What order do the Devil May Cry games go in?

Play them in release order. The story runs 3, 1, 2, 4, 5.

Devil May Cry is a prequel-led series, so the two orders disagree. By release: Devil May Cry (2001), Devil May Cry 2 (2003), Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (2005) and its Special Edition (2006), Devil May Cry 4 (2008), DmC: Devil May Cry (2013) and Devil May Cry 5 (2019), with HD Collections in 2012 and 2018 gathering the first three. Release order is the order the mechanics evolve in, and the order this Library recommends for a first playthrough.

By story, the third game is first: a young Dante, his shop newly opened, his brother alive. Then the 2001 original, then the 2007 anime, then Devil May Cry 2, then 4, then 5. One wrinkle is worth knowing: for a decade the official timeline placed Devil May Cry 4 before Devil May Cry 2, and Devil May Cry 5's release quietly reversed them, putting 2's older, silent Dante back where his age says he belongs. DmC stands outside both lists: an alternate universe, well reviewed, and left as a branch rather than a trunk.

STORY ORDER

The chronology on one shelf

1 · Devil May Cry 3 (2005)

The beginning: the brothers' falling out, the Temen-ni-gru, and the day Dante chose the name Devil May Cry, from Lady's words for a devil with a loving heart.

2 · Devil May Cry (2001)

Mallet Island. Trish arrives with Mundus's return, and Dante meets what Mundus made of Vergil.

3 · The anime, then Devil May Cry 2

The 2007 series fills the working years. Devil May Cry 2 follows, Dante at his oldest and quietest in the main timeline's middle, riding into the Demon World and leaving Lucia a two-headed coin.

4 · Devil May Cry 4 and 5

Nero's story opens the modern era: the Order of the Sword, the Yamato changing hands, and then Devil May Cry 5, where the family's whole history, including Nero's parentage, comes due.

THE ODD ONES OUT

Off the main shelf

The mobile years

Japan received feature-phone Devil May Cry games in 2003, 2007 and 2008, including a shooter, Deadshot, and a side-scrolling beat 'em up. Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat, a mobile game built on the third game's world, launched globally in 2024. None of them move the timeline.

What came after 3 The anime The history of the series

What order do the Devil May Cry games go in?

STORY ORDER

THE ODD ONES OUT

THE FIRST WORD