DmC: Devil May Cry uses a third-party DRM layer (originally Denuvo in early builds, later replaced or supplemented by standard Steam CEG - Custom Executable Generation). This means the game’s .exe file does not just check for Steam once at launch; it may check periodically. If it loses communication, it throws this error.

| Aspect | Rating (out of 10) | |--------|-------------------| | Combat (casual) | 8 | | Combat (hardcore) | 6 | | Story | 5 | | Visuals | 7 | | Replayability | 7 (Bloody Palace, difficulty modes) | | Performance | 9 | | | No issue for most |

"Steam must be running to play this game" DmC: Devil May Cry