Devil May Cry has always been a series that hinges its replayability on multiple difficulty levels and the bonuses contained therein. It looks as if the new DmC: Devil May Cry will be no different.
Capcom Unity has recently unveiled a series of “remixed” difficulty levels that do more than just increase the stats of your enemies. When you first start up the game you can choose between Human, Devil Hunter, or Nephilim difficulty, with Nephilim boasting the highest enemy stats of the three.
However, once you start completing the game at Nephilim difficulty, you will unlock Son of Sparda difficulty which includes entirely different enemy layouts in addition to giving enemies higher stats and new behavior. Completing that difficulty will get you the Dante Must Die difficulty level, which increases enemy count and spawns enemies in huge waves. Completing the game again will give you Heaven or Hell difficulty, which causes everything—including enemies and Dante—to die in one hit. Finally, completing the game on Heaven or Hell will give you the ultimate Hell and Hell difficulty, which causes Dante to die in one hit, but gives all of your enemies their standard health totals.
Capcom describes Hell or Hell difficulty as a difficulty level “for serious contenders.” I think they were looking for another word: masochists.