Staff – March 7, 2019 at 9:34 AM
Why does Devil May Cry 5’s combat feel so exhilarating? It’s not just that Nero, one of the game’s three playable protagonists, can equip and use the wealth of “Devil Breaker” cybernetic arms at a whim. It can’t just be the playful ranks you get for executing stylish combos, which range from “D” for “Dismal” to “A” for “Apocalyptic” (and then eventually to “SSS” for “Smokin’ Sexy Style”). Nor is it simply the adrenaline-inducing industrial metal soundtrack that gets progressively more intense as you raise your stylish rank.
Devil May Cry 5 is so engaging because it was developed from the ground up to gratify our basest video game fantasies in a way that’s still elegant, thoughtful, and meticulously designed. Everything, from the character wardrobe to the environmental design, has been carefully crafted to allow these fantasies to come to life. Dante’s Cavaliere, a motorcycle that can be broken into twin chainsaw weapons, exemplifies this design approach: It’s something so ridiculous, over-the-top, and ultimately badass that it could only ever exist in a video game.
So how did Capcom arrive at such a crazy idea for a weapon? Matt Walker, Devil May Cry 5 producer, explained that the driving principle behind Capcom’s design ethos — i.e., the idea that compels them to make the game as over-the-top and theatrical as it is — actually has a name in Japanese: “chuu-ni.” “We like to think of it as the kind of stuff that kids in their early teens find cool,” Walker said. He explained the developers drew inspiration from the imagery that they found most appealing in anime, movies, and other video games as teenagers. “We derive our sense for what’s cool, and therefore what should be in the game, from this way of thinking,” he said.
In this context, granting Dante control of the Cavaliere — a heavily armored, totally drivable motorcycle with spiked bayonets and the ability to split into two chainsaws that are each almost as long as Dante himself — makes a lot of sense. “Chuu-ni” helps explain Nevan, the guitar-meets-scythe that served as one of Dante’s weapons in Devil May Cry 3. It was also likely the guiding design principle behind the Red Queen, a sword that allowed the player to ride demon corpses through crowds of enemies in Devil May Cry 4. While these ideas might seem impractical or egregious in other games, they feel right at home in the lurid, heavy-metal landscape of Devil May Cry.
The game’s designers channeled the playful imaginations of their childhoods in order to draft the concept of the Cavaliere. The idea of Dante riding a motorcycle had been tossed around since Devil May Cry 2, but the designers found a new opportunity to hone the concept during the development of Devil May Cry 5. “One of the series animation leads drew a picture of Dante holding the two halves of a motorcycle like dual chainsaws,” Walker said. “We knew right then and there that it had to be in the game!”
“Chuu-ni,” however, isn’t only responsible for the weapons in the game; it also affects the game’s overall feel. The implicit goal behind combat encounters isn’t simply to defeat enemies, but to do it in the coolest, most inventive and visually stunning way possible. Your eyes aren’t on the HP bar, but rather the style points you rack up with each daring new maneuver.“
When you lose yourself in Devil May Cry 5’s “chuu-ni,” you can better appreciate just how seamlessly the game builds an entire world around your innate desires to kick demon ass and look good doing it.
So our advice for playing Devil May Cry 5 is to embrace its “chuu-nii". Wield that Cavaliere with pride, and rack up style points like it’s no one’s business.
Devil May Cry 5 will be released for PC on March 8, 2019.
