ROME – Capcom is returning to the origin of demon hunter Dante in DmC, the reboot of the bestselling Devil May Cry franchise. Capcom has enlisted a new developer, UK-based Ninja Theory, and a new game engine, Unreal Engine 3, to bring Dante to life this fall on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Fans of the franchise are in for something that has the unique feel of previous games’ arcade action, but with a fresh approach.
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“When given this series, we wanted to do something fresh with it and get to bottom of what DmC is about,” said Tameem Antoniades, game director, Ninja Theory. “Dante is cool guy who does cool sh*t. We stripped him back to the bare essentials and went back to events leading up to his birth and this game covers all the events that made him who he is. This game will explain what fans want to know — why he has his attitude, why he’s irreverent, and why he hates demons.”
Dante and the other characters that are featured in this game are being brought to life using the latest performance capture technology from Ninja Theory, which has excelled at pushing things forward over its past story-driven action games. DmC introduces a unique setting comprised of two visually divergent worlds.
“This game is set in real world, but the action takes place across two worlds,” said Antoniades. “Another world lives on top of our world called Limbo. People in the real world aren’t aware of Limbo. We’ve embedded clues within the environment of how people might be affected subliminally in the real world by actions in Limbo.”
Dante isn’t alone in this new quest. Kat is a medium in the real world that can phase into Limbo and can see Dante across both worlds and communicate with him. She wants to help him fight the demons that have haunted him his entire life.
One of the ironies of the game is that while Dante is fighting demons, and in essence saving the world, the real world only sees the destruction he’s causing and considers him a terrorist. Things aren’t much better for Dante in the demon world.
“Limbo is alive and has bone and blood,” said Antoniades. “It senses Dante as a foreign invader and sends demons against him. In this game, he’s literally fighting against the world.”
Demons come in all shapes and sizes in this game, including bosses that take up multiple screens. The AI in this game causes plenty of challenges, but Dante does come well-armed with an assortment of powers that tap into his angel and demon sides (he’s the child of an angel and demon). The intense and iconic sword and gun based combat returns with the addition of new weapons all designed to dispatch the demonic spawn back to hell with style and panache.
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Antoniades explained that his team has made combat more accessible with DmC. “It’s not dumbed down because it’s not being developed in Japan,” he said. “There’s so much depth to the combat that you won’t discover all the techniques and abilities that you have when you first play through the game once.”
DmC employs a style ranking system, which enables gamers to see how many points are awarded with every hit. It’s a way to learn the intricacies of the combat system. Players can chain together ground-based and aerial combos to achieve the best style ranking. The higher in the air a demon is thrown, the more combo hits can be unleashed on him using an assortment of powerful, upgradable weapons. Players will be able to mix and match with three unique weapon sets in the game, discovering new ways to take out demons and other creatures.
“We’ve tried to do what original Devil May Cry did in its day,” said Antoniades. “We’ve brought in a feeling, attitude and style that was right for the time. Capcom broke new ground with the original game. We’re not repeating what was done before. We’re redefining that experience with a new style and a new attitude.”
That attitude will be unleashed later this year by Capcom.
