DmC: Devil May Cry is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Capcom. The game's story takes place in a separate continuity from previous Devil May Cry games. The story takes place in Limbo City, a modern-day city secretly controlled by all-powerful demons who manipulate humanity by bestowing the comforts of life. It follows Dante, a young demon hunter whose twin brother Vergil recruits him to help defeat the demon king Mundus. The hack-and-slash gameplay is similar to previous Devil May Cry games; as Dante, the player uses a variety of melee weapons and firearms to defeat enemies. The game introduces modifiers, known as Angel Mode and Devil Mode, to Dante's moveset; the modifiers aid in both combat and traversal.
DmC was conceived as a reboot of the Devil May Cry series to increase its commercial appeal following Devil May Cry 4 (2008). Capcom recruited Ninja Theory after being impressed by their work on Heavenly Sword (2007). The development team included over ninety members with nearly ten of them being from Capcom, which assisted the development of the game's combat system and gave Ninja Theory freedom in creating the game's world and characters. Tameem Antoniades directed the game, Alex Garland served as its narrative consultant, and Hideaki Itsuno supervised the project. At Capcom's request, Dante received a drastic redesign inspired by Hollywood movies. The tone of the game was more mature than that of its predecessors; its setting of Limbo City was designed to be more grounded and lived-in, and was inspired by European cities such as Genoa and Barcelona. The electronic music band Noisia and industrial metal band Combichrist contributed to the game's soundtracks.
Following its reveal at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2010, DmC received a negative response from Devil May Cry fans, who criticized the reboot and Dante's redesign. However, after it was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows in January 2013, it received positive reviews, with praise for the gameplay, art style, and story. The game had sold 4.4 million copies by March 2024, but did not meet Capcom's initial expectations. It was supported with a paid downloadable content (DLC) pack, which follows Vergil after the game's ending. A Definitive Edition remaster including all DLC, new costumes, and additional gameplay features was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2015. The next game in the franchise, Devil May Cry 5 (2019) returned to the original Devil May Cry continuity and gameplay formula, while incorporating a more realistic art-style, similar to that of DmC.
Gameplay
DmC: Devil May Cry is a hack and slash action-adventure video game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player assumes control of Dante, who must use his powers and weaponry to fight against enemies and navigate treacherous Limbo City. Dante's primary weapon of choice is his sword named Rebellion, and his dual pistols named Ebony and Ivory. As a hack-and-slash game, DmC allows players to string together consecutive attacks to form combos or perform special moves. Dante can also launch enemies into the air with his sword, parry incoming attacks, and quickly dodge. Occasionally, players will be able to activate the "Devil Trigger" mode, which makes Dante faster and more powerful, regenerates his health, and launches weaker enemies into the air. Unlike previous games in the series, DmC forgoes a manual lock-on system and instead tracks enemies automatically with its game camera. A player's performance is scored and rated according to different ranks. Players can obtain higher ranks by fighting enemies with style, varying their own combos, and avoiding being hit by enemies, which will reset the score. Higher ratings grant Dante increased attack power. The enemies' artificial intelligence adapts to player performance, becoming more aggressive at higher scores and less aggressive at lower ones. Scores can be shared online through a leaderboard.
New to the series are modifiers to Dante's moveset, known as Angel Mode and Devil Mode. In Angel Mode, Dante wields a scythe which allows him to launch fast, long-ranged attacks that get increasingly powerful, while in Devil Mode, he wields a slower, more powerful axe that deals significant damage to a single enemy. Eventually, he will unlock more weapons, including a flaming gauntlet, a pair of throwing blades, and a sawed-off shotgun. Some enemies are only vulnerable to certain weapon types, requiring players to adjust their playstyle. Angel weapons allows Dante to grapple onto distant or flying enemies and pull him towards them, while Devil weapons pull lighter enemies towards him. These abilities will also aid Dante's traversal during the game's platforming sections, allowing him to reach distant areas. As players defeat enemies, earn high scores, and interact with the environment, they can purchase new moves and upgrade existing ones. Players can also gain red orbs, which can be used to purchase upgrades to increase Dante's overall health, boost the effectiveness of Devil's Trigger; and golden orbs, which resurrect Dante if he is killed.
While the game's 20 missions are linear, levels in the game feature optional areas, some of which can only be unlocked when the player replays the game with the full arsenal unlocked. There are also challenge rooms, which task players to complete missions under certain requirements. The game features three difficulty levels. Once the player completes the game in any of the three levels, four additional levels are unlocked, increasing the gameplay challenge through changing enemy placement, adding new enemy behaviours, and modifying the health of both Dante and enemies. The Definitive Edition of the game introduces "Turbo Mode", which further boosts the overall gameplay speed by 20%.
Plot
The game is set in a parallel universe of the series. The game's story takes place in Limbo City, a modern-day city secretly controlled by all-powerful demons, manipulating humanity through bestowing on humanity the comforts of life, with the demons themselves residing in a parallel plane called "Limbo". Living on the fringes of society is Dante, a young man aware of the existence of demons, devoting himself to fighting them in secret, but otherwise wasting his life by indulging in junk food and sex.
One day, Dante is warned by a young woman named Kat that he is in danger, just as a Hunter demon drags him into Limbo. Dante grabs his weapons and slays the Hunter with Kat's help, as she can see into Limbo with her psychic powers. Dante returns to the human world and accepts Kat's offer to meet with her boss, Vergil. Along the way, Kat explains that Vergil leads "The Order", an organization intent on exposing the demons and releasing the world from their control. Vergil explains that he wants Dante to join the Order and reveals that he and Dante are not only long-lost twin brothers but also Nephilim, the children of an angel and a demon and the only beings capable of killing the cruel demon king Mundus. Their father, Sparda, was Mundus's chief lieutenant in the war against the angels until he betrayed Mundus by fathering twins with the angel Eva. Mundus, afraid of the Nephilim and seeing them as abominations, killed Eva and condemned Sparda to eternal torture while vowing to hunt down Dante, unaware of Vergil's existence. After learning of his past by visiting his family's decrepit mansion, Dante resolves to help Vergil bring down Mundus and his regime.
Dante, with help from Kat, gradually destroys Mundus's operations and slays the demons who manage them on his behalf. During the final stages of his campaign, Dante witnesses a SWAT team raid the Order's headquarters, killing all of Vergil's followers. Dante rescues Vergil from Limbo but is helpless to protect Kat from being brutally beaten and taken to Mundus. Dante then kidnaps Lilith, Mundus's demon concubine who carries Mundus's unborn child, and offers to trade her for Kat. During the exchange, Vergil brutally slaughters Lilith, killing Mundus's heir. He, Dante, and Kat narrowly escape as Mundus tears much of the city apart in an outburst that weakens the "Hellgate", a portal to the demon world within his stronghold in Silver Sacks Tower. Kat, recovering from her injuries, leads the brothers through a detailed plan to infiltrate the Tower and defeat Mundus. Dante draws Mundus out of his lair and Vergil seals the Hellgate, rendering Mundus mortal. Mundus forms a massive body for himself from the city's rubble and confronts the brothers, but Dante reaches his physical body and destroys him. Limbo collapses into the human world, making demons visible to humans and creating chaos worldwide.
With Mundus dead, Vergil reveals his true intentions: he intends to rule humanity in the demon king's place, alongside his brother. Vergil argues that as Nephilim, he and Dante must protect humans "from themselves" and states that they would "rule with respect", compared to Mundus, who used fear. Vergil also abandons Kat, regarding her as worthless simply because she is human. Dante is appalled by his brother's true nature and the two fight, with Dante emerging victorious. Kat stops Dante from killing his brother and Vergil leaves in disgrace. Faced with a world now infested with demons and abandoned by the only family he has left, Dante questions his own identity and purpose. With his hair now completely white after using the full extent of his power, Dante decides to devote himself to protecting humans by hunting demons.
Vergil's Downfall After losing to his brother, Vergil finds himself in an unknown dimension, where he is guided by the voice of his mother to "head toward the lights". Vergil follows the lights, only to be confronted by illusions of Kat and Dante, the latter of whom stabs him again. Vergil is saved by an illusion of himself and is forced to fight hordes of demons while he recovers from the wounds he suffered at Dante's hands. Vergil "kills" the illusions of his brother and Kat, and his mother disappears after expressing horror at seeing what Vergil has become. Vergil completes his ordeal by killing his own illusion in combat, absorbing the illusion's power, and is returned to the real world. Demons approach him and bow at his feet, accepting him as their new king. Confident of his future, Vergil departs to lead his new army to places unknown.
Development
Under the leadership of Global Head of Production Keiji Inafune, publisher Capcom greenlit several projects to westernize its portfolio of video games. Capcom Japan approached its division in America to find a new direction for the Devil May Cry franchise in an attempt to boost sales and introduce the game to a broader audience. UK-based studio Ninja Theory was chosen to develop a new project, as Capcom was impressed by their work on Heavenly Sword and felt that they were capable of creating games with a good story and immersive atmosphere. They were also impressed by Ninja Theory's technology, and their fast pace of game development. Pre-production of the game started when Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was approaching release. The development team included over ninety members with nearly ten of them being from Capcom. Capcom producer Motohide Eshiro remarked that the collaboration was a stimulating experience for the team, though he added that development was challenged by the language differences between the two studios. Capcom also had to tone down the game's overall violence level, removing gameplay mechanics such as dismemberment to avoid having the game rated Z (Ages 18 and up only) by CERO. The game was directed by Tameem Antoniades, and its music was composed by Noisia and Combichrist. As Ninja Theory was not allowed to use Capcom's internal MT Framework engine, they had to build all assets from scratch using Unreal Engine 3.