Devil May Cry 4 was originally released in 2008. Powered by Capcom’s MT Framework Engine, Devil May Cry 4 ran exceptionally well on the PC platform, and was one of the few games that was used to showcase NVIDIA’s 3D Vision. And here we are today, almost seven years after its release, with a new Special Edition.
First things first. This is a Special Edition and not a remaster or a remake. As such, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition looks a bit better than its original version. Capcom has added some new effects (like Haze, Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Light Shafts and Bloom. And while the game looks blurrier than its original version, you can disable the annoying Motion Blur effect via a HEX Editor.
What really surprised us with this Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4 was its performance. Devil May Cry 4 looked amazing and ran incredibly well on a lot of PC configurations. And while this new version looks almost the same, it runs – with almost 100fps – worse than that.
In order to have an ‘apples to apples’ comparison, we disabled SLI and run the original version of Devil May Cry 4 in Single-GPU mode (as NVIDIA has not included any SLI profile for the Special Edition).
As we can see below, Devil May Cry 4 ran ridiculously fast on an NVIDIA GTX680. However, and while our framerate was always above 100fps, the Special Edition ran way worse than it. This really puzzled us as these new graphical effects are not THAT demanding to cause such a performance hit. Moreover, we believe that NVIDIA needs to further optimize its drivers for this game as our GPU usage was around 85% and never reached 98% (we were not CPU limited).
This obviously means that those with weaker systems – that could barely run the original version of Devil May Cry 4 at 60fps – will encounter performance issues with this new Special Edition. So those owning cards equivalent to NVIDIA’s GTX680 will enjoy a really smooth experience. Those with slightly weaker cards will also be able to achieve a constant 60fps experience.
The Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4 plays exactly the same as the original version, and Capcom has not further optimized its PC version. There are no proper keyboard indicators and the mouse is not supported (at least in-game). If you don’t own a gamepad, then we strongly suggest avoiding this title as it can be easily described as ‘unplayable with the keyboard.’
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition comes with three new playable characters, some new cut-scenes for these new characters, and the Legendary Dark Knight Mode.
The game is priced at 24,99€ while its original version is priced at 19,99€. In other words, for 5 euros you get slightly better visuals, worse performance (that may get a boost with a new driver), three new characters and a new difficulty mode.
If you’ve never played the original version of Devil May Cry 4 and own a gamepad, we strongly suggest giving this a go. On the other hand, if you’ve already beaten the game, there is nothing new for you here to justify re-purchasing it.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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good game but they should just release devil may cry 5 cause those remakes getting old :I
they don’t have the creativity nor the right amount of budget. let’s hope they let DMC rest until they get both.
Would be good to 😀
“a new difficulty mode”
PC users don’t get a new difficulty mode.
Legendary Dark Knight was an original difficulty mode introduced for PC from the very beginning, in 2008, due to PC’s increase processing power compared to consoles back then.
I just want to comment about the same thing, now no need thanks to you.
Can’t say I’m impressed by the addition of motion blur, or at the very least the lack of an in-game toggle for it. What were they even thinking, adding that crap to a fast-paced action game like this?
Who said this game can’t be played with keyboard? Maybe I already can’t do it now but in the past I played all three dificulties (Human, Devil Hunter and Son of Sparda) with all missions in S rating.
Even I did, but it feels lame to play with only keyboard.
Every person has its own preference, I am always enjoy playing any games with keyboard/mouse.
If it supported the mouse, I too would be playing with them.
I actually own the XBOX360 gamepad too, but idk I already used to play with just keyboard/mouse.
i ssed the whole thing just with keyboard ^^
(btw those are not all the difficulties, theres DMD after son of sparda which is like the hardest)
I know because I had played all of them, just mention the one I played with all S ratings.
So, it runs like sh*t! Usually capcom is decent with ports.
on the special edition i have 150+/220+ with a single GTX 680!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm-0dYgGaNs
It doesn’t run as fast but hell it is still way above 60fps
Can you share which card you are using so that I may get an idea on how well it will run on mine.
Devil May Cry 4 (Keyboard and Mouse = camera _ AutoHotKey):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOf68Ujc8G0
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