15/03/2025 - Devil May Cry - Dante Can Live I Think.

So, I would like to preface that I played the HD Collection version of DMC 1 from steam, same as i will for 2 and 3. I also have only really just beaten my first playthrough on Normal. Havent really been able to play or even find any of the Secret Missions either... So i guess this is more of an inital thought? Im probably not gonna try Dante Must Die cause well. I kinda suck if my scorecard is anything to go by! though who knows i beat the game in more or less a day or two. Im defienely gonna try a hard mode run.

DMC has always been one of those series where, before playing it, where im supposed to know its good. THE action hack and slash more or less. Though that was mostly with 3 - 5. Never really heard much about 1 and 2. Especially 2, other then thats the one where Dante is Depressed. I'd say I enjoyed the game pretty well. Though it was certainly WEIRD considering my prexisting knowlage of the series.

DMC 1 feels like a Survival Horror Only You're Not Powerless. Or i guess a Survival Horror with none of the survival and very little of the horror. The spookiest the game got was only really in atmosphere. Dante running around this spooky castle and these haunted colosuems he looks almost out of place. The fixed camera angles and music along with the way the inspecting works feels very remanicisnt of Resident Evil to me. Which makes sense cause well. its capcom. But still. Its honestly pretty cool. I was honestly surprised it kept up that tone for pretty much the whole game. It even ends with escaping the island before it blows up!!

The Story was pretty... Negligable to me to be honest. It was simple it had some good twists, the voice acting was incredibly goofy at times and i found Dante's banter with the bosses charming if simple... But alot of it kinda blended together for me if im honest. The gameplay was really the main drive for me in a way.

The gameplay itself i enjoyed even if it was alot more clunky and ridged then i expected, Though it makes sense for the first game in the series. It felt good once i got a hang of it even if i only got 4 Stylish ranked combos my whole run. It did however feel a little like there was only really a few GOOD options to combat though... Despite the arsenal of firearms and the fewer devil arms, i only really stuck to Ebony and Ivory and Alastor the whole game if im honest, Only ocasionally swapping to the Shotgun and sometimes Ifrit if i needed too. Force Edge and Spada felt kinda useless due to their lack of a devil trigger, even if Spada did have good reach and looked badass, and the Grenade Launcher was too slow to feel useful. Nightmare Beta also softlocked me just for equipping it so... I never used it. As for Ifrit i simply just prefer Alastors moveset, but i did swap to it for its devil trigger gun damage in the Griffon fights.

Speaking of the boss fights they were a real mixed bag to me... On one hand i really liked the fights against Nelo Angelo, But by the forth fight i kinda realised its really easy to cheese him using Alastors Devil Trigger... On the other, Phantom and Nightmare just kinda annoyed me, and Griffon's first fight was fun but his rematches just kinda involved me hitting devil trigger on ifrit and mashing shoot as mentioned. It could just be a "You Control The Buttons You Press" Moment (i gotta play doom soon as well...) but thats how i felt. The Final Boss, as in mission 22 i dont think 23 really counts, kinda just pissed me off though untill i realised i could get practically infinite devil trigger.

In the end i really enjoyed DMC 1!! Its flawed in some aspects but thats understandable for its time. I only really saw 3 bugs at maximum. Excited to get to the rest of the HD Collection!!