Review: Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat

destructoid.com:

Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat is not as bad as I thought it would be when I decided to download it.

It’s so much worse.

Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat (iOS, Android)
Developer: NebulaJoy
Publisher: NebulaJoy
Released: January 10, 2024
MSRP: Free-to-play (with microtransactions)

Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat is, on its surface, a mobile game set in Capcom’s acclaimed Devil May Cry universe. However, to call Peak of Combat a Devil May Cry game is like calling Konami’s Pachinko machines the latest installment in Hideo Kojima’s stealth-action franchise. While it’s tempting to call gacha games like this trash based on the genre alone, Peak of Combat is a special kind of trash.

Yes, of course this is a gacha game. Why wouldn’t it be? I’m sure that’s a disqualifier alone for 90% of you reading this. But let me assure you: the monetization hell goes even deeper than you’d think.

For full disclosure, I will say now that I’m not a huge Devil May Cry fan. I did enjoy the PS2 original back in the day, but never got around to the series since (mechanically similar games like Devil May Clive notwithstanding). I also did not “finish” Peak of Combat’s main story, but… well, we’ll get to why that is.

This is the part of the review where I’d typically add a story synopsis, but… I legitimately can’t remember a single detail about the story I played. As of writing, this game came out two days ago, and I am struggling to think of memorable details. It starts you out pretty much immediately in the action when demons wreck the bar Dante is having a drink in, which I guess is nice. If an action game just foregoes its own story or treats it like a joke, I’d typically respect that.

Except Peak of Combat does try to tell a story, and it does