Devil May Cry 5 Developers Talk About Graphics, Action, and More; News Coming at Gamescom

Giuseppe Nelva July 18, 2018 4:25 PM EST

Devil May Cry 5 devs Hideaki Itsuno, Michiteru Okabe, and Matthew Walker discuss several aspects of the game while promising more news at Gamescom.

One of the most relevant announcements of E3 2018 — while not exactly a surprise for many — was Devil May Cry 5, and today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview to Director Hideaki Itsuno, Senior Producer Michiteru Okabe, and Producer Matthew Walker.

We learn that the goal of the visuals of the game is to achieve photorealistic quality while retaining 60 FPS. The team didn’t just 3D scan characters, but also their clothes. Thanks to the Resident Evil Engine the development team is planning to produce images as close as possible to live action using all the tech at their disposal. However, clothes are difficult to achieve with conventional methods, so they’re actually made in the real world, then scanned, and imported into the game.

In the image on the left, you can see Nero’s outfit created for this process.

When scanning just faces and bodies, and adding CG clothes, it looks pretty, but they have no natural wrinkles and they look like vinyl or rubber. With this method, developers can achieve a result closer to real life. Many of the scans for the game are being done at a studio overseas.

Of course, Capcom is also using its own studio in Osaka, but most of the actors are based around London, so a studio nearby is being used. On top of that new tech has been introduced to be at the base of features that were not previously available in the Resident Evil Engine.

With Resident Evil 7 the effect was realistic, however in DMC5 brandishing your sword will create a grandiose effect, and that will also need to look realistic. Without brushing up this kind of effect, it wouldn’t really be a Devil May Cry game.

In Devil May Cry 4, in order to prioritize the immediacy of response, animations are canceled and connected in the same way as in fighting games. However, in Devil May Cry 5, while the game instantly responds to the player’s input, it doesn’t skip animation frames. Canceling frames in a game with visual quality akin to live-action photography would look strange. The developers call this the “uncanny valley of action.”

For example, when a character turns around, if you make him shift his weight realistically, the response to input worsens. While in Resident Evil 7 this was not a problem, in Devil May Cry 5 the pace of the game is essential for the high-speed battle action, which is why the devs are focusing on preserving both responsiveness natural motion, and that is quite challenging.

Given that the Devil May Cry series has many passionate fans, even among the team, it’s not possible to make compromises. Itsuno-san also mentions that DMC: Devil May Cry by Ninja Theory had many good points as well. Developers are working to include all the strong elements from all the Devil May Cry games, so those who liked DMC will be satisfied as well.

While Nero was young in the previous game, the team wants to draw him in the fifth chapter of the series in the point in which he’s at his strongest in mind and body, which is why the game is set a few years later. Dante hasn’t gone wild for no reason, but they aren’t talking about that for now.

The character on the right in the key artwork is the third playable one, but nothing can be revealed on him for now. Whether his tattoo have any connection with Nico’s is also a secret.

Interestingly, we learn that more news will come at Gamescom in August, where the game will be playable.

If you want to see more, you can check out the announcement trailer, and the first screenshots and details from E3 2018.

If you want to reserve your copy, the game is already available for pre-order on Amazon.

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