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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

Uninstalling deletes save files. Backup them before doing so (check online)
Change resolution to 1280*720 to prevent slowdowns / cutscene desync. Even solid setups struggle on default settings, especially on DMC3
"Just good enough" ports. 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 are simply legendary.
• The whole world is comically dark and cool. Dante keeps doing irrealistic stuff, but everything else does as well, so it's just coherent.
• Lady blew my mind. I expected a boobs'n butt sidekick, I got a character who's strong, can handle things by herself, has her very own personality, values and reasons to be there, yet also shows emotional sensitivity, leading to the most touching moments of the game.
• Vergil.

Gameplay
DMC3 is such a gameplay jewel that even the most recent beat'em up will have trouble matching.
Stylish rank
The more you hit enemies with consecutive and variated attacks, the more your stylish score increases, yielding various rewards (buffs some attacks, more drops, mission score).
It also grows with various actions like blocking and taunt.
I'm talking about a system that makes every single action as viable as any other. This encourages players of any level to play the most satisfying way possible. If you want a good score, you will have to throw everything you can.
There is no hunt for the highest damage combo, because there's none : Weapons have elements and moves that will be effective on some enemies.

Loadout
Dante can bring 2 firearms and 2 melees chosen among 10 total, and switch between them mid-fight.
Players are naturally encouraged to frequently switch mid-fight, which highly increases the skill ceiling.

Accessibility
DMC3 has both a very high skill ceiling and a very low entry level. One can just beat the game by spamming firearms, although it would take way too long, and anyone would end up wanting to try combos by themselves rather than spamming the same boring stuff.
Newcomers can gradually learn every move to their own rythm, plus most of these must be bought with red orbs, forcing players to acknowledge their new options.
Since the beginning, the series also includes tutorials in short secret missions, where newbies learn they can jump on enemies, slide on some, master a flying ability, etc.

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.
This is just perfect in a game like that with such deep combat where literally every move is good. Just you, your weapons, and loads of mobs to sharpen your skills and try your best in countless situations.

Vergil mode (SHCUM)
DMC series is the perfect example of recycling its own content in actually good ways.
One of these ways was the Vergil mode, unlocked after beating the game once.
New game, same missions a few more cutscenes, but you get to play with Vergil and its completely different playstyle. And here you have one of the most praised gimmick of the series.
Sounds like a scam, 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.

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.

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

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, 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 bunch of animation-cancelling techniques that only gives more depth to the game.

Humans made that
The most important : Everything in this game, someone had to think about it.
Every enemy, every weapon, every style, every mechanic and all the parameters that define them.
There're humans who worked on it and settled on how it should be, and 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.