Videogames are the only medium that has evolved the most in a relatively short span of time. And along the way, they have undergone some massive changes in their very core, from what they were all about in their early days as opposed to what they embody in this day and age. Whereas games of the yesteryear were generally more demanding on the players, they were also a whole lot more rewarding in terms of gameplay and the overall fun factor. In stark contrast to today's AAA's that have gone about a drastically different route which focuses more on delivering a memorable cinematic spectacle using the latest technological advancements.
The main difference between these two distinct eras of Gaming, lies entirely in how they play out. The Videogames of the Golden Age (as I'd like to call), at least the majority of them, had a learning curve around their gameplay and the player was expected to have a certain degree of proficiency over them in order to clear the game. And the better you'd get with the 'Play', the greater your experience of that game would get.
On the other hand, the Videogames of the present day place far more emphasis on taking the player through an 'interactive entertainment experience' that'll stay etched in their memories long after they've stopped playing. And to achieve that immersion, they've come to rely heavily on technology, way more than the gameplay itself which often ends up taking a backseat to the overall experience. This trend is evidently seen in a plethora of titles in today that feature stunning visuals but generic gameplay, sprawling Open Worlds but filled with repetitive ideas.
Simply put, today's games have become more about shine than depth, on polish than feel, and with tons of hand holding mechanisms in place to make them more accessible and appealing to the widest range of audience possible. And as Videogames have gone down this road for over the decades, they have shed a lot of their core DNA which was always about the 'Play', way more than anything else.
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| There's nothing cooler than Dante in a motorcycle... |
But thankfully, we do have a genre that, although clearly a niche in the much larger demography of Videogams, still carry the same 'Old School' DNA of gaming at their core. It's the good old hack-n-slash genre of games that have existed since the dawn of gaming. These titles, though few and far between, stand in today's world as a bastion of Gaming from a far distant era, reminding us that great gameplay still trumps everything else.
But if the term hack-n-slash sounds new to you, here's a quick primer. In any great title of this genre, you are presented with an arsenal of weapons and their respective abilities, which results in a fairly large number of attacks and combinations that you can pull off. As the game progresses, you get to perform the moves and attacks over and over again and before long, you become quite adept at them and even start chaining together strings of attack combinations to great satisfaction. And gradually you get more adventurous and creative with the combos and eventually, your playing transforms into an elegant display of screen candy that looks like a mix of skilled artistry and playful frenzy.
What's even better is that it never ends...the sheer satisfaction of pulling off combos after combos and chaining them together in a ballet of frenzied finesse. There's always something new that you can come up with----some alternative ways, whole new strategies, the possibilities are literally endless, along with the sheer fun and thrills which are constantly escalating.
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| From both Visuals and Gameplay perspectives, Devil May Cry 5 is relentlessly spectacular... |
And Devil May Cry 5 is all of that, times 1000. That's why, despite being only a videogame, DMC 5 contains elements of real life Sports as well as Arts as it requires both skills and creativity from the players and then lets 'em revel in those endlessly. Seriously, take a look at this phenomenal display of action and tell me it doesn't look like something of an Art form of it's own. Gameplay videos like this are a testament to the fact that Devil May Cry 5 transcends Videogames as a medium and can legitimately fall into the spheres of an Art form, maybe even a fusion of Sports and Arts.
What really separates the Devil May Cry series from even other great hack-n-slash monoliths as well as from ANY other action game ever made, is the sheer range of expressiveness it offers the players that lets them carve out their own brand of increasingly stylish, elegant spree of spectacular action gallery. In a nutshell, DMC doesn't just has the absolute greatest and sublime combat system that's ever been put to Videogames (with an overwhelming amount of combos to choose from) but most importantly, it allows you to express yourself through the action in your own unique ways. And that's something that no other action game does or ever did.
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| Screenshots can't ever do justice to this game...it just needs to be seen in action, literally. |
Another great thing about DMC 5 is that at no point does the game force you to learn ALL of it's massive number of moveset and attacks--you can just stick to the ones you really like, and you'll have no problem scoring SSS ranks even at the hardest of difficulties. Cause unlike the previous entries in the series (most notably DMC 3 and 4), Devil May Cry 5 actually has a lower skill floor that emphasizes the player having fun with it's fluid and complex combat system consistently, while at the same time encouraging them to get creative with it.
Not only does this enable virtually unlimited replay value, this is where it feels like you can continue to play the game for years and years without ever feeling bored or tired for even a second. And that's why, even after 5 years of it's release you'll still find so many players discovering new ways of playing and enjoying the game and then showing it all off on Youtube. No other action game, old or new, can even hope to come close to this level of staying power which makes Devil May Cry 5 completely untouchable and in a league of it's own among all the other games of this generation.
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| The Brothers...of blood and arms, the events of DMC 5 revolve around them. |
And that's one of the reasons why Devil May Cry 5 is at the very apex of the hack-n-slash genre or all character action games right now. It has reached the level of those very few timeless, 'Game of the Ages' ever made cause it really doesn't seem that there will ever be a game with a better combat system (this coveted series had already been sporting one of the greatest combat systems ever since the days of DMC 3, which was further evolved and improved in DMC4 and then pushed beyond all limits in DMC 5) or even a point in time when playing the game will start to feel repetitive or stale.
I'll even go as far as to say that we might never even need a Devil May Cry 6 at all, cause I don't think the devs themselves will be able to top what they have achieved in this masterclass of a Videogame or even make any sort of meaningful improvement to DMC 5's gameplay. It's just so...perfect.
In fact, there are quite a number of character action games available today that require a high level of skill and perseverance to complete, and while they do offer an extremely rewarding gameplay experience, Devil May Cry 5 still outclasses all of them with it's exponentially rich and fully sandbox-ed combat system that no other action game can even touch (yet).
And to wrap up this article, in today's world of cookie-cutter and iterative waves of Videogames, Devil May Cry 5 stands as a vanguard representing a more pure and honest era of gaming that still cuts through everything else in it's class like Dante hacking through hordes of demons while cracking slick jokes. More than being the greatest action game in the entire modern era of gaming, Devil May Cry 5 is a grand slam win for the old-school and timeless legacy of Videogames that shows it's really all about the gameplay, and always has been.
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| Devil May Cry 5 hits the Jackpot...of being the greatest action game in the modern era of Videogames. |
This article ends with this spectacular gameplay video from Donguri 990 who's possibly the greatest player in the world when it comes to the DMC games with an astonishing display of skills that showcase what Devil May Cry 5 can become in the hands of a masterfully skilled player. It's more than just jaw-dropping gameplay----it's something of an art form of it's own as the player chains together spectacular combos after combos with graceful finesse. There can truly be no better way to end this long article without a glorious exhibition of what Devil May Cry 5 is all about. So sit back, relax and enjoy.
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