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Better on Hard: Devil May Cry 4

Better on Hard: Devil May Cry 4

Some time ago I decided it was about time to finally bite the proverbial bullet and play Devil May Cry 5. I absolutely love the series, but for many reasons, I never really got the chance to play the latest entry and the original release's microtransactions were not to my liking, so the title has been gathering dust for much longer than I care to admit. However, as any readers of my From the Top series may know, I have a habit of needing to play the previous instalments before anything else… and I never did try out Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition’s Vergil mode.

I booted up the game and started up Dante and Nero’s tale to freshen up my memory, which is where I made a fatal mistake… After about two console generations worth of time between the last time I played through this exciting spectacle fighter, I decided to jump in… on the hardest possible difficulty: Legendary Dark Knight. I’m guessing some fans in the know are cringing as we speak! After about six hours of teeth-grinding combat, I’m still very much stuck in the first half of the game (help), but seeing how this title in particular handles the concept of difficulty inspired me to create this little series and discuss fun examples of different approaches.

Sooon.... or, well, eventually!

Difficulty is a very tough nut to crack in gaming, as it’s both subjective and hard to quantify, depending on the game. A very common fix to this is the tried-and-true tactic of making the player take more damage from threats, spawning more enemies, while also nerfing their own capabilities in some fashion. This is pretty clear-cut and effective, though, in my opinion, it is the worst way to increase difficulty, as it often feels very artificial and adds little to the game itself. Some, however, don’t go for the “easy” option and instead attempt to add challenges with varying methods, simultaneously making the hardest difficulty a wholly emergent experience! So, based on my stint in Devil May Cry 4’s most challenging mode, would I say it's better on hard?

So, how IS difficulty handled in the Legendary Dark Knight mode? Well, uh. It makes enemies hurt more and spawns an absurd amount of them, of course! Now, hear me out before lighting those pitchforks. In the Devil May Cry series, the harder difficulties are often attempted after beating the game on the easier settings, as most of the resources and upgrades you gather are transferred over from one to the next. As such, hopping into Legendary Dark Knight mode, it is assumed that you’re pretty much armed to the teeth… I was not. Instead, I jumped in with nothing but the base amount of stats, skills, and knowledge any other newbie can muster.

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The alternate costumes are fun too, not going to lie

To be honest, the damage the enemies do is high, but not to a level that it feels like the main challenge. Instead, as stated above, the game spawns an absolutely hilarious amount of enemies for you to fight, forcing you to keep on the move or be stun-locked into next year, if you’re lucky. If that wasn’t enough, some enemies are introduced much earlier than they would normally, making some of the early encounters absolutely terrifying (lightning demons in Fortuna Castle? No thanks).

So, this must sound absolutely awful, right? Well, it both is and isn’t. Like some of my favourite examples of being better on hard, Devil May Cry 4 manages to feel like a completely different game when played on this difficulty! Due to the sheer amount of enemies on screen, you absolutely cannot run around spamming the basic attack as you normally could, oh no. You have to keep on the move, dodge attacks — something that I don’t think I did once on my first playthrough — and carefully consider which moves to use and when to sacrifice the oh-so-valuable healing items. The large number of enemies also, interestingly, makes it rather easy to get very high style ratings, as hitting many enemies at once is almost a given! Finally, the number of enemies and the generally high style rating come together to amass a surprisingly high amount of Proud Souls (basically exp), which you can then use to unlock most of the weapon skills and abilities early!

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The stuff of nightmares

As my meagre skills increased and I had amassed enough Blood Orbs to buy myself some much-needed health upgrades, I started getting the hang of the game. Some skills I had never had enough Proud Souls to buy or reason to try suddenly became staples in my arsenal, such as the charged shot and the few special moves Nero can pull off during Devil Trigger. Additionally, the bosses of the game? Absolutely different from what I remembered! Though I hate to make the comparison, the way I was dodge-rolling around the arena did bring back memories of soulslike combat.

Now, before you run off to follow in my bloody footsteps, I do have to note: it’s not all sunshine and SSS combos. There are instances where I was controller-bitingly frustrated with the enemies, as I felt like I had no room to breathe, never mind actually fighting back. This is especially evident in the latter half of the game, where certain enemies can be “possessed” by a plantlike monster. These hybrid monstrosities retain the original abilities and moves of the host, but they also gain an AoE damaging move that is used frequently and will disrupt your perfectly planned combo every time. Imagine fighting a pack of baboons while they had chainsaws spinning on their backs and you’re not far from the experience! Additionally, Devil May Cry 4 can be pretty brutal with its checkpoints, meaning you may end up backtracking quite a bit on every death… which is not helped by the fact that healing items found in the levels do not respawn when you die, so if you used them up, they’re gone.

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Angy Nero is Angy

All in all, I would argue that Devil May Cry 4’s Legendary Dark Knight mode is worth experiencing. You’ll have plenty of Proud Souls to try out those moves you could never afford and, honestly, it’s great fun slicing through a big group of enemies with a well-placed strike. That and bosses feel much more impactful! I do NOT recommend this mode to anyone starting out with the series, as this can sour you on it very quickly. If you’ve been thinking about playing through the title again after a while, definitely give this a go! Take regular breaks though, because it can be infuriating… beware the Mario Party levels.

Martin Heath

Martin Heath

Staff Writer

Professional Bungler

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