DmC

Dante is back, but not quite as we expected: the next installment in Capcom’s iconic stylish-action series is headed up by Ninja Theory, the team behind PS3 launch title Heavenly Sword and the more recent Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and it certainly looks... different.

Driven by stated faith in Ninja Theory’s artistic and storytelling abilities, and a desire to completely revamp a beloved tradition, Capcom’s foremost obstacle in the development process is looking to be the rebellious reactions of its own fans. Whether it’s redefining the concept of “cool” - unnecessarily, as many have angrily objected – or playing a cruel game of cat-and-mouse with its most loyal consumers, Capcom is keeping us guessing with a bizarre turnaround in style, focus and character design.

A lot of the hatred for what numerous online communities have coined “emo Dante” is, in one person’s opinion, misdirected. I just may be the biggest Dante fan around, and I’ll be the first to admit that I am not opposed to, and possibly even like, the concept. Dante is a showboater, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing – appearances aside, the one and only launch trailer we’ve seen so far has him dual-wielding handguns in true gun-kata form, doing improbable flips off tall buildings and generally wreaking havoc on what I can only assume are marionette demons made of wax and suffering. It’s not the wonderfully over-the-top choreographed dance-fights we saw in previous iterations, and it has zero of the series' beloved cheese and over-the-top antics, but it’s got potential. See and judge for yourself:

In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Tameem Antoniades, Chief Design for Ninja Theory, explained that the goal of Dante’s new character design was to “keep what’s recognizably essential” about Capcom’s iconic series while introducing new non-combat gameplay mechanics, improving level design and giving it a grungier, more “underground” feel. While the initial look of trailers and art has people thinking otherwise, they do seem to have a certain reverence for the impact the first Devil May Cry had on the gaming community, and their desire to recreate it for a new generation is admirable at best.

What nags at me, despite the developers' repeated attempts to soothe fans' fear, is that we already GOT a young, rebellious origin-Dante in an awesome bildungsroman of a game called Devil May Cry 3. Given that producers assert DmC will fit into the existing storyline, it’s likely that despite his unexpected palette swap, this will in fact be the same Dante who has parent issues and a bit of a screwball brother who is on his way to becoming the demonic overlord; Ninja Theory has expressed a chief goal of filling in the chinks in Dante’s backstory, so it could be that we’re in for a pre-prequel, a progenitor to the missile-riding action-game darling of DMC3. Whatever the case, I’m still holding out for the possibility that Dante just dyed his hair black to make it easier flying under the radar of whatever demonic organization wants him dead this time – and that Vergil will make an appearance, somewhere, somehow.

And as for those still mourning the stylish, trash-talking, overconfident Dante of games past, keep in mind we haven’t heard this chainsmoking rebel say much yet. For all we know, in between each of those ninja-like leaps and questionable cigarette-burning maneuvers is a snappy one-liner that will make us simultaneously facepalm and grin uncontrollably, just like old times. Keep hoping, DMC fans, for both a sick, memorable reboot and the return of the Dante we’ve grown to love – or at least tolerate good-naturedly.

Keep checking back for more info as it becomes available!