Stage lighting & colors

I couldn’t pinpoint specific levels that I would deem best or worst. When I didn’t have tunnel vision moving between foes to eviscerate, I noticed the great splashes of color and crisp lighting setting the mood of each level. Even the Qliphoth - which I initially thought was “a little boring” - transitions between blood reds, cool pinks, and murky oranges.

Aesthetically, I’d say all the cityside areas are my favorite. There are several moments where the open city manages to bottleneck into claustrophobic areas, perfect for enemies to ambush. I found it interesting to navigate crumbling architecture as the roots of the towering Quiphoth burrowed through.

Bosses (Nero): Goliath & Artemis

Both of these fiends reinforce Nero’s strengths with aerial combat. It’s highly satisfying to weave around them like an obnoxious insect.

Boss (Dante): Cerberus (+ Weapon)

My Twitch chat described fighting Cerberus as a “marathon,” and I think that’s a great way to put it. That’s not a diss; Cerberus’s three elemental infusions provides a well-balanced challenge for budding Dante players. I got some decent practice with Royal Guard thanks to him.

Cerberus’s nunchucks were woefully bare bones in DMC3, but got an amazing glow-up for its returning cameo. Just like the beast, Dante utilizes fire, ice, and lightning for an extensive roster of attacks. Add Swordmaster to the mix, and the roster expands even further. The nunchucks don’t have the same raw power as Balrog or Cavalier, but I love how many combos can flow together off of this one weapon.

Also, Dante brings out his inner child while swinging the nunchucks. It’s super endearing; who wouldn’t want to squeak out a few “Yoooo wah! Hi-yah!” noises? He did this in DMC3 as well, but it’s way funnier when he’s a rugged 40-going-on-50 ladies’ man.

Boss (V): not sure…

My skills with V are clunky, so it’s difficult to appreciate his boss fights when I’m seething (or actually yelling) at them every 3 seconds.

Boss (Vergil): NOT Nidhogg

For the most part, Vergil’s busted abilities makes it easy to curbstomp every boss. It’s a fun power fantasy after the carefully tailored challenges they offer for Nero or Dante.

Enemy (aesthetically): Riot & Fury

Both of these lizard monsters give me moments where I think, “Why can’t this be MY character?” 

Riots are a perfect blend of goofy lizards and sleek killing machines. Their snake jaws and extendable bright red nails look awesome, but their tail-spines are even better.

Furies discard the goofy half to go all-in on the badass side. Their tail-spine is sharper, and their skin is the ever-classic, extra-edgy black and red. Instead of long nails, their arms have retractable blades, and the way their edges wrap around their arms looks fantastic.

I can’t stop listening to “Devil Trigger.”

“Bury the Light” is also catchy, but DT wins. I can’t elaborate further.

Shout out to the Chicken Nuggets

This list wouldn’t be complete without shout outs to DMC5’s main birds.

V’s approximation of Griffon is fantastic. His royal blue feathers glow with streaks of lightning when in combat, the bare stripes along his body are interesting. He also has the badass split mouth like Riots and Furies.

Griffon can talk as the classic sassy mascot who annoys the protagonists. You can’t have enough sass in Devil May Cry.

Bonus points: you can see this bad-mouthed chicken nodding off in the Main Menu.

The other fowl is in the form of a boss, referred to as Malphas. A side tangent for the elephant in the room: the naked lady fused to it exists. She doesn’t interest me, and if anything the censored breasts look stupid. I’ve already got Quelaag covering the “naked lady attached by the hip to an animal” department.

Her mighty ugly steed is unfortunately a pushover, but at least it’s a fun character design. It’s a lumpy, featherless beast that looks like it hatched too early. It attacks by essentially creating Portal rifts and sticking its face or legs through. Random giant chicken feet flailing around is oddly endearing.

If irritated enough, it thrashes about in desperation, since its blindness is a severe hindrance. Unfortunately, this giant chicken is also slow, so Nero can comically sidestep its obvious telegraphed charges.

Enemy (to fight): Fury

Furies love to teleport all over the place, and in Son of Sparda mode often have to be fought in large groups of enemies trying to draw attention away from their cues. 

Technically, it’s not that hard to counter their assasination attempts with the right cheese attack. Everyone has at least one move that's easy & quick enough to catch them off guard. Again, however, it still has to be timed when several other demons are also hunting for a slice of HP.

Furies are still cool though; my gripes are merely over them being a nuisance to eliminate.

Boss: Vergil vs. Nidhogg

It’s clear that Nidhogg was built exclusively for V. It’s maddening having to juggle this plant hydra with only 1 person.

Trish and Lady have nothing to do

This is the largest sin the otherwise perfect DMC5 commits. The titular heroines from the series have a fate worse than “sidekicks” - they’re more like cameos to sign autographs. 

Lady contributes the most to the story with a great comedy skit involving Nero saving her in her birthday suit. When starting Dante’s chunk of the story, you can see the two girls standing around, but that’s about it. They’re saved from powering two boss-tier demons, and afterwards are seen in Nico’s trailer while surfing the Main Menu. They’re relegated to little more than damsels in distress.

I’m not holding out hope that Lady and Trish will become available to play as DLC. DMC5 was released in 2019, and Vergil was the DLC offering; from my observations, releasing another DLC wave after a large time gap like this is unlikely. It’s not impossible, but a small miracle if they appear as an anniversary surprise.

⬅ Back to main review