Devil May Cry | Why I Love

Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Luis Correa, game director at C2 Game Studio which is developing the upcoming Astor: Blade of the Monolith.

Growing up playing games like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden and Double Dragon, I've always had a strong affinity for fantastical adventures with incredible worlds and characters. The 8-bit renditions of these worlds stirred my imagination, but as a kid I never could have imagined just how far games would evolve in the years to come.

Fast forward to 2001. A now 22-year-old Luis had recently moved to the US all the way from Colombia with dreams of getting into Digipen and starting my own game development journey. This was an exciting time full of possibilities, but I was also very lonely. Having just finished my year as an exchange student in order to level up my English skills, all my friends were moving back to their respective countries and I was all alone in Washington State. Luckily, I was able to pick up a PlayStation 2 console (no easy task back in those days, I can assure you!), so I spent most of my time alone in my tiny studio apartment playing video games.

That's when I had my mind completely blown by the announcement of a very strangely named game from Capcom: Devil May Cry. I found the title so intriguing. Why would the devil cry? Who's making the devil cry? Would the devil even be able to cry at all? These were some of the burning questions I had to know!

At first glance, it reminded me a lot of Resident Evil with its static camera angles (not surprising for a Capcom game), but the gothic setting reminded me more of Castlevania, one of my all-time favorites. However, that was only scratching the surface of what was to come, because when I saw this white-haired badass in a red trench coat launch an enemy into the air and juggle it with his dual-wielding guns, I was in complete awe! I had never seen anything like it, and it was absolutely a case of love at first sight.

As we did back in those days, I scoured all the gaming magazines far and wide in search of as much information about the game as I could find. I remember reading that it was originally supposed to be a Resident Evil game (Resident Evil 4 to be specific, wild as that may be), and that the now-iconic “gun juggle” was a bug. It's funny to think that a now beloved, legendary series could have spawned from a bug. A bug that inadvertently gave birth to the modern action adventure brawler as we know it! Of course, that all could be just a partial truth or even a total myth altogether, but I choose to believe this version of events as it's so fitting for the way our craft works. You never know when an accident will turn into a core gameplay mechanic and change the world of gaming forever. It's like we always say in the world of game development: it's not a bug, it's a feature!

When Devil May Cry finally released in October later that year, I, of course, had it pre-ordered at my local game store so I could be sure to have it in my hands on day one. I tore the cellophane off the case, put the disc in my PS2, and I was never the same after that. Seriously, Capcom had truly raised the bar for what video games could be, and I felt so fortunate to be living in a time when this masterpiece existed.

The game opened with a cinematic of Dante in his office, with the bizarrely titled 'Devil May Cry' cleverly being the name of his demon hunting agency. I loved how Dante's irreverent attitude was immediately apparent. He wasn't like the stoic Belmont you'd see in Castlevania, nor the silent, noble protagonist from games like Zelda or Metroid. No, Dante was a trash talking, confident – borderline arrogant – hero (or anti-hero, if you'd prefer).

Then you see a glimpse of his power, and it's clear that this is no ordinary man, but rather the son of Sparta, an ancient demon who fell in love with a human and sacrificed everything for his family and mankind. Dante was the best of both worlds: human enough to be vulnerable, demon enough to be an edgy, super-powered badass!

More important than Dante's impressive superhuman abilities, he had style. The red leather trench coat and floppy white hair was certainly a serve, but it was how he moved that really bowled me over. Dante did everything with style, but it wasn't only his slick gestures that won me over, it was more how it felt to actually play as him. How quick, precise and nimble the controls felt in my hands, and how powerful it made me feel as I dispatched groups of enemies with satisfying ease. Well, okay, maybe 'with ease' is a bit misleading for a game that was certainly anything but easy, but as I learned the mechanics and got into the flow of combat, I began to feel just as powerful and confident as Dante.

"Devil May Cry delivered an experience I will never forget, and one that has continued to stick with me as I've continued my own personal game development journey"

Luis Correa, C2 Game Studio

Devil May Cry delivered an experience that I will never forget as a player, and one that has continued to stick with me as I've continued my own personal game development journey. To say it was influential for me is an understatement.

When discussing a gameplay experience, 'game feel' is very subjective. It's difficult to pinpoint all the myriad elements that contribute to it, and you're likely to get ten different answers if you ask ten different people. It's easy enough to analyze a game's visuals through screenshots and trailers, but there's so much you simply can't know about a game until you've got a controller in hand. You have to be able to play it and feel it for yourself, and for me, Devil May Cry was unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

Remember, this was 2001. Three years before the Ninja Gaiden reboot, four years before the first God of War, and eight years before Bayonetta. You can see and feel its influence across all of these games, but that's far from a comprehensive list. Talk about a game ahead of its time!

It took me more than fifteen years to hone my craft and assemble a team that could attempt to create a game inspired by these same unforgettable core gameplay dynamics. I'm sure anyone who plays our studio's upcoming game Astor: Blade of the Monolith will certainly see the influence Devil May Cry had on it.

While our game has been built upon the foundation of a beautiful fantasy world rife with adventure and exploration, it's the combat that stands out as our main pillar. I've spent countless hours analyzing the best this genre has to offer. I've studied everything from anticipations, recoveries, hit frames, key poses, hit stops, particles, sound, and so on. I find myself continually striving for perfection – although I realize that's a subjective goal.

The truth is, there are many contributing elements to a game's feel, and each can be adjusted indefinitely until it feels just right. I feel like I'll never finish tweaking, but I suppose that's the very nature of developing this sort of game.

No matter which paths my game development career leads me down, I will always carry that very first Devil May Cry experience with me, and the series will forever hold a special place in my heart. Now at 44 years old, I'm no longer within the primary target audience for its latest entries, but I always buy them and enjoy those very same elements that made the original Devil May Cry so special to me all those years ago: a fun and fantastical world to explore, and, most importantly, the tight controls that make me feel like an unstoppable badass!

I wish Dante and the entire DMC team many more epic adventures to come that will surely inspire others just as the original game has inspired me: to dare to dream big and to do it in style!