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Play the 1 first to see how the series started, then play the 3rd to appreciate how it evolved. Trying the 2 beforehand might kill your will to play the rest.

MUST READ BEFORE PLAYING

Change resolution to 1280*720 to prevent slowdowns / cutscene desync. Even solid setups struggle on default settings, especially on DMC3
Uninstalling deletes save files. Backup them before doing so (check online)
"Just good enough" ports. Keyboard input is properly supported and customizable, and I didn't feel restricted by WASD movement, although the rare platforming moments took me a couple tries.
Several issues, no patches, but if you read the above, it should be all good.


Why the 3rd is still a huge game in 2023

Story
• Cutscenes talk by themselves, exposing the story without killing the momentum, doing a great job at keeping tension up and delivering stupidly cool scenes.
• As always in the series, the world is absurd, but coherent in its absurdity. Dante keeps doing sick moves, but everything does as well, so it just feels normal.
• Lady is neither a fan service character nor a hyper-dominant figure, and they did a really good job at making her involved in the story.
• V E R G I L

Gameplay

Accessibility
DMC3 has both a very high skill ceiling and a very low entry level.
Despite the combat depth, one can beat every mission by spamming the same couple moves if that's how they like it.
The starting weapons are very beginner-friendly :
• Pistols allow to "glide" mid-air, making jumps a lot more forgiving when you're not used to the timing
• The sword is an excellent all-rounder : wide range, dash attack, projectile, launcher, and can learn the double-jump.
The series also include tutorials in short secret missions, where newbies learn they can jump on enemies, slide on some, master a flying ability, etc.

Stylish rank
Every successful action fills the "style gauge", yielding various rewards (buffs some attacks, more drops, mission score). This includes landing attacks, but also things like blocking or taunt.
Style gauge doesn't reward that much neither, so I really didn't feel like I was missing out by ignoring it back when I was first getting used to the game.
Once cast, an action won't yield stylish points for the next couple seconds, and the style gauge goes down when it doesn't increase.
This turns the combat from "spam the 3 best attacks" to "throw every different move you have, and keep in mind how long since you last cast them", a very efficient way to encourage the player to exploit the entirety of their arsenal.
Pair that with having to deal with multiple varied enemies and you got an extremely solid combat basis in term of variation and replayability.

While stylish gauge has always been part of the series, DMC3 added more style ranks and a display of the actual gauge value, now allowing the player to see whether and how much their move provide style points, but also giving the urge to use a different move when the little bar starts going down.

Loadout
Dante can bring 2 firearms and 2 "main" weapons among 10 total, and switch between them mid-fight.
Each weapon has a different element affecting specific enemies, encouraging the player to try weapons they're not familiar with. They also have their unique moveset, all offering specific options among :
• Big hitboxes
• Persistent hitboxes (traps enemies that get too close before they can attack)
• Launchers (throws enemies in air)
• Attacks that make dante fall quickly
• Attacks that don't make him fall (better for air combos)
• Knockback
• Big raw damage
• Double jump (can only be unlocked on some weapons)
• Forward-moving attacks
• Projectiles

Devil trigger
Early on, Dante unlocks Devil Trigger, a "super gauge", which, when activated, turns him into a demonic form, enhancing his power.
As if the combat mechanics weren't deep enough, the selected weapon does affect the effects of the Devil Trigger, and its appearance (5 different "demonic Dante" designs, one for each main weapon).

Bloody palace
Coming all the way from DMC2, and among the most iconic features of the series.
It's an extra mode where the player must take down waves of various enemies, and each wave gets stronger, with regular bossfights as well.
Despite its simplicity, this mode is very welcome when you want to mess with the combat without going through the same story stages again and again.
It even adds a small layer of RPG by giving the option to heal or replenish the "super" gauge at the end of each wave, and the player will progress faster towards the end of the palace depending on which they choose.

Vergil mode (SHCUM)
Yet another example of the DMC series recycling its content in a cheap yet excellent way : Vergil mode, unlocked after beating the game once.
In fact, if you see DMC5 for sale, it's most likely bundled with the Vergil DLC.
New game (literally, new save file), same missions, one or two more cutscenes, but you get to play with Vergil and its dedicated moveset. And here you have one of the most praised gimmick of the series.
Sounds cheap, but it is that great. You fight all the threats that you're now familiar with, but you have to rethink your entire plan to take them down with Vergil's abilities.
I heard DMC4 pushed that too far (Dante reportedly has trouble dealing with enemies thought for Nero), but Vergil does adapt pretty well to the "Dante campaign"

Styles
Dante has access to multiple styles, some obtained from defeating bosses.
These unlock more options as you use them, but while this allows to learn them bit by bit, it doesn't really encourage switching style during the first story playthrough.
Styles still add many options once they're upgraded and mastered. Though, Dante can't switch styles mid-fight, unlike weapons (although there're mods that allows it)

Not just fighting
Puzzles, platforming, exploration and secret missions are not what people will remember of the series (well yes, but often for the wrong reasons), but they add up with cutscenes to bring variety to story gameplay.
In games like River City Girls where there're always enemies everywhere, this can result into an overdose of fighting, making it less enjoyable.
Although DMC3's combat is already quite deep, the occasional changes of pace really contribute to making the fighting parts even more enjoyable.

Other features
Like the 1, DMC3 has an absurd amount of obscure features that stink of passion. They're not even mentioned in the games, they're just here.
There's core stuff like enemy weakness to some weapons, Devil Trigger effects, stylish rank influencing orb drops and various moves or some enemies being vulnerable on some of their body parts.
And then, you have the "Just for fun" category, like costumes and other secret unlockables, numbers hidden in cutscenes that match the mission they're part of, or even the amount of bullet holes at the end of a mission that depends on the final rank, which the wiki even describes to take certain shapes like letters or kanji.
Exploits and glitches have their own seat as well. There's a couple of animation-cancelling techniques that only add depth to the game.

Final thoughts
At the end, everything in this game, someone had to think about it.
While any great project most likely takes inspirations from older works, even to this day, when I play other games (any genre) and sometimes think "well this mechanic didn't turn out well, DMC3 did make it better", then I realize how well-thought this game actually is, on an absurd amount of aspects, and I'm glad to have played it, even on keyboard (which is very allright, at worst struggles a bit in the rare platforming parts).