Gameplay:

The gameplay in Devil May Cry revolves around two key elements, exploration of the castle and solving its puzzles, and fast paced action combat system. The exploration while slow paced gives a nice contrast from the quick juggling combat. You get to maneuver around this old castle with its various unexpected magical twist and settings, that leave you wanting to learn more of it secrets of how it came to be. The puzzle solving is mostly straightforward and simple relying primarily on getting an item and returning to an earlier section to use it and progress forward but its simplicity doesn't detract from the mystique of the environment.

The varied movesets of the weaponry, from the hard hitting Ifrit gauntlets to the quick stylish Ebony and Ivory pistols, the combat always gives the player options to keep it interesting and fresh. The use of the combo ranking system gives the players an quick and easily distinguishable way of feedback to how well the player is playing and understanding the combat. Getting a SSS rank combo feels deeply satisfying as you know you earned it. There are a total of 11 different weapons to choose from, while there are some re-used movesets across them, they feel different enough that you'll hardly notice. I would encourage you to try new things and spend time with each weapon to find the right combat style for yourself.

Impact:

This being the first item in the property as a whole it laid the groundwork and story for all that was to come after. Its interesting setting and worldbuilding as well as the establishment of the characters we would come to know and love would go on to impact not just this franchise but gaming as a whole. It introduced the "Character-Action" genre and gave us some of the most recognizable characters in gaming. It received overwhelmingly positive results from critics and gamers alike with it receiving mostly 9/10s and selling over 2 million units before its 6th anniversary. It would eventually spawn several sequels, light novel adaptations, and multiple anime adaptations. The characters have been featured in several crossovers due to their popularity and visual appeal. This series has influenced many other series and developers to go on an create other extremely influential pieces of media as well such as the God of War franchise.