Finished this on the middle difficulty.
Had an overall decent time (awesome pc port averaging 100 fps on my rig). Started out pretty strong but it seemed to dragged more I played of it and gotten into the systems.
Gameplay
Not being able to cancel out of attacks to dodge kinda sucks, especially for the axe. meh. All the light side weapons didn't feel that great imo. In the end, I pretty much just used the fists for the most part.
Those boss fights were also pretty bad. I mean, if I have a bigger challenge fighting bosses in a zelda game... something isn't right here! They all just felt bland and there is barely any challenge or cleverness in the patterns or designs.
Looks and Design
Really disappointed in Dante's character. I mean I don't mind him calling things names and telling them to fuck off... but the amount of verbal jabs he got in him is extremely limited. He really should be talking smash waaaay more than he is atm.
The whole limbo thing was decent and level design was ok. Really wish the game had a map. And it's really annoying that a bunch of the shit requires gear from future levels... but in the end you pretty much just get more health that you really don't need, so I never bothered after a while.
So yeah, not sure if I liked this or hated this, but it's a solid enough first attempt. I do kinda wish this was more of a standalone property mainly because it does feel like trying to 'emulate' Japanese devs hurt the overall product somewhat.
DMC series is known for campy shitty writing. The writing here is kinda just shitty without the camp :/