Devil's Third

While the camera is usually set to follow Ivan, the player character, the camera shifts into a first person perspective when aiming. Unlike many modern third-person shooters, it does not adopt an over-the-shoulder approach, instead opting for a more traditional camera that is directly behind the character, save for when ducking behind cover. Melee combat consists of chaining together a series of attacks, often followed with a cinematic takedown. In addition, melee weapons can be swapped, thrown at enemies, and stolen mid-counter.

It features online play and a means of reshaping the battlefield via a sort of level editor. It features three types of progression currency: Clan Funds, Dollen, and Golden Eggs. Among choosing sides in game modes, there is a third side known as the "Free Entry" option, which is said to be the option that would appeal to the Lone Wolf type of player. It is not clear as to what this actually does, but it is implied that "Free Entry" players fight as a third force that does not contribute to either team. On December 29, 2016, at 1PM Japan Standard Time, Nintendo shut down the servers for the Wii U version of Devil's Third.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia agrees to enter into an economic treaty with the United States and Japan, which allows all three countries to maintain joint control over a group of islands off the Russian coastline - the fictional Braat Islands - with the countries becoming involved in the mining of rhenium, a mineral that is found to have strong properties and creating an alloy that can strengthen mechanized divisions of each country's army. Several years after the treaty is signed, Isaac Kumano, a former Soviet officer who now leads a terrorist outfit called the School of Democracy (SOD), utilizes an unknown Russian facility on the Braat Islands to activate the self-destruct codes of several former Soviet satellites. The resulting detonation not only creates a Kessler syndrome theory effect that takes out every satellite in orbit, but also causes an EMP blast that knocks out all of Earth's electronics, causing chaos, war, and anarchy which leads to several governments collapsing.

In Guantanamo Bay, former SOD member Ivan, serving time for his involvement with the group, is offered his freedom by US Intelligence director Charles Caraway in exchange for his help in combatting SOD. After escaping the anarchy that befell his prison, Ivan discovers that much of the world is now relying on old-fashioned technology from the early 20th century. Caraway provides Ivan assistance in the form of USAF Major Stella Maynard, and tasks him with assisting US forces in preventing SOD from shutting down the Panama Canal, as they begin using chemical weapons. Despite his best efforts, SOD manages to have the canal shut down, which causes the US navy to be paralysed following the shut down of the Suez Canal. Using a specialized tracking bullet, SOD is found to be in control of the Braat Islands, leading Ivan to be transported there to investigate further.

Devil's Third was the first video game produced by Valhalla Game Studios, a company founded in 2008 by former Tecmo staff including Tomonobu Itagaki. The game was slated to be a departure from Itagaki's previous genres, hack and slash and fighting games.

Devil's Third began life as an intended Xbox 360 exclusive to be published by Microsoft Game Studios. After the partnership fell through, Itagaki met with Danny Bilson, then employed at THQ, who would share his vision of the title and agreed to publish it for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. However, THQ would eventually be forced to drop publishing for the title following their bankruptcy in 2013, leaving Valhalla Game Studios without a partner to release the game with. Unlike other THQ intellectual property, which was sold to other publishers, the rights to Devil's Third were given back to Valhalla Game Studios. Despite the bankruptcy of THQ, Danny Bilson continued to act as a creative consultant on the title "until the very end".

Early previews for the single player campaign were mixed, with most complaints being the game's poor graphics, heavily inconsistent framerate, stiff aiming, and input lag. Despite negative reception, designer Itagaki thought that the game would be a "breakthrough for the industry", and that it would elevate the genre to a new level.

The game received an aggregated score of 43/100 on review aggregator website Metacritic based on 54 reviews. Overall, praise was given to the game's design, gameplay and multiplayer elements, while most panned the game's campaign, controls, graphics, and inconsistent framerate. Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 33/40, with four individual reviewers scoring it 8, 9, 8 and 8 out of 10. Since the game was exclusive to Amazon in Japan, sales were not available for tracking, but the game received a mostly positive reception from users.