In 2002, veteran Capcom game director Hideaki Itsuno – then working on a pitch for an original action-RPG that later turned into Dragon's Dogma – was called upon to get an ailing Devil May Cry 2 out of the door. It sold decently, in the end, but was widely regarded as a critical flop. "When it finished up, they all realised they could have done better," explains Devil May Cry producer Matt Walker (and Itsuno's translator for this interview). "So he and others at Capcom said, we're going to take all of our collective knowledge on how to make a good fighting game, a good action game, and put everything we can into making Devil May Cry 3. "And if this isn't received well, if this doesn't sell well, that's it. We'll just have to quit Capcom, and do something else." For the person helming one of the most outrageously hyperactive action game series out there, Itsuno is rather reserved in person. But his passion for action games is intense. Devil May Cry 3 was a massive success, and this year's Devil May Cry 5 has been celebrated as a return to form for the whole genre. "We didn't look at other action games for DMC5," Itsuno explains, "though one thing we did do was look at Monster Hunter World, which was a massive effort for Capcom – it made a lot of improvements to make it easier for people to get into." Instead, he says, they focused on what was great about Devil May Cry in the first place. "What makes action games fun hasn't changed in 30 years," explains Itsuno. "You come up against a challenge, and maybe you don't beat it the first time, but you know what you did wrong.

Ten years after the debut of Devil May Cry 4, Nero is back in the driver's seat and he's never looked better. It's not just the haircut, either -- Devil May Cry 5 runs on the RE Engine built for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and Capcom's goal is to build a photorealistic game filled with gooey demons, witty one-liners and flashy combos. The title's first hands-on demo at Gamescom 2018 highlights these exact elements and wraps all of it up in an ichor-crusted, gorgeous package. Devil May Cry 4 was the first game in the franchise to star Nero, a reluctant ally to series protagonist Dante. Nero is a human with a smattering of supernatural abilities, including a demon-powered arm named Devil Bringer.