Vergil himself is old-school: white-haired, humorless, and seeking vengeance in a more hellish locale than his brother’s earthly domain. His moveset feels like a scalpel to Dante’s hammer: Vergil’s Yamato kitana swings more elegantly than Dante’s Rebellion, with your Angel and Devil modifiers providing quicker and even more methodical alt-attacks, respectively. On the other hand, Vergil’s “Sword Illusion” projectiles are even less useful than Dante’s nerfed firearms. They’re also annoying for traversal, as they teleport Vergil to hookshot points, making platforming awkward. Devil Trigger has been altered so you can use varying amounts to enable a variety of special moves, and we dig it more than Dante’s Trigger.
Though Downfall’s combat and protagonist mostly match DmC’s, the same can’t be said for the setting or story. Whereas DmC drove us forward with a kaleidoscope of crazy stage concepts and cool Limbo-level transformations, Vergil’s six stages are all set in samey hellscapes with many recycled areas. The serious story isn’t the problem so much as minimal character interaction and far too many confrontations that are teased and then resolved entirely in cutscenes. This add-on’s best parts — its boss battle and final fight — might be better than DmC’s biggest brawls, but the surrounding content is overshadowed by a superior sibling.
