalliance
and attempts to engage Lilith when she drags him into Limbo, and forces
him to run through a Reality TV-like gauntlet in order to reach her. As
Dante meets with Lilith face to face, she mutters of her intentions of
bringing Dante's corpse to Mundus to earn favor, and even brings out
their demon spawn to help battle the Nephilim.
Even as a gargantuan demon, the newborn and its mother are no
match for Dante, and she agrees to go along quietly as long as they
don't hurt the child, as Lilith says she's nothing without it. Near the
shipping docks, Dante and Vergil set up their trade with SWAT for Lilith
in exchange for Kat. However, during the trade, Vergil sets his scope
on Lilith and blows a hole in her abdomen, killing the demon spawn, and
then shooting Lilith herself in the head. In the ensuing chaos, Vergil
and Dante subdue the SWAT team and save Kat. Unfortunately, Mundus
watched the exchange take place, and became enraged knowing his child
was killed. In response, Mundus drew power from the Hell Gate in his
office, and unleashed a powerful wave of Malice that destroys most of
Limbo's shipping district where the exchange took place. Dante, pulled
into Limbo, runs through the crumbling streets saving Vergil and Kat in
their escaping car from debris that falls into their path.
Back at the safehouse, Kat informs the twins on what she learned
while being held captive in Silversacks Towers, where she used her
astral projection to snoop around the grounds in Limbo. With this
information, the remnants of The Order make one final attempt to reach
Mundus, with Dante storming in through the front doors while Vergil
sneaks in from the back, helping Dante reach higher up in the tower by
taking down security protocols. Near the apex of the tower, Dante
finally squares off against Drekavac a final time, routing the demon before moving on. Meeting up with Vergil, the two make their way through the Furnace of Souls,
a desolate space of fiery captive souls and crag. At the top, Dante
helps Vergil reactivate the generators that power the vault to Mundus'
office, and once open, the two being the final phase of their plan.
Dante, tasked with drawing Mundus away from the Hell Gate,
infuriates the demon king with snide comments about demon-kind and
particularly Mundus' child. Mundus blasts Dante out of the office, and
then rushes into him, the two of them flying out of Silversacks and onto
a nearby roof. With his chance upon him, Vergil uses the Yamato to
close the Hell Gate, cutting off Mundus from his immortality, and
capturing his demonic soul in the human vessel Kyle Ryder. However,
Mundus is still a formidable opponent, and attempts to tear out Dante's
heart until he is stabbed in the back by Vergil. Mundus falls off the
roof and onto a car, but instead of perishing, energy swarms around his
body, and debris gathers together, forming a colossal entity of Malice,
concrete, and iron. Together, the Nephilim work to take down Mundus, and
expose the soul-locked body of Kyle Ryder at its core. With Mundus
defeated and the Hell Gate closed, there's is nothing left to sustain
Limbo, and the demonic dimension deteriorates, and demons are left in
plain sight for the entire world to see.
With social media and news organizations buzzing with recent
events, Dante, Kat, and Vergil look out over the city from what's left
of the playground the brothers frequented as children. Vergil thanks
Dante for all his help, and begins to outline his plan for ruling over
humankind, which both Dante and Kat disagree with, having thought they
were fighting for their freedom. Dante deduces that Vergil was only
after freedom for the Nephilim, so they could live without fear of
reprisal from a demon king, and Vergil claims that humans are frail,
like children, and that humanity needs protection from itself. The only
way to ensure that is for the Nephilim brothers to rule over the lesser
race. Vergil, astounded at Dante's reaction, claims that it was them,
the two Nephilim that save the humans. Angry, Dante emphasizes that
without a human - Kat - they wouldn't have been able to free mankind,
and would have failed miserably. Vergil states that if Dante wants no
part in ruling the humans, then he should stand aside and let his
brother rule alone. Dante lashes out, yelling that he didn't help his
brother defeat Mundus so he could take his place, where suddenly
Phineas' parting words made all too much sense.
Dante can't allow his own flesh and blood to rule over the people
he had just freed, and Vergil can't let his brother obstruct his bid
for domination. With the two brother's at odds, they cross swords. As
the two Nephilim battled, Dante continually pleaded with his brother to
reconsider, to no avail. In the end, Dante had no choice but to unleash
the devil inside him and run Vergil through the heart with Rebellion.
Unsure of what to do, Dante forced Vergil to the ground, impaling him
with his sword until Kat begged him to let him live. Sheathing his
sword, Dante helps Vergil to his feet, and declares that the world is
under his protection. Vergil responds that his brother has chosen the
wrong side, and that he'll never be human. Opening a dimensional rift
with Yamato, Vergil mutters "I loved you, brother" before disappearing
through the portal.
Dante is left questioning who he really is, and Kat succinctly
replies that he is Dante, no more no less. With the world under his
protection, Dante has many trials ahead, eradicating the scourge of
demons that now exist among humankind, and coming to grips with what it
means to be a Nephilim, and a Son of Sparda. The final scene shows a
quick close-up of Dante's now-demonic eyes.
Vergil's Downfall
The story of Vergil's Downfall follows Vergil's struggle through an extremely twisted Limbo and reveals what he goes through after the end of the main game.
Initial Reception
Dante's redesign from the original 2010 announcement
The
initial trailer had an overwhelmingly negative reception, primarily for
the drastic redesign of Dante. Apart from altered clothes, weapons, and
a sadistic streak, the new Dante featured in the TGS 2010 trailer had primarily black hair with a tuft of white on top, red eyes, and a leaner, gaunter build as compared to the classic Dante.
Concerns were also voiced about this version of Dante apparently having
acquired a smoking habit, in contrast to the old Dante whose creator, Hideki Kamiya, deemed "too cool to smoke".[6]
The new Dante in fact looked so different from the previous games that
fans were initially divided as to whether to consider this the original
Dante or someone else with the same name. Since the announcement that DmC
is a reboot in an alternate setting, the new Dante has gained some
acceptance as a different character entirely. It should be noted,
however, that Capcom handed down directives to Ninja Theory specifically
to change Dante's looks. Originally, Ninja Theory's redesign was still
somewhat similar to the "classic Dante,"
but Capcom told them to keep going further away from that design to
something new, even though they expected this to create a negative
response.[7]
Ninja Theory confirmed that they will use the Unreal Engine for the new game and not the MT Framework of Capcom (used for Devil May Cry 4),
as this game places an emphasis on the environment's animations in
contrast to the other games' mostly static worlds. The use of a
different, "less-powerful" engine again sparked outrage from certain
fans, citing that its use of a locked 30 frames per second would
diminish the stylish, fast-paced gameplay the series was known for.
Other fans stated that with a lower framerate, split-second inputs like
Just Guards would no longer be possible, and therefore diminish the
skill required to play the game at a "pro" level, using glitches and
certain cancels to achieve high Style scores. The locked framerate was
to accommodate for more than just the characters moving about, as the
environment itself will change quickly, and without warning, during
gameplay. With so much moving onscreen at once, running on 60 fps would
incur undesirable slow-down, so the decision to lower the framerate had
to be made. Capcom stated they were working closely with Ninja Theory in
order to try to give it the feel and speed of a 60 fps Devil May Cry.[8]
In the E3 2011 trailer shown after a year of silence, the new Dante is shown transforming into this universe's form of Devil Trigger, although it more closely resembles the Quicksilver Style.
This version of Devil Trigger gives Dante a small amount of control
over Limbo to reduce gravity, leaving enemies helplessly launched into
the air, recovering Vitality, and increasing Dante's speed and attack
power while also changing his hair and clothing color. The trailer
revealed other aspects such as finishing moves and close-ups similar to
Ninja Theory's previous game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The
trailer also showed off some slight changes to Dante's design, like a
longer coat, a less gaunt physique, a slightly different haircut, and a
facial structured modeled after Dante's actor Tim Phillipps.
At Gamescom 2011, a new gameplay teaser was released. It showed
that Dante can transform his sword Rebellion into an axe (Arbiter), a
scythe (Osiris), and a spine-like grappling hook that works much like
Nero's Snatch
ability, with several more weapons promised in the final game. It was
also revealed that the new Dante is a Nephilim (Half-Demon/Half-Angel),
instead of being a Half-Demon,[9] which does not make him a human.
Because of this change in lineage, game mechanics were also changed
and opened up slightly: there will be three modes available during
combat, "angel," "demon," and "normal". "Angel" and "demon" modes are
activated by holding one of the trigger buttons, which then allows
different functions of the normal face buttons to be used; attack with a
normal sword move while holding in the "Angel" trigger performs an
angelic weapon attack instead. There will be a variety of angelic and
demonic weapons available for Dante, the scythe being one of the angelic
weapons, and a battle axe one of the demonic. There will also be
different sets of firearms, one of which was confirmed to be Ebony & Ivory, as well as other firearms like the shotgun for wide-angle blasts.
With Dante's weapons and utilities changeable on the fly,
creative combination attacks will be easier to string together. There
will be a bigger emphasis on the aerial combat as well, juggling enemies
in the air as players string together long and varied combos. Dante's
Devil Trigger also promotes the new focus on aerial combat, which
launches all enemies into the air, where he can attack them all
defenselessly for as long as possible. While larger enemies and bosses
can't be launched in the same way, other options open up to the player
when Devil Trigger is used.
Dante attempts an escape from Limbo via the morphing St. Agares's Church.
The game also has a much heavier emphasis on the environment, with a
preview from a released video entitled "The Fight" showing that the city
itself is one of Dante's greatest adversaries. At one point a CCTV
camera sees him within the city limits, and Dante is pulled into Limbo
where demons attack fiercely, and the world itself is no longer safe.
With roads giving way to nothingness, and alleyways closing off, Dante
must fight not only the demons that appear, but also Limbo itself. One
of the easiest ways to do so is by destroying the CCTV cameras that
prevent progress. Other times, Dante will be forced to traverse through
the twisted city in order to escape, only to have his exits cut off or
moved just out of reach, such as shown in the video "The Escape."
Aside from showing off Dante's new Devil Trigger, trailers also
showed more gameplay mechanics, such as pulling the demonized CCTV
cameras from their sockets to defeat them and using his twin pistols to
fire magic bullets that ricochet off countless enemies. The game still
uses a time-based input mechanic for combos, like pressing an attack
button repeatedly for one attack, while deliberately pausing for a
moment in between two presses for a different attack. This keeps in line
with all the past Devil May Cry games, instead of the
"dial-a-combo" mechanic that was feared to take precedence because of
its use in Ninja Theory's past titles. The game also no longer uses a
"hard lock" system for Dante's attacks, allowing the player greater
freedom in attacking in any direction. As such, the game utilizes a
proprietary "Launch" button for attacks like High Time. Jump Canceling even makes a return, as seen in the "Public Enemy" trailer.
As more footage and screenshots are released, the game itself
divulges more of the past mechanics that are returning, or coming back
in different ways. Fans worried over videos that showed enemies defeated
without relinquishing Red Orbs, and the lack of any sort of "Style"
meter to gauge the player's proficiency in any given battle. Luckily,
Red Orbs have been shown in "The Fight" gameplay video to fly towards
Dante after he defeats enemies, just as usual, used to upgrade Dante's
abilities and weapons. Along with an improved Style meter akin to the
other games that lists a score along with the moves incorporated into
the combos, the music itself will begin as a slight background beat,
becoming more and more prominent, bringing in guitar riffs and even
vocals as the player's performance reaches a higher grade, just as the
older system would reach from D up to A and even SSS. Similar to the
third and fourth installments in the main series, the Style meter in DmC
will retain the currently highest full rank the player has reached
until the battle is over, or he is struck by an attack. When the player
reaches S Rank and higher, they also receive a boost to their speed,
further pushing players to do their best to gain the upper-hand in
battle. The music itself still carries with it a flare for the
grunge/metal genre that has become ubiquitous with Devil May Cry's
soundtracks. The aggrotech song "Never Surrender " by Combichrist
was used for the background combat theme in "The Fight" trailer; the
band's song, "Sent to Destroy" was also used for the E3 2012 trailer.
The front man for Combichrist will also be working on the rest of the
game's soundtrack.
Combat
Combat differs from previous games. There are no Styles,
but new attack patterns can be initiated by holding down the left or
right trigger buttons. Some players report that gameplay speed has been
reduced, citing that the game is locked at 30 fps on consoles, however
it should be noted that reduced framerate does not reduce speed. But
does however make movement less fluid. A new inclusion to the combat is
the use of Input Buffering, which makes it marginally easier to perform continuous attacks. The style ranks are also different, this one being:
The music for the game is divided into three albums. The first, the official soundtrack, features both Noisia and Combichrist while the other two feature tracks performed by Noisia and Combichrist respectively.
Different bonuses are offered by retailers when you reserve a copy of
the game. By pre-ordering the game through GameStop or EB Games,
players will receive the "Samurai Pack," which provide "samurai
devastator" skins for the Osiris, Arbiter, and the shotgun, and Orbs to upgrade weapons, and purchase skills and items with at the beginning of the game.[10] They will also receive the Vergil's Downfall DLC for free when it is released.
There is also a "Bone Pack" available exclusively for Amazon
pre-orders which includes alternative skins for Dante's weapons crafted
from ivory, and an Orb Harvester character ability which enables the
player to collect Orbs faster for upgrades.[11]
A pre-order bonus for the "Gold Pack" is also available for those
getting the game through Best Buy. It gives the weapons a solid gold
sheen, but otherwise does not change their designs. It also includes the
"Item Finder" character perk for finding hidden items.[12]
Trivia
The name of the game's Achievements/Trophies are all quotes spoken by characters in the previous DMC games.