It is the fourth installment in the Devil May Cry series and is written by Bingo Morihashi and directed by Hideaki Itsuno.

The story follows Nero, a young man possessing demonic powers who is on a mission to stop the series' main character, Dante, after he assassinates the leader of the Order of the Sword.

A remastered version of the game was released in June 2015 as Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition which adds both English and Japanese voice tracks, improved visual effects and textures, in-game re-balancing, additional costumes, and three bonus playable characters: Vergil, Lady and Trish.

[2] The Devil Trigger is a super state that enables the player to become more powerful adding a slow but steady health regeneration, with increased damage done.

[2] Some changes introduced in Devil May Cry 4 are the presence of two playable characters, Dante and Nero, and a slight modification to the shop system.

The Devil Bringer may also be used for context-sensitive throw attacks, leading to high damage and various effects depending on the enemy.

Nero's Devil Bringer also gains new abilities during the game, including being able to detect secret missions or caches of Red Orbs.

At the same time, an army of demons invade the city, putting everyone, including Nero's love interest Kyrie, in danger.

As Nero sets his sights on The Order, he discovers to his dismay that Credo is part of the conspiracy, until he ends up being deceived as well when they witness Kyrie being kidnapped by Sanctus.

He intends to use a creature known as Savior to defeat the demon army he's created, as a means of strengthening the people's worship of Sparda.

[8] Dante arrives with Trish, who was revealed to be a spy within The Order, and makes a promise to the dying Credo to save Nero and Kyrie.

[18] Fearing negative feedback, as happened when Konami's stealth game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty introduced a new character, replacing protagonist Solid Snake with newcomer Raiden, producer Kobayashi said Capcom aimed to make Nero fun to play like Dante and intended to make him stronger at some point.

He said that this was the first PlayStation 3 game developed by Capcom, and making this transition was a "hard step", particularly because no member of the production team was familiar with the console's capabilities.

[25] Capcom justified the game's multi-platform crossover by emphasizing the Xbox 360's success in the North American and European markets, labeling the move as "natural".

[27] Despite Capcom having already used the MT Framework to create two Xbox 360 games-Dead Rising and Lost Planet, the team found difficulties with this engine.

[30] During production, new gameplay options were implemented to "keep up with fresh action games"; among these is the Devil Bringer's ability to bring enemies towards the characters.

[32] Producer Hiroyuki Kobashi noted before the game's release they wanted to make Dante seem significantly more powerful than Nero.

While Devil May Cry 4 is a simple story similar to Hollywood movies involving a damsel in distress, the staff were satisfied with it because it also carried Morihashi's ideas well.

[35] The Capcom staff created Nero as a new protagonist who would develop across the Devil May Cry series because Dante had become stronger with each game.

He said that Nero's design was one of the biggest challenges he had experienced in his career, because the character had to be accepted by the public and fit in the series' universe.

[39][40] The soundtrack for Devil May Cry 4 was composed by Tetsuya Shibata, Shusaku Uchiyama, Kento Hasegawa, Akihiko Narita, Kota Suzuki, Rei Kondoh, Masayoshi "Chamy" Ishi, Masami Ueda and Shinichiro Sato.

[47] A more substantial trailer was released at that year's Tokyo Game Show, with a more rugged and older Dante in a city-like setting.

[74][66] Despite the similarities between Nero and Dante, IGN still found the new protagonist appealing based on how different his gameplay is from the returning hero's.

[67] When it came to the console version, IGN said fans would enjoy the video game, but might be disappointed that Dante had fewer weapons and missions than he did in Devil May Cry 3.

[67] Hyper's Dirk Watch commended the game for "looking great, combos galore and being more fun than Devil May Cry 3".

1UP.com appreciated the port's exclusive Legendary Dark Knight mode where the character is cornered by multiple enemies in a single battle.

[76] While also appreciating Dark Knight and the Turbo mode that increased the game's speed, IGN said this port was only for hardcore fans of the series since it was not too different from the original console versions.

[80] On February 20, 2008, Capcom's president Haruhiro Tsujimoto announced in a press release that the game shipped two million copies in its first month, making it the fastest selling title in the series.

[85] A two-volume graphic novel adaptation of the game titled Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune was released in 2009 by Capcom.

Director Hideaki Itsuno noted the action system implemented in the game was expanded further in his next title Dragon's Dogma.