The Next Devil May Cry Needs to Put Its Women Front and Center

Author Writes: Despite everything it does well, Devil May Cry 5 is a dissapointing showing for Trish and Lady, and the next game needs to change that.

[TGGJustin]

While in my review I said the same thing about Lady and Trish not being in the game enough I don't agree that the next game should focus on them. They have never been the main characters and really have always served as support characters. Let's not act like we need an all female DMC just for the sake of it. They deserve to be playable characters but the whole game shouldn't be about them.

[VTKC]

Well you know, women have to be the center of everything these days because equality and empowerment characters need to turn gay long after the games been released and all that liberal nonsense

[bradfh]

I strongly hate the pc culture its out of control. Nothing wrong with main female characters but stop making a big deal if a female character are not first all the time.

[NecrumOddBoy]

Bayonetta much??? You never need to force diversity for the sake of the PC outrage culture. Create what makes sense for the story you want to tell.

[Godmars290]

Its not the presence of women, its the active dumbing down and/or dismissal of old fan bases as "white males".

[Redrex7000]

hold on lets not go there
I would have like to see more of
Trish and Lady just as long
as they keep the whole
PC bs out of it
that shit is really starting
to smell

[jeki]

It helps sales, that's for sure. Otherwise developers wouldn't be "SJW".

[bloop]

Sure Jeki. Is that why Battlefield V sold so much?

[Pennywise138]

I consider myself pretty liberal minded but I have to agree with most these comments. The whole pc and outrage culture is out of control. The left has traditionally been the defenders of art and now all they want to do is control it and tell people what and how they should make their art.

[WombBat]

LOL We Do not need Female protaganist in DMC.

[UltraNova]

In other news, just saw the new promo post for Terminator Dark Fate, three women looking gruff and hairdresser ready to fight Skynet....

Guess John Connor decided to embrace his inner call and switch genders...nuh what the hell do I know, make everything female lead.

Konami if you are making another MGS make Snake a chick. Hell its about time MS revealed Master Chiefs true LGBT nature!

Smh...

[Gaming101]

The half man wimpy SJW is virtue signalling as he laments that the female characters show their skin. Is this really where we're at now? Women can't show their skin? Ok Al Qaeda. This is the same bullshit from feminists who claim the male gaze itself is inherently evil, oppressive, and patriarchal. Therefore, they claim the burqa is freeing because it disables the male gaze, and the bikini is a too of the patriarchy, because it attracts the oppressive male gaze.
GTFOH with this bullshit. The fact that females show skin in games is NOT oppressive towards them because men look at them. Fuck off with your nonsense.

[Srelhow]

Feminatzi No no no no..... bouncing titties Bwahahahahahaha

[Army_of_Darkness]

The author needs to shut his face. Since when has dmc ever been about the supporting casts?? This is not about he or she. It's about Dante you noob!

[rainslacker]

Devs should be free to make what they want....so long as what they want is what I want. That's PC culture in gaming in a nutshell.

Personally, considering what politics in general do which is nowadays correct, I don't see any harm in offending anyone, because there isn't a day that goes buy that a politician can't offend a wide swath of people and still keep on plugging along.

[jeki]

@bloop

Battlefield V is one game and wouldn't have sold well anyway.

Let's see a developer make an anti-SWJ game (whatever that means) and see how well it does. It should be a blockbuster right?

[Bane35]

Pretty much but hey thats the world we live in now

[bloop]

@jeki: Battlefield V wouldn't have sold well anyway?? You're joking right? It's one of the biggest franchises going at the moment with a huge following. It would've sold a lot better without them shoe horning in political agendas. How many people on this website alone cancelled pre orders?? And if you really want to compare a "non- SJW" game, just go choose any of the GTA games and compare sales.

[battlegrog]

but if women are center of everything dont that mean its not equal and just doing something to be correct when its going the opposite side of the fence

[DarXyde]

Eh, it's not a bad thing to have a bit more diversity and representation, but I think there's a time and place for all things. In terms of the series canon, they would need to justify why you're not Dante or Nero or Vergil (which is why, in my opinion, a spinoff works well).

I'm not opposed to a Lady spinoff since I thought she was fun and effective in DMC4SE, but Trish is forgettable, in my opinion.

I'm all for games having us play as women or people of color, but I think it can be harmful to the cause depending on intent: is this a series that started with us using women (e.g., Tomb Raider) or provided an opportunity to explore another character's story (e.g., Uncharted: Lost Legacy or The Last of Us: Left Behind)? If so, that's great. But if, say, they replaced Dante with a woman who uses his weapons the exact same way that he does, I wouldn't really see the point-- why replace him at all?

[Godmars290]

While given what Dante said to Vergil in regards to Nero he could have a rugrat of his own out in the world whose double-y and could show up for the next installment, still have to figure that it would be Dante's brat. Attitude and all.

[gamer7804]

I'd be cool with a spinoff game as long as they can keep from shining bright lights all over them...

[AAWELLS09]

Very well said.

[pandehz]

Fromt Center Behind Under Over

I’m down.

[VTKC]

Trish and Lady need to be front and center? Riiight, because you pushing for "the female need to be the lead" Did it ever occur to you that they are not the main character?

[wwinterj]

I see they missed out Lucia. Not very good as pushing the female everything agenda.

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[FloydianAndroid]

Why?

[Gardenia]

Because SJW on the internet

[rainslacker]

Maybe they just want to gaze upon their form and do unspeakable acts to themselves in the process? That's the only real reason I can see why someone would care about the character they're playing being something specific. Being represented in a video game avatar like that is a stupid reason to want to play or not play a game, so that leaves only one logical conclusion.

[ZaWarudo]

I wouldn't mind. Trish was fun as hell in DMC4SE.

[annoyedgamer]

She wont look or act like that if we cater to the SJWs. Think Ellie in TLOU2.

[WhyWai88]

DMC6: Trish is now main character, but she's also gay.

[salmonade]

@ WhyWai88, J.K.Rowling approves.

[Noskypeno]

@salmonade, only if she's black

[Rachel_Alucard]

If they make her playable fine, but she doesn't need to be front and center of the plot unless it's some side thing. I also hope they don't keep the model they used in 5 as that one makes her look like some washed up porn actress in her 40s.

[TricksterArrow]

I'd actually vouch for a new female character that throws the dynamic off and is more integral to the main plot of whatever is the next game, kinda like V, but female. Trish and Lady are side characters. I feel like they serve and served (in past games) their purpose. Love to play a few missions with them, but that's about it, IMO.

[Shiken]

Play Bayonetta 3 when it comes out then for a kick ass female lead. DMC is about the Sparda bloodline.

Though I do feel Trish and Lady got shafted (heh...shafted), they should not be the leads of anything other than maybe their own spin offs.

[AnubisG]

That isn't enough. All male leeds need to be changed to female to be "so ploglessive"😁

[jelloaceomega]

like barefront like in a centerfold? /s

i'm pretty there's going to be a dlc just for that in the future, and they will release goty or complete version.

[drizzom]

Saw this coming a mile away...

[Gamist2dot0]

Make a DLC for them problem solved.

[jeremyj2913]

There is a rumored DLC for them and Lucia from 2. Ppl on twitter have been calling it the Ladies Night DLC and think that it is the job Morrison had for them in that secret ending.

[Shiken]

Lucia would explain why they changed the timeline, so that would make sense to me.

[azariosays]

Just wait for the DLC to get announced with their character routes.

[LOLcheeseORZ]

Here we go again...

[VTKC]

I just remembered something, Trish is alive only because she resembles Dantes dead mother. Otherwise Dante would of killed her for trying to kill him.

[WhyWai88]

Just let the talents do their job FFS.
Forcing female to be lead is not gender equality, it's gender superiority (aka feminism).

[jbull]

Thankfully the Japanese are not going to care what the sjw's think.

[MajorLazer]

Exactly. Sexism works both ways

[marquisray]

so it bad to put women first in battlefield v, man please everyone make your minds up lol

[deno]

No thanks. No need for SJW ingredients.

[MWH]

This nonsense must stop.

[jbull]

Eh why? how about the author of that article make his own game instead and quit bringing feminist politics into video games.
If you truly want to see more women in video games more females are going to have to take up related college courses in that profession or show more interest as its majority male. If you look right around the world whether its physics, engineering, maths etc its predominately male and that isn't going to change because male and female are hard wired differently.

[ShadowWolf712]

...what the hell does that have to do with female characters in a game?

[jbull]

Its fairly obvious that games developers are predominately male whether its in Europe, North America or Japan and the customers predominately male too. So its natural that the main playable characters in video games will be male although not exclusively eg Bayonetta, Horizon.

[2BlackBelt]

Bait article

[WickedLester]

No it needs to be whatever the creators decide they want it to be.

[Inzo]

Actually it needs to be what the fans decide, those who have invested time and money in it. and its nothing sexist because I would be just as pissed off if they made a man the lead of Bayonetta.

[WickedLester]

Uh, NO! That is not how creativity works and that is not how art gets made! Game creation should be 100% up to the publishers/developers, not the consumers! Publishers and developers are the ones risking everything to make a game. They invest MILLIONS of dollars and thousands of hours in creating these games, therefore they are the ones who should decide the creative vision! You dont like what they make? Dont buy it! The day developers start taking marching orders from the gamers is the day videogames are no longer an artistic medium.

[Inzo]

"Uh, NO! That is not how creativity works and that is not how art gets made!"

Uh, tell that to the fans. Can you imagine the uproar if SSM decided to make Kratos a woman? Case in point, GOW changed its fixed angle camera to over the shoulder and some gameplay elements and the fans were upset, the backlash that followed on twitter was to such a degree that not only Corey Barlog but Shawn Layden also had to assure fans that at its core GOW is still a GOW game. Another example, Cole Macgrath was given just a full head of hair, a slightly altered face and a new voice actor in I2, the backlash was so big the SPP, baring the voice actor, had to change Cole back to his original look. Fans have the final say thats just the way it is.

"They invest MILLIONS of dollars and thousands of hours in creating these games, therefore they are the ones who should decide the creative vision!"

Absolutely and If you want to show off your creativity, art and vision then create something new that people will love then you go and change that what you created and the backlash will be the same.

"You dont like what they make? Dont buy it!"

I can just imagine the cringe a developer must feel every time someone says this on their behalf .

[ShockUltraslash]

I dont see you complaining about Horizon how they need to put in male characters front and center.

[pietro1212]

Not the same argument, but okay

[ShockUltraslash]

Why not the same arguement?

[MajorLazer]

How so? Oh yeah, only men can be sexist and only females can be victims of sexism

[pietro1212]

Look at the ratio of games with starring with Male leads vs. Females lead

MajorLazer Don't twist my words dude

[tombfan]

Maybe not put them in front, more like an equal mesh of male and female playable characters.

[Aaroncls7]

feminism and SJW crap aside, I don't know why they used Nero (since 4) and V when we already have Lady and Trish.

[pietro1212]

Nero's bloodline

[ShadowWolf712]

Because Nero's awesome and...

Wait have you not played the game to know why V is involved?

[NotanotherReboot]

Ummm, Nero was already a main character?

[FallenAngel1984]

Only if the next Bayonetta game has the men front and center

[badz149]

Bronetta?

[Segata]

Nero is the new MC. Lady and Trish be nice to be playable but Nero is the main character from now on.

[AK91]

I don’t mind that actually just don’t make it a virtue Signalling game or a social political thing. Just make a good spin off game/DLC featuring the two badasses oh and don’t make the two of them in in a relationship it just wouldn’t work (looking at you Uncharted: Lost Legacy).

[pietro1212]

Agreed

[Traecy]

Agreed.

[Ninver]

There are plenty of games with female protagonists. Leave creative FREEDOM alone thanks.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Gtfo with all this woman shit. The game is about Dante not a bunch of women. You want women front and center go play Dead or Alive.

[badz149]

or go to pornhub

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Now we talking!!!

[badz149]

only the truth! LOL

[TheGamingArt]

No

[jeki]

Maybe the author should develop his own game, then he can do whatever he wants.

[lazyboyblue]

I also want a man to be the star of Bayonetta 3 and if the next Tomb raider featured Lionel rather than Lara that too would make perfect sense.

[DafunkyRebel]

The game series is called devil may cry not whamen may cry

[Casepb]

I'm sure the special edition will let you play as them. Center of attention though? Isn't that a bit cliche?

[Flewid638]

The usual incels will call it "too political". lol.

Personally, I welcome it.

[JokerBoy422]

Because feminism and stuff...

[Legacy212]

No it doesnt

[good_sk8er]

There is something wrong with anything that doesn't put women on a pedestal.

[Exvalos]

Give them a spinoff if it fits in the story organically otherwise.....no

[2pacalypsenow]

good hell.

[william_cade]

I think it needs a trans-sexual non-human primate.

[maximumspidey]

trish and lady have had very prominent roles in their respective games (dmc1 and dmc3). to ignore that is just plain ignorance.

[GameBoyColor]

The next bayonetta should put it's men front and center

[NovusTerminus]

Lady is one of my favorite characters in DMC, and I was kind of upset about her being sidelined in this game.

BUT (MAJOR DMCV SPOILERS)

She had her power sapped to power a demon form and it left her drained (Trish recovered faster because she's a demon) but even at full power Lady has never been on the same level of power as anyone of Sparda's bloodline. (This was clear even in DMC3) And Trish is stronger then Lady and STILL not on their level of power, Trish seemingly stayed with Nico and Lady as a bodyguard in DMCV,

A better rep, sure, keeping them playable, absolutely. But there is not much they could have done in the story to this game, Urizen would have killed them without trouble.

[Andy_Dee]

Yeah the don't need to be the main characters! I have followed the whole Devil May Cry series, even watched the Animé! I can honestly say I have followed all of this because of one, my favorite! DANTE! He is the single reason I played DMC 4 and now 5. I have no interest en NERO either, don't know why, he just doesn't fit me. I like Lady and Trish as much as the next guy but they do not simply have to be main characters to fix them or make them valid... Stupid article really.. Don't fix what ain't broken.

[SoulClaw]

Please shut the fuck up with the female bullshit nonsense political agenda.

let them make the games how they intend them to be and go fuck yourself with your female-bullshit agenda

the main characters are Dante, Nero.....DEAL WITH IT.

You want a Woman? Play Bayonetta and stfu.

Really, People like you are the cancer that are on the same level as the people that ruined Star Wars The Last Jedi with their out of propotion female intoxication that was just fucking useless.

[Dragonscale]

Just no fgs.

[DrumBeat]

I can tell what this is about. No need to read. Snivelry. Nonsense. The game is just fucking fine. My GOD, there's always something to pick at.

[Inzo]

No it doesnt.

[Valkron1]

What if it’s a dude that identifies as a chick?

[Juusterey]

They don't "need" to do anything

[staticall]

Kind of getting too tired of all this «i know better what you need than you do» and «let's change something that works perfectly well to something that I WANT!!!» types of articles.

Devil May Cry is awesome as it is, stop trying to force changes to things, so they'll match your twisted world view. You're not a center of the universe, your views are not the only, right and correct ones, your ideas are not my ideas and not gamers ideas, your «outrage» is out of place.

In before responses, no, i will be against changing and/or replacing characters like Bayonetta to other races, sex and so on. You want to play as female character instead of male character? Use mods, problem solved.

[AngelicToucH]

Erm no it doesn't...please stop with this SJW bs.

[Angyobangyo]

How about no! This more pandering for the sake of it rather than a necessity. Yes, they can have more presence in future games but not front and centre. I play DMC for Dante primarily, Nero and others are nice additions as the series progressed, they can do the same for female characters but don’t act like they are owed more because they’re female.

[Nicaragua]

Sure, just like some dude need to be front and center in Bayonetta and Tomb Raider

[garos82]

I disagree. It should put a muslim black paraplegic lesbian front and cover that identifies as garden hoe in order to reach peak justice

[garos82]

Yaas slay Queen. They should also rename it to "No woman fems cry".

[KyoSiegfried86]

More Trish and Lady? Ok, I agree, in fact they're present in DMC5 but they are not really needed plot-wise, while in DMC1 Trish was important, in 3 Lady was important. Trish and Lady leading characters? No.

[bluefox755]

Why? Cause vagina? Making female characters for the sake of making female characters always ends up with terribly written characters, and there are so few exceptions. They do exist though, I recently started Tales of Beseria, and so far I'm loving Velvet.

[wwinterj]

That headline is simply wrong. I would like Trish, Lady and Lucia(I want her back) to be involved in the story more but the series doesn't and never has needed to focus on them. I assume Trish and Lady will be playable in the inevitable special edition too.

[Lord_Sloth]

Why? Just make them playable at least and toss Lucia into the mix and I'll be happy.

[carcarias]

No, it doesn't 'need' to at all.

If the developers fancy doing that, and it makes sense to their creative vision the great...but there's no 'need' about it.

This is a game, a piece of entertainment, not a government initiative.

[Acecalibur]

Perhaps, but DANTE should be FRONT and CENTER.

[Samus707]

2019: Replace all men with women. Equality!

[Dizzy11523]

Well....play Bayonetta.

[ThunderGod_Cid]

A DMC game with a female lead? Yeah, they already did that, it was called Bayonetta. There’s already two games in that series, and a third on the way.

[sKiiTs8]

wrong game m8, if u want a female lead just play HZD. i personally dont play games for the gender of the lead

[CaitSith]

That's because you're sensible.

[Heavenly King]

It would be an Spinoff then. Devil may Cry is about the SONS of Sparda. Deal with it.

[Bluemaster77]

Nah

[SinisterKieran]

no it doesn't

[FernDiggidy]

Yeah, and Tomb Raider should be Larry Croft, and Bayonetta needs to have a male lead. Go home you SJW twat.

[RyanShutup]

Sure... as long as Rodin from Bayonetta is front and center in Bayo3. Deal? See how stupid that sounds!?

[DrShoe]

Lol, no! 😂

[DrShoe]

They could make a female-centric Devil May Cry game, but once you go woke, you always go broke.

[Ninjamonkey82]

rename it bayonetta while your at it :/

[Spenok]

No it doesn't.

[Kaze88]

What? They are not the main characters of DMC. Just make another game with new characters. If you want DMC kind of game with female lead, just buy Bayonetta. it's awesome and sexy as fk!

[saimcheeda]

It doesn't "Need" to be anything. It's a gaming series, it can be anything the developers want

[Shikoku]

Not this crap again

[dragonrage00]

If the gender of the lead is so important, go play Bayonetta, for fucks sake. So we have a fantastic character action franchise, from the same creator of DMC, with pretty much a female take on Dante as the lead, and you still want to change devil may cry? Get out of here.
DMC almost died from trying to "westernize" it. Here's hoping capcom doesn't make the same mistake of trying to cater to people that don't really care about their games to begin with.

[BadElf]

Would work if they had some sex appeal...showed a nip here and there.

But nah...you cant do that today!

[frostypants]

I wish people would use the phrase "I'd prefer" or "I'd like" or similar, as opposed to "needs". A creative work doesn't have "needs" outside of the wishes of the creators. It also makes the statement needlessly far more contentious, by many orders of magnitude. Which is clearly the point here I guess: clickbait.

"I'd like the next game to [insert creative judgement]" is a rational statement and inviting a reasonable conversation. "It NEEDS to [insert creative judgement]" is a trollish demand.

[Shinox]

Considering how Trish looked like Mia from RE7 and how butchered LADY design ( she's no longer Yulia volkova inspired ) , no ma'am i don't want none regardless what your motives is .. i want my DMC3 Trish + Lady back but not like this ,

[blacktiger]

NOPE! it doesn't have to, THAT GOES FOR MEN as well. So STFU
Instead replace it with bots so we can shut those who complain.,

[lipton101]

I say, why not?

But with a caveat; as long as it best serves the story.

There’s too much art nowadays that exists solely to pander to what they think society wants. I just want a good story. I don’t care if the character is XYZ demographics, if the story and gameplay are good, I’ll play it. But those attributes should be supporting details secondary to the conflict and plot at hand.

[VR-4nic]

What a joke! Yeah more SJ politics is all we need in more games after BF5’s garbage. If it’s a good game I could careless if the main protagonists is a male or female but if the developers politics are in the game I’m not buying it!

[HaVoK308]

Fake wokeness. Isn’t it grand.

[MidnightMay0r]

Nope Dante

[howiewowwee]

Front and center of what? If they are good characters in a video game then they will stand out regardless of their sex. Front ,center or any which way.

[ReVibe]

No, no it doesn't :D

[pinkcrocodile75]

The next game needs to do nothing of the sort.

Third wave feminism, just like your morning dump, should be flushed and forgotten.

The media and feminists have forgotten that 93% of the population don't give a f@ck about feminism.

[Mainman187]

Agreed. And they have to be nude.

[TheGamez100]

Ugh one of "these" articles. They dont have as much screen time probably because they arent the playable main characters? Thats where bayonetta comes in. Lol but you never see anyone complaining about there not being any male leads in games with only female.

[skwidd]

bla bla bla

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

If it's to focus on their backstories in relation to Sparda, Dante, and the ongoing conflict, then sure.
Spare a section to let us play as them. Maybe a secondary mode, even.
So long as they aren't the sole main focus of the game, that's fine.

But if it's because "waaah, mah wahmun, mah repwesentation, mah incwusivityyyy!!", then no.
Get shredded like the rest of the demons.