Devil May Cry HD Collection

The events of the series begin two millennia before the first game with the demon Sparda, the Black Knight, defeating Demon World ruler Mundus. Sparda stops Mundus from conquering the human world by sealing several Hellgates and Temen-Ni-Gru (the last gate) with a ritual requiring his blood and the aid of a human priestess. Sparda meets Eva, who gives birth to his twin sons Dante and Vergil.

The plot begins with Devil May Cry 3, a year after Dante has a falling-out with Vergil. A large tower erupts from the ground near the shop where Dante works as a mercenary devil hunter and Dante interprets it as a challenge from Vergil. Dante is defeated in Temen-Ni-Gru by Vergil, who takes his locket and leaves with Arkham. Dante's dormant devil power revives him, and he resumes pursuing his brother.

After the completion of Resident Evil 2 in 1998, preliminary work on a PlayStation 2 installment of the Resident Evil series began by Team Little Devil under the direction of Hideki Kamiya. Early research and development included a trip to Spain to examine castles as a basis for the game's environments. Its prototype, however, was a radical departure from the Resident Evil formula and the survival horror genre. Kamiya rewrote the story and changed its premise, drawing from Italian poet Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy for Devil May Cry.

Strider, another Capcom franchise, is cited as a vital influence on the Devil May Cry games and their action, particularly in their inclusion of the "boss rush".

By December 31, 2025, the Devil May Cry series has sold 38 million units worldwide; each installment is a Capcom Platinum Title, selling over a million units. As of December 31, 2024, Devil May Cry 5 is the best-selling game in the series having sold approximately 10 million units worldwide through the combined sales of the Standard and Special Edition .

The series has received generally positive reviews. In 2010, IGN ranked Devil May Cry number 42 and Devil May Cry 3 number 18 on its "Top 100 PlayStation 2 Games" list. The series' gameplay has been praised as innovative. Devil May Cry has been cited as beginning a subgenre of "extreme combat" action games, which focus on powerful heroes fighting hordes of foes with stylized action.