The character action genre isn’t particularly famous for the quality of its stories, instead choosing to focus more on the quality of its gameplay. If any character action game is an exception to this rule, however, it is Devil May Cry 3, whose plot, characters and messages are ingeniously crafted and executed upon without fail.
Devil May Cry is certainly an exception worthy of deep admiration, but it still does not detract from the positive aspects of other titles in its genre. What character action titles often lack in narrative sophistication, they often make up for in mechanical depth. This does not mean these stories are inherently bad, but that they are typically written for different purposes. More likely than not, a character action game’s plot is constructed to establish the game’s tone and set-pieces. They are not written to tug the player’s heartstrings, but rather to sell the player on the idea of enacting a skill-based power fantasy in an over-the-top, campy world. This is why fans of the genre are still so often dedicated to the storylines of character action games. They may not have narratives on the level of The Last of Us, but in conjunction with some keenly-crafted gameplay, the absurd world of a character action game earns the appreciation of the player. What makes DMC3 special is that in addition to retaining the campy qualities that complement its rambunctious genre, it also tells a refined, three act story which has the potential to genuinely engage the player on both emotional and intellectual levels.
Still, Devil May Cry 3 is no revolutionary work of art. It isn’t a groundbreaking masterpiece on the level of Citizen Kane or James Joyce’s Ulysses. It is a tale in three acts that follows the same exact beats as the standard Hero’s Journey, a time-tested and common formula that has been used to tell stories for millennia. Regardless, that does not mean that DMC3 is any less meaningful. It may not be special in terms of narrative scope, but even writing a good story in a well-used framework is a challenging task worthy of attention. DMC3’s story won’t blow a player’s mind, but it will make them experience laughter, bittersweet sadness, and joy more so than the majority of its genre relatives, and certainly just as much as any other well-written, story-based game. It may be simple, but it’s still a fantastic story, and here’s why.
DMC3 Part 1: The Backstory
As with any story, no small part of what contributes to Devil May Cry 3’s quality is its characters. DMC3 may be the earliest game in the series’ timeline, but by no means does it start at the beginning. When players first meet Dante in DMC3, he is around 17 or 18, and the instigating event for his life as a devil hunter has long since passed. Dante and his twin brother, Vergil are the sons of history’s most powerful demon, the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda. Some millennia ago, Sparda grew tired of tormenting humans, and his heart “woke up to justice.” Using his vast powers, Sparda singlehandedly pushed the denizens of hell back to their infernal resting place, and sealed the demon world off from the human realm forever.
Thousands of years later, Sparda returns to the human realm with a human form, where he marries a human woman named Eva and fathers a pair of twin sons. Evidently, the demonic world was not too satisfied with this series of events because early on in the twins’ childhood, their mansion was attacked by a horde of demons. The twins’ mother was tragically slain, presumably along with Sparda. Each twin had a very different reaction to this event, and from there their lives split apart. It is not until DMC3 that the two reunite in any meaningful way.
DMC3 Part 2: The Sibling Rivalry
Fast forward some years and the twins are now fully grown, and gifted with unbelievable demonic powers. They both possess incredible strength, speed and regeneration in addition to a natural proficiency in combat. With his trademark sword, Rebellion, and his custom black and white .45s, Ebony and Ivory, Dante is poised to set up an unnamed shop operating as a devil-hunting mercenary when an unexpected visitor comes knocking at his door. This tall stranger bears an invitation and a challenge from Dante’s twin brother, Vergil. At the mere mention of his brother’s name, Dante becomes aggressive, and proceeds to battle the demonic forces sent to test him by his brother.
As Dante’s fight concludes, a massive tower erupts from the ground below the city. At the top of this tower stands Vergil and the stranger, a man named Arkham. Vergil’s character radiates power and authority, and he easily dispatches one of the more powerful demons which Dante failed to kill during his initial battle. Vergil’s goal is devious; draw Dante into a one-sided bout and take his half of the amulet passed down by their mother in order to open a portal to hell via the tower, known as the Temen-Ni-Gru. Doing this will unlock a path to the power of Sparda. Thus, Vergil waits at the tower’s apex. Meanwhile, Dante, endeavoring to kill his kin, scales the Temen-Ni-Gru, eliminating and collecting weapons from the souls of powerful demons as he goes. Along the way, he encounters an unknown woman on a motorcycle. Before Dante can learn who she is or why she is there, she exits, leaving her identity and purpose a mystery. The two encounter each other again briefly, but the woman, who despises demons, only responds to Dante with hostility.
When Dante reaches the top of the tower, Vergil stands there waiting for him. The two share a brief exchange before their battle begins. In this conversation, it’s apparent how many differences lie between the two DMC characters, as well as how many similarities they share. Apart from being the spitting image of each other, both have chosen their life paths as a result of the tragedy that befell their family, and that is where their differences begin. In the face of the demon hordes, the child Vergil felt helpless to stop his family’s demise, and so he pursues power even at the expense of his humanity. He accepts the legacy of Sparda’s power, but not the responsibility of using it properly. Meanwhile, Dante seems to hesitate to take any action in life at all. He has no goals, he denies his familial legacy, and only hunts demons and fights Vergil because he “does not like him.” Dante saw his entire family die, and instead of pursuing power like Vergil, chose simply not to care about anything ever again. The two begin their fight, and Vergil easily wins. He stabs Dante with Rebellion, the only keepsake Dante retained from their father, takes Dante’s piece of the amulet, and leaves.
DMC3 Part 3: Family Ties
Dante is left broken and defeated at the top of the Temen-Ni-Gru. Vergil stands poised to open a portal to the demon world, obtain the power of Sparda and unleash hell on humanity. Dante has failed, but it is not over yet. The sword inside of Dante’s chest underwent a slight transformation once it came into contact with his demon blood, and Dante changed along with it. Bursting with demonic power, Dante temporarily transforms into a gruesome demon form called a Devil Trigger. One step closer to tapping into his full power and rivaling Vergil, Dante continues to oppose his brother, and descends the Temen-Ni-Gru. After getting eaten by a flying whale (long story) and reaching the tower’s base, Dante encounters the mysterious woman again. The two briefly team up to dispatch a group of demons before Dante flees the scene prematurely in pursuit of Vergil. Before he leaves he asks the woman her name. She responds with indifference to his question, thus Dante dubs her “Lady.”
Lady is an important figure to the plot of DMC3. One could argue that she is as much of a protagonist as Dante or Vergil, though she is unplayable. Over the course of the game, Lady’s backstory is drip-fed to the player, and though she is fully human, it is clear that she has just as much of a stake in the game’s events as the twins do. This aggressive schoolgirl, armed with a bayonet-equipped rocket launcher, is actually none other than the daughter of Arkham, a man who previously sacrificed both his humanity and his wife in pursuit of power. Just as Dante pursues Vergil, Lady (actually named Mary) pursues Arkham as revenge for killing her mother.
However, instead of being motivated out of sheer distaste, Lady does so out of a sense of responsibility. She arrives in time to witness the twins’ second fight, which reaches no solid conclusion as Arkham interferes. Despite being seemingly killed by Vergil earlier in the story, he returns and reveals that he has been manipulating all three of them this whole time. Using both halves of the amulet, the blood of Sparda, and the blood of Lady (now revealed to be the ancestor of a priestess who was sacrificed in order to seal hell’s gates), Arkham opens the door to hell, aiming to take the power of Sparda for himself.
DMC3 Part 4: The Family Reunion
Things could not get any worse for the game’s heroes. Dante, Vergil and Lady have all been manipulated by the devious Arkham, who is now only one step away from attaining the godlike power of Sparda. Each of the three characters forges ahead alone, intent on solving the problem in their own ways. Dante makes his way through the tower once more, and crosses paths with Lady again. Having learned from Lady’s example, Dante is intent on stopping both Arkham and his brother, and inheriting the heroic legacy of Sparda. Lady is stubborn, however, and refuses to give up her goals despite being undeniably unqualified for the challenge she is about to face. Lady is a skilled demon slayer, but she has nowhere near the supernatural capabilities of Dante, Vergil or a demonically-assisted Arkham. She has no hope of succeeding, and though she fights bravely against Dante for the right to continue, she inevitably fails. As a final gift, Lady gifts Dante her signature rocket launcher, Kalina Ann.
Dante continues towards the top of the Temen-Ni-Gru, navigating through the tower’s winding pathways and various hellish realms that are now accessible as the barriers between the human and demon realms have loosened. He reaches the tower’s apex a third and final time, but does so too late to stop Arkham from finding Sparda’s sword, the Force Edge. Arkham absorbs Sparda’s power via the sword, and takes on the demon’s insectoid visage as he confronts Dante. The two engage in banter briefly, but before the fight can begin Arkham is overwhelmed by the boundless power of Sparda, and mutates into a massive, grotesque blob. Suddenly, Vergil appears, and the twins team up in a final, epic battle against the man who would misuse their father’s legacy. Dante and Vergil overcome the mutated Arkham, sending his human form plummeting down to the lower levels of the Temen-Ni-Gru, where his dying body encounters Lady. She performs a remorseful coup-de-gras on her father as Dante and Vergil throw themselves into the portal to hell, chasing the Force Edge and both halves of the amulet. Each recovers their respective halves, but Vergil is the first to reach the Force Edge.
Still unable to reconcile their differences, as Vergil remains intent on claiming all of Sparda’s power for his selfish desires, the twins duel one final time as the door between realms begins to shut. Despite being armed with their father’s sword, Dante finally overcomes Vergil. He fruitlessly tries to rehabilitate his brother, but Vergil denies him and throws himself, along with his amulet, deeper into hell. Dante escapes the collapsing portal before it closes and reunites with Lady. The two have overcome their struggles, but each is left with a bittersweet emptiness as neither was able to recover the family members they had lost to evil. For the first time, Dante expresses genuine sadness as he breaks out in tears. Lady observes that somewhere “a devil may cry,” inspiring a name for Dante’s shop. As the two reflect on what they have lost, more demons emerge from beyond, and the two prepare for a final fight.
There are many qualities of this story which contribute to how great Devil May Cry actually is, especially in comparison to many other character action games. Mainly, the journey which these characters undergo is actually deeply transformative in both the physical and psychological sense. Dante, Lady and Vergil all come out of this story as different people than how they entered. Dante, once aloof and irresponsible, now accepts the responsibility that being a Son of Sparda entails. Lady, once teeming with hatred of any and all demons, realizes that even some demons, such as Dante, can tap into genuine humanity. Vergil, despite remaining evil at the end of the story, has been repeatedly humbled by his failures. The interplay between the three of them as they each grow and change during the story is what allows the emotional highs and lows of the narrative hit so hard. When Dante succeeds in defeating Vergil, but fails at saving him, the bittersweet quality of his victory is potent. Few other games have narratives that achieve that sort of emotional connection with the player, let alone one that does so while maintaining the campy tones traditionally associated with the genre. Devil May Cry 3 is more than a great character action game. It’s the defining title of the genre because it represents the highest heights of what it can achieve, both in gameplay and story.