History VideoGame / DevilsThird

''Devil's Third'' is a third-person action game for the [[UsefulNotes/WiiU Wii U]] developed by Valhalla Game Studios. The game is the brainchild of Tomonobu Itagaki, the outspoken director of franchises such as ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''. The game released on August 4th, 2015 in Japan, August 28th in Europe, and December 11th in North America.

Check out the E3 2014 trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yTldFe2m-A here]] and the launch trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCWQXxqbIbA here]].

Following a long {{troubled production}} that took the title from an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 exclusive, to a multiplatform game, and finally to a Creator/{{Nintendo}} exclusive, the game received mixed reception from critics and players alike upon its release. Reception was particularly negative in the West, with reviews noting several issues such as mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, poor controls, and manipulative use of microtransactions in online play. This wasn't aided by Nintendo of America's reluctance to publish the game in that region due to its (lack of) quality, with the title being removed from the American eShop's "Coming Soon" section and its absence at E3 2015. However, backlash eventually pushed them to publish the title, albeit in limited quantities.[[note]]Retail copies were exclusive to [=GameStop=], with the chain only receiving 420 copies for ''the entire United States''. As a side note, even the Japan retail release was exclusive to Amazon.[[/note]] Shortly after the game's release, it was announced that the multiplayer servers would be shut down in all regions at the end of 2016, due to poor sales.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames shut down]] in March 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'' ([[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]]), released in June 2018... only to have [[RuleOfThree its own servers shut down a few months later]].

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Ivan's sword is capable of cutting foes clean through, regardless of how much muscle or bone structure is in the way...

* EqualOpportunityEvil: [=SOD=] is led by a Russian general of Japanese descent who appears culturally Japanese-American, and its officers include a Latino-American cowboy, an African man who admires Gurkha culture and has a British accent, a woman who looks like Amy Winehouse and adopts Japanese cultural affects, and two Eastern European blonde women. In fact the gender ratio of the group's leadership is an even 50[=/=]50 split. Most of the basic mooks are men, though one class of EliteMooks is [[AmazonBrigade entirely female.]]

* GiantMook[=/=]HeavilyArmoredMook: Large enemies wearing a heavy metal suit of what looks like PoweredArmor fulfill this role. They can soak a lot of damage and fight with either heavy weapons (most commonly miniguns) or heavy two-handed battleaxes.

* {{Gorn}}: Very similar to the presentation in ''Ninja Gaiden'' (Xbox series). Using your sword eviscerates your enemies every which way with liberal sprays of blood.

* TheHeroDoesntKillTheVillainess: [[spoiler:The School of Democracy's leadership [[GenderEqualEnsemble consists of three men and three women]]. While all of the men are killed by Ivan, the women manage to survive; [=C4=] pulls a HeelFaceTurn, Ivan spares Jane Doe but leaves her blind, and Ludmila survives the explosions in the control center through dumb luck.]]

* MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial: The vast majority of SOD is male, except for the unit with [[InvisibilityCloak optical camouflage]] which is all female. In addition, of the SOD leadership, [[spoiler: all 3 men die while the 3 women survive. In detail, C4 pulls a HeelFaceTurn, Ivan spares Jane Doe (though not without a price; see EyeScream above), and Ludmila also survives although this is more down to luck than anything else, as Ivan definitely meant to kill her but the explosions in the control center gave her a chance to escape.]]

* OffScreenVillainDarkMatter: A couple of times, Delta team [[LampshadeHanging expresses amazement]] that SOD has such a high number of personnel and wonder where they're getting their men from.

* ScaryBlackMan: Grundhla Saha, tall, fast, muscular and WakeupCallBoss.
* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: Exaggerated to the degree of high fantasy. The two "evil" female members of [=SOD=] wear what's essentially lingerie into combat (though the transparent catsuit one of them wears seems to be inspired by the stealth suit worn by Major Makoto in the original ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' movie), while the two "good" female characters (a non-evil member of [=SOD=] and a U.S. intelligence officer) both dress like actual soldiers. Granted, Ivan and the other male high-ranking members of [=SOD=] also wear barely any clothing into combat.
* ShownTheirWork: Two-thirds of the game takes place on a place called "Braat Island." While the island itself is fictional, it is based off of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands Kuril Islands]] and has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenium Rhenium]] plant on it. The Kuril Islands are one of the very few places on Earth where [[{{Unobtainium}} Rhenium]] is mined, and this is one major reason why there has been a long-time territorial dispute over the islands between Japan & Russia.

** There's a lot of background text that's in very good English, Russian, and so on that's location appropriate. Unfortunately, this makes some of the sillier Japanese all the more noticible. Case in point, Ivan's SuperMode being named Embaku[[note]]oat[[/note]] creates the image of Ivan being [[CerealInducedSuperpowers powered by a healthy breakfast]].
* TheStinger: During the credits there's a ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''-style phone call revealing that [[spoiler: Ludmila survived, and the President of the United States was seemingly the real mastermind behind [=SOD=]'s rampage.]]

* TattooedCrook: Ivan's body is heavily inked with Sanskrit characters, spelling out various Buddhist scriptures. Apparently his design takes cues from an old Japanese folktale named "Hoichi the Earless". According to the loading screen, [[PowerTattoo they contain magnetic materiel that react to "Embaku"]], meaning they glow upon activating the SuperMode.

* TwentyMinutesInTheFuture: The game appears to take place in a time after artificial satellites orbiting the Earth have smashed into each other and come crashing to the surface. The world can no longer rely on things like GPS and the conditions of warfare have had to change accordingly.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ivan never wears anything more than a gun-belt on his chest. Saha likewise goes around shirtless, while Big Mouse is bare-chested underneath his leisure suit and General Kumaro also goes shirtless to fight Ivan. In fact, the only member of [=SOD=]'s leadership, male ''or'' female, that actually fights while wearing sensible clothing is C4.
* WarfareRegression: The game opens with Russian military satellites self-destructing, and the ensuing debris wipes out a third of the United States' own satellites which also causes a worldwide EMP. This cripples much of America's military. During the raid on the Braat Cosmodrome, the U.S. is forced to [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece use World War II era warbirds and aircraft carriers]] while the Cosmodrome defenders use flak cannons as their main AntiAir weapons. Major Meynard and Ivan also have to fly to the Cosmodrome using [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2 an Il-2]] when their helicopter is destroyed.
* WorldOfHam: To be expected from the man that brought you ''Dead or Alive'' and the modern ''Ninja Gaiden''.

** There's a lot of background text that's in [[SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage very good English, Russian, and so on]] that's location appropriate. Unfortunately, this makes some of the sillier Japanese all the more noticible. Case in point, Ivan's SuperMode being named Embaku[[note]]oat[[/note]] creates the image of Ivan being [[CerealInducedSuperpowers powered by a healthy breakfast]].

* TheMusketeer: Ivan is skilled with guns and his WeaponOfChoice is a katana, though he can also use [[MultiMeleeMaster a wide variety of other melee weapons.]] Some of the EliteMooks also readily switch between guns and melee weapons.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: You can throw all the melee weapons you use, even swords. This is taken UpToEleven with one of the finishing animations for the cyber-ninjas, where Ivan knocks their sword out of their hand, [[CatchAndReturn catches it, and throws it through them.]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Then uses his katana to behead them.]]

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Bob, the leader of the U.S. special forces MauveShirt soldiers that help Ivan out throughout the game is both bald and black.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Bob, the leader of the U.S. special forces MauveShirt soldiers that help Ivan out throughout the game.
* BaldOfAwesome: Ivan's got a clean-shaven head.

Players take the role of a lone wolf special operations soldier known as "Ivan". The setting of the game takes place after a catastrophic event called the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome "Kessler Effect]]" has come to pass, stripping the world of satellite communication and causing changes in both greater civilization and warfare in order to adapt to the technological regression.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also shut down in March 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'' ([[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]]), released in June 2018... only to have [[RuleOfThree its own servers shut down a few months later]].

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also shut down in March 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'' ([[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]]), released in June 2018... only to have its won servers shut down [[https://steamcommunity.com/app/653120/discussions/0/1738841319820137852/ a few months later]].

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also shut down in March 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'' ([[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]]), released in June 2018.

Players take the role of a lone wolf special operations soldier known as "Ivan". The setting of the game takes place after a catastrophic event called the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome "Kessler Effect]]" has come to pass, stripping the world of satellite communication and causing changes in both greater civilization and warfare in order to adapt to this dramatic shift in technological deficiency.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also shut down in early 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'' ([[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]]), released in June 2018.

Following a long {{troubled production}} that took the title from an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 exclusive to be published by Microsoft Game Studios, to a multiplatform game intended to be published by Creator/{{THQ}}, and finally to a Creator/{{Nintendo}} exclusive, the game received mixed reception from critics and players alike upon its release. Reception was particularly negative in the West, with reviews noting several issues such as mediocre graphics, inconsistent framerate, poor controls, and manipulative use of microtransactions in online play. This wasn't aided by Nintendo of America's reluctance to publish the game in that region due to its (lack of) quality, with the title being removed from the American eShop's "Coming Soon" section and its absence at E3 2015. However, backlash eventually pushed them to publish the title, albeit in limited quantities.[[note]]Retail copies were exclusive to [=GameStop=], with the chain only receiving 420 copies for ''the entire United States''. As a side note, even the Japan retail release was exclusive to Amazon.[[/note]] Shortly after the game's release, it was announced that the multiplayer servers would be shut down in all regions at the end of 2016, due to poor sales.

The game's online multiplayer mode was released on PC in Japan as the standalone ''Devil's Third Online'' in June 2016, with new features such as voice chat, but this was also shut down in early 2017. However, the multiplayer mode received a {{spiritual successor}} in the form of the free-to-play game ''[=RockShot=]'', [[http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/18/rockshot-f2p-shooter-looks-like-spiritual-successor-devils-third-online/ developed by the same studio]], the following year.