I bought DmC day one to give it a shot, beat it same day, returned it same day. The absolute best thing I could say for it was that some of the level design was interesting. The rest was intensely frustrating for me, specifically in the game's inability to understand what made the original endearing. Yes it too was try hard anime cringe, but with a nudge and a wink that made it all fit together.
DmC took a different route, and one that even to this day I can't understand how any writer thought it was a good idea. Perhaps the biggest issue in the game is Kat. In what very easily could have been a great character, you see a girl who hero-worships Virgil. Why? Because he swooped in and was the hero she needed. When? Off camera. What did he do? Unclear. Compounding that is the indelicacy with which her implied sexual abuse is revealed and handled, which is to say it isn't.
This right here is my first big problem with DmC, and I think is an aspect many people brush aside. How exactly do you expect me to let loose in what should be a silly hack and slash, when I just got a bomb dropped on me that Kat would go to the astral plane to escape the physical abuse she was enduring as a kid? It doesn't mesh at all. Either be a serious take with a serious story, or don't. I don't want characters with trauma sprinkled around like some kind of garnish. It just comes off as tasteless to me, and not the fun kind. Not even touching the sniper rifle thing, or the original line of "The world is now your bitch, as am I," that I believe was later removed.
Similarly, Virgil's heel turn really just seemed like something he had to do because he's Virgil. Especially given that like an hour before him and Dante were for some reason joking about their dicks. It just wasn't set up properly. Virgil being cold and detached at times, sure. Virgil secretly harboring ambitions of lording over humanity? Not so much.
Mechanically for me it was a step back too, especially in the original edition where there was no manual lock on. That wasn't a huge issue until later in the game where certain enemies can only be damaged by certain weapons. It was then that the game was demanding that I prioritize fights and targets, but did not give me the tools to do so. I've not played the updated version, but I hear that this problem is remedied.
Overall, I think DmC is a bad game primarily because of its writing. It's a game that should be over the top and a bit cringy in a cheeky sort of way. Instead it presents an experience where the narrative is at odds with the gameplay and mechanics. Again, I need to reiterate how difficult it was for me as a player to have fun and get my sick S-Rank combos off when I'm still trying to process the trauma dump that Kat laid on me in the car. That was the entire moment the game broke down for me as a player.