Devil May Cry 5 on Nintendo Switch 2 is Capcom’s engine at its finest | Gaming | Entertainment

Capcom has been one of the few publishers to take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch 2 this year, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. While Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata showed what Nintendo’s latest most modern handheld is capable of when it comes to brand new titles, Devil May Cry 5 is a shining example of what happens when you give it something a little more long in the tooth.

Despite some familiar foibles that we’ve come to expect with the RE Engine running in a portable manner, Devil May Cry 5 plays beautifully on Nintendo Switch 2 and is more than a worthy way of hosting yet another playthrough this rollercoaster of an action game once again.

Having released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One back in 2019, you’d have thought that the Nintendo Switch 2 would barely break a sweat when it comes to running Devil May Cry 5. And for the most part, you’d be exactly right.

In docked mode, the presentation appears extremely sharp, even with the obvious DLSS upscaling that’s going on to get it displaying at 4K. The internal resolution might be a fair bit lower, but you’d barely know it when engaging in the fast paced, fluid gameplay.

It feels so fluid because, in all my testing, I couldn’t once get the frame rate to budge from 60fps. Capcom appears to have found the perfect balance of settings that keeps the frame rate dead-locked to 60 with no amount of enemies, particle effects or else to make the Switch 2 break a sweat.

That impressive performance translates to handheld mode, too. The 60fps target continues with you while on the go, albeit with a few more graphical concessions.

A lower internal resolution does become clear when playing in handheld mode with more visible blurring around edges – particularly with some character’s hair. But for a game that’s running on battery power alone, it’s still an impressive feat, and I never felt like I was playing an inferior version of Devil May Cry 5 for it.

In terms of gameplay, DMC 5 still holds extremely well in 2026. Swapping between its three protagonists keeps you on your toes, each delivering a delightful new take on the action combat gameplay.

Chaining together attack combos and ranged pistol shots as Nero quickly hooks you in, with his various Devil Trigger abilities allowing you to switch up your combat strategy at regular intervals. I’m not usually someone who enjoys going for high scores, but the flashy Style meter that rates every combat encounter constantly had me looking for new ways to jazz up my approach each time.

In a world where open world games seem to be ten-a-penny, I particularly enjoyed playing through something more linear with the occasional secret to find tucked away in the corners. The dilapidated, post-apocalyptic London is still a treat for the eyes with its drab architecture punctuated by demonic tendrils and occasional neon signage.

Devil May Cry 5 comes with almost everything Capcom has released for the game over the last few years. That includes the ability to play through the entire game as Vergil, which can be approached as a sort of ‘New Game Plus’.

However, the port is most notably lacking the Legendary Dark Knight Mode that saw our protagonists face off against massive hordes of enemies. I’m assuming that this mode was cut due to performance limitations as it was also missing from the original versions on PS4 and Xbox One.

As such, Devil May Cry 5 isn’t quite the complete package I’d like it to be on Nintendo Switch 2, so it might not be an easy sell for dedicated fans of the series. However, if you’ve never played the game before or just want a way to take the main story on the go, then once again, Capcom strikes a pretty clear home run with its latest RE Engine game on Switch 2.

4/5

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2. Code provided by the publisher.