According to a potential leak on ResetEra, Devil May Cry V is currently under production. The game, headed by franchise director Hideaki Itsuno, is pegged for release between April 2018 and March 2019.
The leak, which purposely comes from someone deep in the Devil May Cry community, contains a long list of gameplay information and plot details about the not yet confirmed fifth instalment. According to the poster, the community has "been aware of the existence of a new DMC game" for "quite a while", and originally planned to leak this information after PSX/Capcom Cup. However, as news started to get out and spread to less reputable sites, the team decided to disclose it earlier than expected.
Supposedly, Hideaki Itsuno’s secret project is the sequel to the original Devil May Cry series, and is internally called “Devil May Cry V”. Slated to release somewhere in the fiscal calendar year of 2019 (between April 2018 and March 2019), the game was originally planned to release in November 2018 but might have been pushed back to early 2019.
The post claims that DMCV has already been in steady development for two years, with pre-production starting in 2015 right after DMC4SE was launched. Partially funded by Sony, the title will suffer some kind of console exclusivity -- unknown if temporary or permanent -- and should have a demo sometime next year. The launch announcement, if real, should happen at a Sony event.
Allegedly, a story trailer focused on the characters and cutscenes has been ready for a while, with a run time of about two minutes. Voice actors Johnny Young Bosch and Dan Southworth are claimed to be reprising their roles as Nero and Vergil, two of the game's protagonists and antagonists, respectively. Other talent rumoured to return includes cutscene director Yuji Shimomura, composer Onyay Pheori, and a good part of Itsuno's team.
The story itself picks up after Devil May Cry 4, and may feature more than one playable character in the game -- besides Dante and possibly Nero, a "very powerful" third individual has also been suggested. Vergil, Nero's secret father, is somehow back from death, and will confront Nero about that revelation. Trish also has a prominent role, and the “Prince of Darkness” -- possibly Mundus, possibly a transferablle title -- will be the game's main antagonist. Furthermore, according to the post, Devil May Cry V might be the end of the “Sons of Sparda” storyline.
Finally, some gameplay information. Hard lock on is standard, level design is open yet still linear, and the console release aims to achieve 60 frames per second, like previous DMC games. There are no quicktime events, no stamina bar, and no multiplayer PvP.
The number of enemies in any given fight has also been increased, leading to a reworked dodge system and dynamic camera system to tackle the big fights. While not an open world game, some inspirations have been taken from Itsuno's last project, Dragon’s Dogma.
While enticing and very detailed, this should all be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. The folks at ResetEra have failsafes in place to prevent hoaxes from spreading, and we at GameWatcher have done our part in checking the information. We have reached out to sources to corroborate, and will update this story if we hear from them.
