We promise we’re not mentioning Ghost Rider again. As much as we want to.
X-Blades
The mid to late 2000s were certainly a period of time, and the cover of X-Blades is certainly a product of that. Not that it stops at the cover, as lead character Ayumi has about the same amount of clothing as Homer Simpson does when he sleeps underneath an oxygen tent. Still, Ayumi is kinda cool, and we’re not just talking about the fact she must be cold in that outfit. Nah, she’s actually two times as cool as Final Fantasy VIII’s Squall, as instead of having just one gunblade, Ayumi’s got two. Checkmate, emo boy.
X-Blades isn’t a complicated game by any stretch of the imagination, with treasure hunter Ayumi trying to find some rare booty only to stumble upon an ancient evil that threatens the entire world. It’s the standard action game fare you’d expect from a game like X-Blades, but there’s a bit of depth to be found here. Each of Ayumi’s upgrades corresponds to a light or dark alignment, with the gimmick being that if you head down the darkness path in any way, you’ve locked yourself into the bad ending. Naturally, those powers are a bit stronger, so you have to handicap yourself a little bit in order to be told you’re a nice person at the end of the game.
What’s interesting about X-Blades is the fact that developer Gaijin Entertainment released a reboot/sequel a couple of years later, titled Blades Of Time, which saw Ayumi in another adventure. The key difference between the second game and the first is the fact that Ayumi now has control over time itself, specifically that she can rewind time to win in fights or solve puzzles. If you’re already taking a bit of influence from Devil May Cry, you may as well steal some from Prince of Persia too. If you feel like checking either of them out, you can get them pretty cheap from Steam, which is certainly better for your wallet than the console versions.
Marlow Briggs & The Mask Of Death
You might look at the gameplay of Marlow Briggs & The Mask Of Death on screen right now and think to yourself, “oh boy, this sure looks a lot like the God of War games, gee-golly-willickers”. You’d be right, of course, even if it does sound like you’ve been shot forward in time from the 1950s.
Still, Marlow does draw heavy influence from the God of War, much in the same way Dante’s Inferno did before it, but we ask you, would God of War’s original trilogy have existed in the same way without Devil May Cry? GoW put its own undeniable spin on the formula, but the West needed a game like DMC (not to be confused with DmC) to prove it was a formula in the first place. You might disagree with that, and that’s fine, but as far as we’re concerned, there’s no God of War without Devil May Cry. Therefore, due to the law of transitive property, any GoW clone is a DMC clone, making Marlow Briggs & The Mask Of Death a DMC clone by default.
Playing out like a b-movie, complete with cheesy dialogue, over the top villain and the unshakeable sense that this could’ve used a bit more budget, The Mask of Death follows Marlow as he’s revived as the Sacred Warrior. Basically, Marlow’s girlfriend has been kidnapped by an evil archeologist, and Marlow’s become the vessel of a vengeful Mayan King looking to protect the ruins from harm. It’s a lot, but it’s just an excuse to use a double ended scythe called Kukulkan’s Fangs to combo a bunch of mercs, demons and other dubious little creatures getting up to mischief. It’s not the best game ever made, not by a long shot, but it’s clearly a lovingly made tribute to some of the greats of the character action genre. It’s usually pretty cheap on PC too, if you want to give it a go.
Soulstice
We’re simple people. Give us a big sword and big bosses, and we’re sold. Soulstice brings both of those things in spades, which makes it quite the easy game to recommend. Does it have flaws? Yeah, the main one being an unresponsive camera that can be more trouble than it’s worth, but anyone who’s played through the original Devil May Cry games recently will attest that a dodgy camera is one of the core parts of the formula. Looking at it through that lens, Soulstice is about as faithful as it gets.
Set in a dark fantasy world where monsters known as “Wraiths” are trying to invade from the other side of the Veil, the only ones who can stand against the demonic tide are Chimera, the joining together of two souls to create one badass warrior. Briar and Lute are two sisters who have lived through the Chimera conversion, with Briar looking like an expensive Guts from Berserk cosplay swinging her sword around the place, while Lute sacrificed her soul to become a powerful Shade. You control both sisters, utilising the deadly melee attacks of Briar along with the devastating mystical abilities of Lute in order to dominate the battlefield, which is great when the battlefield is filled with things that want to kill you.
One of Soulstice’s biggest strengths is the enemies and bosses you come across, as they’re plentiful and they’re horrifying but also fun to fight. That’s the main thing, of course. Like every good DMC clone, Soulstice allows you to switch up your weapons on the fly, upgrading them as you make your way throughout the game to unlock new moves and ways to decimate your foes. Though Soulstice isn’t as polished as Capcom’s own offerings, especially compared to Devil May Cry V, Soulstice is a wonderful budget alternative with a dark world, emotional story and fun gameplay.
Chaos Legion
What? We know Capcom developed both Devil May Cry and Chaos Legion, so calling the latter a clone of the former might be a bit like cheating. Clearly, the lessons that Capcom had learned from developing Devil May Cry could be applied to Chaos Legion, making CL less of a clone and more of a sibling to the DMC series. That’s probably what you’re typing in the comments right now, and it’s a fair point, but consider the following: Chaos Legion is awesome and we love talking about it.
Set in a unique gothic world, you control Sieg Wahrheit, a Knight of the Dark Glyphs who’s on a quest to stop his former comrade-in-arms Victor Delacroix from releasing an evil spirit that could spell curtains for everyone. No, he’s not the demon of spelling bees, he’s called Azrail and he’s bad news. Sounds like life’s pretty crappy for old Sieg, but fortunately for both him and you as the player, Sieg isn’t alone in this journey. Enter the titular Chaos Legion, summonable creatures that Sieg can use to overwhelm his enemies. As far as DMC clones or inspirations go, throwing in a few pets you can boss around is definitely a bit more innovative as a DMC clone than just “sword, guns and cool leather jacket”.
If anyone loves Astral Chain on the Nintendo Switch but would love to see where the DNA for that whipper came from, Astral Chain is the game for you. Sieg is a pretty competent warrior in his own right, but his legions are way more powerful, but the trade-off here is that Sieg is hamstrung a little when the legions come out to play. Much like Astral Chain as well, there’s plenty of different Legions to summon, each with their own powers and abilities that challenges the player in using them in the right ways. Capcom seems to be favouring remasters and ports at the minute, especially with the Fighting Collections or Onimusha, though it would be cool to see them revisit Chaos Legion. Sure, it was a one-off game, but it’s part of their history nonetheless.
Van Helsing
We said in the intro that we wouldn’t talk about Ghost Rider, but that doesn’t mean we can’t focus on another PS2 film tie-in that really wanted to take a shot at the Devil May Cry crown: Van Helsing. Honestly, given how ambitious it is at trying to ape the formula Capcom perfected, and the fact that both Hugh Jackman and Richard Roxburgh reprised their roles as Helsing and Dracula respectively, we’ve done you a disservice by not talking about it sooner.
Pretty closely following the plot of the film, the Van Helsing game sees the legendary vampire/monster hunter taking on Mr Hyde in the attic of Notre Dame in Paris. Honestly, opening the game with a bit of platforming and boss fight kind of proves how determined they were to emulate the DMC formula, but the action only gets more intense from there. As you’d expect in a story with a lot of stakes, some high, some wooden, Helsing is called out to Transylvania to stop a rampaging Dracula from doing the usual things that he does. If you’ve already watched the film, you know the story isn’t much to write home about anyway, so an abridged video game retelling is going to be even worse, but it’s the gameplay that makes this one interesting.
In terms of weapons and moves, Van Helsing has a number of toys to play with, as Helsing’s trademark Tojo Blades (those spinny things he throws around) offer a more unique default weapon than just a regular sword. Helsing still has dual pistols though, because this is a Devil May Cry game at its heart, though you can find new weapons throughout the game’s many levels. Where Van Helsing differs a little bit include the ability to find enhanced ammo, which can give the hunter the upper hand on his enemies, and his grappling hook, which can be used in platforming and in combat. Are we saying that Devil May Cry 4’s Devil Bringer power was inspired by Van Helsing’s grapple hook? Maybe, maybe not, but it’d be funny if it was true.
READ NEXT: Bizarre & Obscure Video Game Spin-Offs
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site.
