Devil May Cry 5 Community Event at London (February 2nd 2019)

I am a big fan of the Devil May Cry series, let’s get that out of the way first. I consider them the finest action games ever made, and my excitement for the upcoming 5th installment is beyond measure. It was to my immense surprise that an event was announced at London’s Loading Bar, featuring members of the development team including director Hideaki Itsuno, producer Matt Walker and community manager Matt Edwards. Being announced only days before the actual event, I became embroiled in a mad scramble to organize a trip and before long I had the whole thing planned. I was going to meet the people who had made my dreams come true. Exaggeration? Maybe. But that doesn’t matter, because it was awesome.

Upon arriving at the bar, my travel companions and I meandered around in the cold for a short while we patiently waited in the queue, eagerly anticipating the moment of truth. Within a few minutes, we’d made entry into the warm, lovingly furnished confines of the place and were met with the sight of a big crowd of fans, some dressed up in cosplay which just goes to show that even though it wasn’t a big massive event like Comic-Con, people were still passionate and made the effort.

The anticipation reached its peak when the moment of truth arrived and I finally got to meet Itsuno and Matt themselves. I was able to get my copy of the Devil May Cry HD collection signed, in addition to free posters they were handing out at the table. I was very surprised and pleased to see that everything was free, including entry, signings, and even t-shirts! Seeing them in person after watching so many interviews and announcements through a screen was quite surreal and made it all worth it.

After the signings were finished, I was able to attempt the demo of the game, which was set up on a number of televisions hooked up to Xbox consoles at the other end of the room. It was my first time playing and coupled with the anxiety provided by the many eyes watching the screen while I played, my performance was, shall we say, less than stellar. I was so close to beating the boss at the end, yet any semblance of skill was tossed out the window and launched out of the atmosphere to my immense shame. Matt Walker himself told me it was nothing to be embarrassed about though, so it’s all good.

Due to being limited by the travel time, I unfortunately had to leave a bit early and missed out on the cosplay competition and a chance to take more photos with the crew but I’m very happy with the time I was able to spend there and I got the chance to meet lots of cool people.

With just over a month to go until the game’s release, I can imagine a lot of fans are (somewhat) patiently biding their time to see how this all pans out. It’s been over ten years since the last entry in the Sons of Sparda saga and I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up with this entry. I had a wonderful time at the event and would love to attend another one if it ever happens.