As a new console generation dawns, Capcom's Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition arrives in November 2020 carrying both the promise of technical refinement and a quiet reminder that not all next-gen experiences are created equal. The game's staggered rollout — enhanced visuals and gameplay now, the beloved rival Vergil later — reflects an industry learning to sustain engagement across a crowded holiday season. Most tellingly, the absence of ray tracing on the Xbox Series S marks one of the first honest admissions that the new generation contains multitudes: an entry point and a flagship, sharing a
Devil May Cry 5 SE launches November 2020; Vergil DLC coming December 15
A signal that developers are already making hardware-specific choices
Why does ray tracing matter enough to exclude it from one console but not the other?
Ray tracing is computationally expensive—it's asking the GPU to simulate how light bounces around a scene in real time. The Series X can handle it; the Series S can't without sacrificing frame rate or resolution. Capcom chose to keep the Series S version running smoothly instead.
So Series S players are getting a lesser experience?
Lesser in one specific visual dimension, yes. But they're still getting 120 fps, which is something the original PS4 version never offered. It's a trade-off, not a punishment.
Why announce the Vergil DLC date before the game even launches?
It keeps people talking about the game beyond launch day. You buy in November, you know there's new content coming in December. It extends the conversation.
The pre-order bonus is 100,000 Red Orbs. Is that significant?
It's enough to buy a few upgrades early on, maybe skip some grinding. Not game-breaking, but it rewards people who commit before they've played it.
What does this say about how publishers see the Series S?
That it's a real platform worth supporting, but with realistic expectations about what it can do. They're not abandoning it; they're being honest about its limits.
Le Pouls
- Capcom enters the next-gen era with a known quantity, betting that a beloved action franchise can carry the weight of a console launch window.
- The pre-order window closes November 18, creating a narrow incentive for early adopters willing to commit before the hardware is even in their hands.
- Vergil's December 15 arrival — priced at just $4.99 — is a calculated drip of content designed to keep players engaged well past launch day excitement.
- Xbox Series X owners gain ray tracing via a post-launch update, while Series S owners are quietly left outside that particular visual frontier.
- The Series S exclusion is not a crisis but a signal — developers are already making hardware-specific trade-offs, and this is only the beginning of that conversation.
As a new console generation dawns, Capcom's Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition arrives in November 2020 carrying both the promise of technical refinement and a quiet reminder that not all next-gen experiences are created equal. The game's staggered rollout — enhanced visuals and gameplay now, the beloved rival Vergil later — reflects an industry learning to sustain engagement across a crowded holiday season. Most tellingly, the absence of ray tracing on the Xbox Series S marks one of the first honest admissions that the new generation contains multitudes: an entry point and a flagship, sharing a name but not the same horizon.
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition arrives on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2020, bringing Capcom's flagship action franchise into the new console generation with a suite of technical upgrades: up to 120 frames per second, enhanced 3D audio, faster load times, and returning fan-favorite modes like Legendary Dark Knight and Turbo Mode. Players who pre-order before November 18 receive 100,000 Red Orbs — modest in-game currency that proves more useful over a full playthrough than at first glance.
Vergil, the silver-haired rival central to Devil May Cry 3's legacy, joins as playable DLC on December 15 for $4.99. His integration spans Story Missions, The Void, and Bloody Palace, and his staggered arrival follows a now-familiar industry rhythm — keeping players invested through the holiday season rather than delivering everything at once.
The most consequential detail, however, concerns ray tracing. Xbox Series X will receive it through a downloadable update, rendering the game in 4K with DirectX ray tracing enabled. Xbox Series S — Microsoft's more affordable, less powerful console — will not support ray tracing at all. It is one of the first clear technical splits between the two machines in a major third-party release, and it quietly defines what each console is: the Series X as a full next-gen showcase, the Series S as a capable but bounded entry point. For players, the gameplay remains intact on both; only the light behaves differently.
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2020, marking Capcom's entry into the new console generation with one of its flagship action franchises. The announcement arrived with a handful of specifics that matter to different players in different ways: pre-order bonuses, DLC timing, and a notable hardware caveat that splits the Xbox audience.
Anyone placing a pre-order before November 18 will receive 100,000 Red Orbs—the in-game currency that lets players purchase upgrades and items. It's a modest incentive, the kind of thing that accumulates value over a playthrough rather than feeling like a game-changer on day one. The game itself will run at up to 120 frames per second across all three platforms, with enhanced 3D audio and significantly faster load times than the original PlayStation 4 version. Capcom is also including the Legendary Dark Knight difficulty mode and Turbo Mode, features that appeal to veterans looking for fresh challenges.
Vergil, the silver-haired antagonist from Devil May Cry 3, will arrive as playable DLC on December 15, 2020, priced at $4.99. He'll be fully integrated into the game's major modes—Story Missions, The Void (a training ground), and Bloody Palace (an endurance gauntlet). The timing puts him a few weeks after launch, a staggered release that's become standard practice for fighting-game-adjacent titles looking to maintain player engagement through the holiday season.
The more interesting detail concerns ray tracing, the rendering technique that simulates realistic light behavior and has become a marquee feature of next-generation gaming. Xbox Series X will support it via a downloadable update, delivering the game in 4K resolution with DirectX ray tracing enabled. Xbox Series S, the cheaper and less powerful sibling in Microsoft's new lineup, will not receive ray tracing support at all. This represents one of the first clear technical differentiations between the two consoles in a major third-party release—a signal that developers are already making hardware-specific choices based on the Series S's reduced processing power.
For players, the distinction is practical: Series X owners get the full visual showcase; Series S owners get a still-impressive experience at high frame rates with all the gameplay features intact, just without the lighting enhancements. It's a preview of how the generation will likely unfold, with the Series S positioned as an entry point to next-gen gaming rather than a full peer to the Series X.
Citations marquantes
Ray tracing will be available as a downloadable title update for Xbox Series X, but Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition will not support ray tracing on Xbox Series S.— Capcom announcement