I'm going to regret this... Here's the debut trailer, which was probably intended to present early ideas for DmC: Devil May Cry. I mean, why the hell do developers make trailers anyway? I'm going to analyze it bit by bit in terms of combat.
Right after 0:53, when Dante slams the Stygian down, Dante starts doing combos, yes, combos with Ebony & Ivory. In the final game, you could only shoot with E&I along with Ricoshot, Rainstorm, and Inverse Rainstorm. Also, Dante flips over a Stygian and shoots during this maneuver. So, maybe Ninja Theory and Capcom intended for E&I along with other firearms to be able to transcend the typical shoot-only and special moves to something akin to Bayonetta along with a more flashier form of evasion.
During 1:04, Dante is seen running and performing an early version of Angel Boost, except much more destructive since it probably involved sonic booms or something that could shatter glass. Also, no angel, air, or energy trails.
Right after Angel Boosting, at 1:06, Dante performs Stomp without Eryx, which was probably still in development at the time so it seems like Dante is just fighting unarmed. Like the final version, Stomp is a dropping, fist-slam with an area of effect. Right after that, starting with Dante jumping into the air at 1:08, Dante starts a combo using his fists and feet with the finishing kick sending the Stygian away from him - early version of Kicker, perhaps. So maybe Eryx was supposed to be a full set of gauntlets and greaves, which would have been awesome since past DMC games and DmC had gauntlet and greaves weapons with little to no aerial moves aside from slams, falling kicks, and Stomp moves. This could have marked a time when such a weapon had a more aerial-friendly moveset.
After finishing his aerial beat-down, Dante impales a Stygian with some sort of pole-arm. I think it's either a lance or spear, but wallenb believes it might be a staff. This might be an early version of Osiris. The Spear of Longinus or the Holy Lance is considered a heavenly tool, that and angels are usually depicted using spears or lances. So maybe Osiris was supposed to be Longinus. Anyway, after impaling the demon, Dante lifts it over his head and drives it to the ground. We know that in the final version, Ophion allows Dante to grab enemies and objects to him or pull him towards it. Maybe the developers intended for DmC to have a grapple system and that the scene during 0:44 was another grapple move. Or it's a reverse Rake where instead of pulling enemies up, Dante slams enemies down.
Right after Dante drives the impaled Stygian down, Dante uses an ax at 1:14, probably the Arbiter, to finish off another enemy. The move he uses with the ax looks exactly like the finishing move of the Arbiter's Judgement combo.
Immediately right after, at 1:15, Dante performs a move that suspiciously resembles Rebellion's finishing move from Hacker. You can get a glimpse of the weapon in question at 1:26 before Dante switches to the grapple; Ophion in early development.
Speaking of Ophion, in the final game, Dante used Ophion for a variety of things including pulling cars, which is what 1:27 shows except the car is used to kill demons. So, maybe Ophion could have been used for more than just pull enemies, pull Dante to enemies, or Kicker and Payoff.
Right after the infamous "My name is Dante" bit, Dante performs Angel Boost again at 1:38 while using the building to get a kick-start.
Lots of work has to be put into how it's done.
