Devil May Cry 5 Switch 2 Review

Devil May Cry 5 Switch 2 Review
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2

I’ve recently been on a cosy game binge, which I’ve quite enjoyed, but variety is the spice of life, and I thought it was time to try something with a little bit more action. Devil May Cry 5 has just hit the Switch 2 and, despite never playing the franchise before, I thought this might be a great action break to get me out of my cosy comfort zone. So, could Devil May Cry 5 pull me away from my cosy games and into a world of demons, swords and stylish combos? What’s it like? Grab your pistols, sharpen your sword and get your Demon form ready as we review Devil May Cry 5 on Nintendo Switch 2.

Devil May Cry 5 follows demon hunters Nero, Dante and the mysterious V as they attempt to stop a powerful demon named Urizen from destroying Red Grave City. As the story unfolds, the three characters’ paths begin to intertwine, revealing connections to the wider Devil May Cry lore while also changing up the gameplay. It’s a story filled with demons, family drama, revenge and plenty of stylish one-liners. As someone who has never played a Devil May Cry game, I wasn’t sure how I’d go with the 5th iteration of the series. Luckily, there was a cool in-game video that told the history of the franchise, and after watching this, it seems like I’d missed one heck of a story with many twists and turns. I’d already decided that if I liked Devil May Cry 5, I might need to go play the first ones. You start your play-through as Nero, a demon killer missing one arm. To begin with, for a complete novice, the game feels quite overwhelming. You’re learning controls with multiple attacks and buttons, already being rated on your style and clearly no match for the mechanics or the boss that quickly schools you.

Already thinking this may be one for Josh to review after all… I pushed on, fumbling my way through the first mission like a newborn baby. Quickly, I was told to bugger off by the main hero of the stories, Dante… Look, fair enough. A month later, you are in a van with your best chick friend, Nico, who has a southern drawl and a bad cigarette habit, although the game reassures you it doesn’t condone smoking. This part of the game feels more like you’re being forced to watch how cool they are, and I found myself being a bit judgmental if I’m honest. Having said that, the game moves forward and introduces you to fitting out your character with equipment and moves, and then being able to practice them in the Void. The Void is a safe space with a mob you can make stationary or active, that you can practice how to do your attacks on, and the Void quickly changed my mind on my earlier judgment and made me realise how fricken cool you could make the attacks. It also made me understand how the scoring and combo system worked, and it dawned on me that the game was justified in marking me down with my gumby movements.

The gameplay is mixed up by changing heroes throughout the adventure. Initially, you play through as Nero, a demon killer missing one arm. His Devil Breakers give him a range of different abilities and a beginner-friendly playstyle. The real challenge for me was proving to be the consistency of my attacks. I feel like someone with more history in the game would have felt right at home from the start, whereas I was still in the learning stages. Upgrades seem to come quickly, and unlimited bullets and a sword arm mean it’s really a hack-and-slash at times. Although again with user error, I kept accidentally discharging my Devil Breakers… I was sure I would figure them out eventually. Devil May Cry 5 might be linear in nature, but it does encourage exploration as there are so many blood clots to collect, speeding up your upgrades. Time and time again, I was reminded how important it was to search every nook and cranny, as you will find so many Gold Orbs, which give you an extra life, and clots tucked away around corners, which pay for your upgrades.

During the adventure, you switch to V, a gothic character who has particularly plump lips and wears sandals, and despite his lack of suitable demon slaying footwear, I still ended up enjoying his mechanics regardless. V is not strong enough to fight alone, but he controls 3 minions during a fight instead: Shadow, Griffin and Nightmare. They are all particularly enjoyable to control as they are strong, and I find the combat mechanics are interesting. Shadow is a tank leopard, Griffin is my aerial attack, and Nightmare has almost boss strength that can only be summoned when your Devil Trigger gauge reaches level 3. Griffin also has the cool ability to lift V to reach double jump heights and can glide while holding V on the descent. Essentially, all fights are completed by your minions, but V has to finish them and gives some of the coolest visual in-game finishes in my opinion. V regularly pulls out a book to quote passages, which I sometimes found hard to hear, but they seemed poignant. I thought this was just for artistic expression, but it turns out this can also fill his Devil gauges. As the minions seemed overpowered at first, it took me a minute to realise that this was just showing off their abilities, and it would require me to learn skills similar to the skills I learnt for Nero.

The final hero you can control is Dante, and I believe he is a return to controls that the Veterans of the game will know well. From my perspective, it was just cool because he could switch between fighting styles, and he seemed particularly overpowered. Watching his cool mechanics, switching between a gunslinger, martial arts expert and Demon kept, his play through fresh and exciting. With auto assist assisting me, I was sometimes shocked by the cool movements my spam accidentally pulled off. There is one other hero you can play through on, but I’ll save that spoiler for you to discover on your playthrough. With each character, I used the Void again to practice and make sure I understood the mechanics well enough.

That’s what I really enjoyed about Devil May Cry 5, the game really supports whatever level you play at. For veterans, the difficulty can be increased, and I can see the appeal of landing the combos, but the beauty of Devil May Cry 5 is that it really welcomes newbies like myself. The back stories, the auto assist, and the forgiving nature of the game really worked to make me feel included. I could enjoy the game just for the sake of it and marvel at the combos I could pull off rather than being excluded.

The stunning graphics pull you into the world of Devil May Cry. I was impressed with how beautiful Red Grave City was with its Gothic Deco art style. Red Grave City is modelled after London, but differs enough from its inspiration to feel like a cross between multiple architectural styles. It was all quite beautiful, and looking around really gave me the same feeling of walking through a Shotengai or the street shops in Melbourne. The characters look sharp, stylish, and full of personality. DLSS is used well here, although the side effect of the sharpness sometimes makes hair look a bit weird. The graphics do an outstanding job of setting eerie scenes. At one stage, I was walking through the world, and I was focusing on the balloons spread throughout the environment, wondering where I was going. Seeing a red balloon floating in the air caught my attention, and my wonder quickly turned to horror as I realised that it was attached to a little girl who had been burnt to a crisp and quickly crumbled to dust on my approach. Although Devil May Cry is not generally scary, the game does have a few heavy moments like this that made me pause.

All of this runs at a smooth framerate targeting 60 fps in both docked and handheld modes, with the option to target an uncapped 120fps mode. I didn’t notice any framerate issues during my playthrough, even when combat got out of hand. That said, there were some smaller issues like a janky camera that would leave me looking at a wall of sparks during combat or put me at a weird angle I couldn’t maneuver out of. At times, your character looks like they are running up a hill on a slippery surface, rather than a normal pathway. Sometimes, mobs would just disappear on occasion and along with this, the jumps could be awkward, too. I’d find myself trying to get into a smaller gap that was just a little bit out of reach, which would need a double jump; this would trigger Griffin and put it completely out of alignment. Having said all that, there are interesting touches I really liked, like the rock music that seamlessly starts during combat or the effortless transitions between forms while in combat that at times looked like you were in a movie.

For my Devils, looking for accessibility options, all buttons can be remapped for every character individually, auto-assist can simplify combos, and the dynamic range of sound can be adjusted. But as always, I recommend further research. At just under $60 AUD, Devil May Cry 5 rewards you with an in-depth story and plenty of replayability. There are secret missions, skill increase playthroughs, gathering clots to unlock skills, achievements and the Bloody Palace challenge, but at the same time, there is no pressure to do any of it, and it would still be really good value for money.

Devil May Cry 5 was out of my comfort zone, but despite this, there was a lot to entice me in. The stylish cinematic flair, the graded combat system, and the varied gameplay that comes through from the different characters rarely give you a moment to be bored. It does a great job of introducing newcomers to the series while embracing series veterans with its customisable approach to play. On Switch 2, Devil May Cry 5 is a near-perfect port, offering outstanding performance that matches the incredibly fast-paced nature of the series. Devil May Cry 5 may have been my first step into the series, but after this experience, I don’t think it will be my last.

So, what’s it like? Devil May Cry 5 is like Bayonetta and Astral Chain.

Devil May Cry 5 is a What’s It Like Certified Exceptional game.

In the Interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score.

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