i’m SO glad you asked about this because i was probably going to make a whole separate post about this anyway but i gotta be so honest. i typed a long ass reply to this and then tumblr crashed and deleted all of it so i’m going to try to keep this one kind of brief LMAO.
(also just fyi i kind of hate comparing the reboot and the og games just because i feel like i have to enjoy the reboot as it’s Own Thing and not as a dmc game, but for the purpose of talking about this i’m going to compare them.)
the one thing i feel like the reboot did INCREDIBLY well was making Vergil’s “fall” feel like a genuine loss. in the og games, the love is definitely there, but it’s on the outside of the story almost. the twins don’t talk about it, and it’s kind of up to us to uncover that love through subtext (or through V in 5). when we meet Vergil and Dante in the og games, they’re already at odds with each other, there’s already a disconnect between them, they’ve already come to terms with the fact that, someday, one of them is going to kill the other one (even if this isn’t true in the end). they’ve already mourned that, and we’re seeing the aftermath, which is heart-wrenching in its own way, of course.
but in the reboot, the twins are friends. they’re on the same team, they have the same goal, they work together, they fight together, they bicker like siblings and they have silly, meaningless conversations. we’re seeing them before the fall out, and even during the fall out there’s still love that’s the center of the conversation: “don’t do this” and “i’m sorry, brother”/“don’t be” and “it’s not too late”/“yes it is” and “i loved you, brother” and “Dante betrayed me, there’s nothing left for me here.” like, og Vergil definitely loves Dante, but reVergil says it. and he shows it. and it makes the eventual fight between them feel so much heavier, because these two weren’t supposed to fight!! they were never supposed to raise their weapons against each other!! and it’s painful!!
and don’t even get me started on how the reboot frames physical touch between the twins:
^^ this is literally the antithesis of the scene in 3 where Vergil cuts Dante’s palm to reject him. reVergil ends up rejecting Dante by letting go, while Dante seems like he wants to hold on a bit longer, and it makes me a little insane.
i also really like how in the dlc, Dante’s “betrayal” is framed as Vergil losing his heart:
which. could mean nothing.
anyway. if the love is on the outside of the og games, the love is the Main Theme of the reboot, and i feel normal about it!! it doesn’t make me crazy at all!!
