How was your weekend? Did you spend it all with Devil May Cry 5, or did you save some time for Captain Marvel as well? That’s what I did. Boy, what a week for entertainment. Well, if you were dedicated then you probably finished it. The game isn’t that long, to begin with, if you just want to cruise through it. That’s not to say it is, easy because it is far from it, especially after you beat the game. The new difficulty option is a game changer. Well, if you did indeed finish the game then maybe this article isn’t for you. If you somehow weren’t fortunate enough to start this right away then maybe take a peak. Some of these entries act like advice; while others are just weird revelations I had no idea about. Sometimes finding out an option may make, or break a deal for some.

Here is a great example. Let’s say this game was somehow an hour long. It's short, but definitely not that short. $60 for an hour long game, no matter how good it is, may not be worth the money. That’s why I turned this feature into an advice column along with a mini-review in terms of the game’s features. Do you understand where I’m coming from with this? If not, it should all become clear as you read on. I should also mention there are no real spoilers so its safe in that regard too. Okay demon hunters, I hope this helps!

25 Co-Op Demon Hunting

It is not as extensive as other Capcom franchises such as Resident Evil, or Monster Hunter, but there is indeed multiplayer in Devil May Cry 5. It’s more along the lines of Dark Souls though. Occasionally you can come across an echo, let’s call it, of another player. It is a bit weird. You can even set up how you want people to come in, be it random, friends only, or you can turn it off. Again, it’s not as cool as other Capcom co-op adventures, but it was a welcomed surprise.

24 Bye Bye Health Items

Are you like me in that you like this series, but are horrible at it? Thankfully you could always be able to scratch your way through with disposable health items. This time, however, they are absent. You do find green health orbs in each level, but you can’t take those items and save them for later. It was kind of alarming. I thought the idea was to make this accessible for everyone? Thankfully there is another solution in the form of Gold Orbs.

23 Head Bang The Proper

Devil May Cry 5 is corny as all heck and it wears that fact proudly on its torn sleeve. The music is no different, throwing back to power metal ballads of the 90s and 2000s. You would be depriving yourself if you didn’t wear headphones during gameplay.

In fact, they also helped me sound out some hard to hear audio. I need to hear all of the devil boys’ quips. Again, they are cheesy, but oh so good at the same time.

22 Microtransaction Junction

This is a game about demons and Capcom doesn’t pull any punches. It’s rude, crude, and has a bad attitude. You know what the most nightmarish thing about the game is, though? It has microtransactions! From what I played, I didn’t find them necessary, which is to say the game is perfectly balanced as is. If you wanted to, you could pay like $3 for 100,000 Red Orbs to boost your heroes up. It is kind of weird to me even though it could be more overbearing.

21 Login Bonuses

Gold Orbs, or some variation of them, have always been in this series. They are like automatic Phoenix Downs from Final Fantasy. If you happen to fall in battle you’ll get back up again right there on the spot. Usually, these relics were hard to come by and or super expensive. This time around you can get one a day as a login bonus. So if you’re having a lot of trouble, theoretically you could just put the game aside for a week, log in every day, and collect seven gold orbs. It’s not the worst strategy.

20 Photo Bomb

In the year 2019, you would think a photo mode would be a given, right? Well, even though it’s getting to be more common, it’s still far away from being in everything. It’s not in Resident Evil 2 or Anthem. to bring up two recent examples.

The lack of selfies is troubling.

It is in this game though, which means Capcom is not wary of it. They should definitely patch this option into Resident Evil 2. Anyway, it's great to have it here, but the watermarks are kind of a bummer. What’s the point?

19 Fallout May Cry

This may be a bit of a spoiler, but if you didn’t piece it together in the trailers let me spell it out for you. Devil May Cry 5 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The game opens up with the three heroes failing to stop Urizen, which allows him to spread his evilness across Red Grave City and beyond, destroying thousands. I literally mean "seeds" too because he has a demon tree that collects human blood called Qliphoth. I was not expecting this.

18 Devil Breakers Break

Devil Breakers were advertised from the first trailer of the game. It had Nero losing his arm to a demon and having it being replaced by his new mechanical friend, Itsuno. I thought these metal hands were going to act like interchangeable weapons for Nero, but they are instead disposable items. That is to say these Devil Breakers, well, break. I treated them like ammunition in Resident Evil 2. I didn’t know whether to randomly spend them on filler enemies or to save them for bosses.

17 Try Before You Buy

I don’t remember if this feature was in the past games, but I’m going to bring it up now. There is a place called The Void that characters can go to in order to test out new skills. You can try them before you buy them, as it were. More games should do this!

Why this hasn’t become a standard by now is criminal.

The thing I hate the most is asking you to choose a class in some RPG without being able to test it out first, or even watch a demonstration in game, but that’s a complaint for another day.

16 Frequent Loading

For a game in 2019 Devil May Cry 5 sure has a lot of load times. They are not that long, but they are frequent in number. Simply going from the mission prep screen to your customization screen is a load. It strangely takes as long to do this, as it is to load into a level. Don’t you find that strange? It’s nowhere near as irritating as another recent launch, Anthem, but it is noticeable enough to make me sigh every time.

15 Basic Skills Are Hidden

This isn’t that new to the franchise, but at some point, you would think the team at Capcom would wise up. I’m referring to locking basic commands behind a paywall, such as being able to double jump or run. I can see why double jumps are special and this hidden, but running? Before you spend your Red Orbs on stuff that looks cool, make sure you get the basics right away. It will help out a lot. You can never go wrong with a few health upgrades either.

14 Secret Level Ruses

This series is pretty well known for secret areas in nearly every level of every game. Usually, they are super obscure and you wouldn’t find them unless you hugged every wall. For example, a portal could literally be in a wall, which looks no different from others.

Watch out for runes.

This time around, the first area that presents the secret level is a tutorial, showing that you have to align runes in order to open them up. This relaxed me until I found out they are still hidden beyond belief. This tutorial was a clever ruse and I wish I didn’t listen to it.

13 Charge It Up

It doesn’t matter who you are playing with, but every character can charge most of their abilities up. It is presented in the tutorial areas, but because combat is so fast, I often forgot about holding square down to, say, charge Nero’s revolver or to rev up his sword. It may take time, but trust me; charging helps out a lot and can be strategic. A blast from the revolver will hit repeatedly as if you’re attacking with a succession of blows. This can give you an edge to attack something else while it is distracted. It’s also good to rack up style points.

12 Customize Load Outs

When Nero encounters a Devil Breaker in the wild he will equip that one automatically and players will not be able to switch it out until it breaks, or you discover another arm. This can be frustrating if there’s a certain ability you want to use against your demonic foe. Here is a bit of strategy that can help with that. Before bosses, you can call Itsuno to find you, which allows players to customize their loadout. Here you can rearrange the order of your arms and even exchange them. The game does a bad job of explaining that.

11 Collecting Arms

To coincide with that advice, I suggest you uninstall every arm in your inventory before starting a mission. Why? You’ll find plenty of Devil Breakers, as I said, in each level you play with Nero.

Nintendo would be jealous of all these ARMs.

You don’t want to waste an opportunity to get another arm when your inventory is full, do you? With that, I also suggest upgrading how many you can carry to at least five, or six. I found five to be the sweet number for bosses.

10 Welcome V

I watched quite a few trailers for Devil May Cry 5, but as is the case with most game marketing, I stopped a few months before launch. I didn’t want to give too much away to myself. Anyway, in the story trailer that introduced V, I assumed he was either a client, or the villain. I had no idea he was going to be a playable character alongside Nero and Dante. His style is also pretty unique. He’s like a demonic Pokémon Trainer.

9 Up In The Air

Do you often feel frantic in combat? I’ve been there, trust me. While it isn’t easy to pull off, I do have a suggestion. Launching your opponent into the air and juggling them isn’t just cool, it’s strategic. See, if you are high off the ground most enemies can’t hit you. So you can pick off foes one by one if you are good enough. Now, this doesn’t help much when there are flying enemies around, or during boss fights, but keep my words in mind, regardless.

8 Always Explore

If it wasn’t clear enough already with the secret missions, you should slow down and smell the roses. That is to say, explore the world. There’s more to see than hordes of demons waiting to rip you apart.

Become the Indian Jones of demons.

There are tons of hidden items out there like fragments of Blue Orbs that can upgrade your health. It may be an obvious suggestion, but I played more linearly when I first started so maybe it isn’t that obvious. I hope this helps someone.

7 Controlling V’s Pets

Contrary to how Nero and Dante work, V is rather unique. It’s not just that he doesn’t fight. It’s that you can punch square, triangle, and circle on your controller and all three moves will work simultaneously. You can’t, for example, fire your gun and slash with your sword with Nero. Because of this fact, you might not think it is possible with V either, but it is. I discovered it on accident. I should mention that your circle pet isn’t a constant, but your square and triangle beasts are.

6 Auto Assist Your Troubles Away

If you’re still having trouble and chose Demon, over Human for the game difficulty, you can always use the auto-assist option. There’s no sense in beating your head against a wall. Yes, it may lower your style grade by turning it on, but if you need help, just use it. This basically uses upgraded skills you’ve bought and chains them together without having to remember the entire button prompts. There is a lot to remember with three characters so auto-assist helps.