Episode 116 - Wholly Unholy - Devil May Cry

I should have been the one to fill your podcast with light! Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about Devil May Cry, the first game in the DMC series that defined a genre in a way. Character action games of today all have a bit of DNA (the D stands for “Devil” here, presumably) from this game in them, whether that’s in level design, unlockable moves/combos or just the focus on stylish combat, usually with an accompanying rating system, and so going back to see how they were all implemented in the first DMC game was quite an experience. An experience made all the more unexpected by how well the first game manages all these systems. Truly, the level of competency on display here for what is more or less the first try is impressive and makes me question whether this game really was designed that well, or if the genre hasn’t pushed that far forward in the last twenty years. Presentation and questionable voice acting aside, even the game’s visual style with it’s gothic architecture, quietly grotesque enemy design, and the anime sword biker detective himself, Dante, has gone down as nothing short of iconic in the world of games. We’re going to be talking about the strength in simplicity in a combat system, the elements of old-style design that do manage to hold this game back on a modern playthrough, and how we think that castles are…pretty cool. Thank you for joining us again this week. We may have played the remastered version of this game, but it did still feel like the proverbial blast from the past to pick it up again after nearly two decades. How do you feel the game holds up? Is this game your favorite in the series, or was it dethroned by one of its many sequels? Do you want to make some kind of meme about our podcast featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series? Let us know in the comments, or over on our Discord server where we talk about the games and take suggestions. Next time, we’re going to be taking on another game that’s been remastered in the form of Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser’s Fury), the Switch port of the Wii U Mario game that presumably very few people ended up actually playing in its original incarnation. We hope you’ll check that one out too.