To the curious or uninformed, “Dante’s Inferno” is actually only a fragment of a famous allegorical piece of Italian Literature known as “The Divine Comedy.” The fable is a dark, disgusting, and intriguing vision of the afterlife written by Dante Alighieri—perfect material for a rather interesting video-game, in the very least. I was excited to find out Visceral Games was behind this project, especially with a game like Dead Space under their belt however, the demo felt little more than a very, very old button masher. Obviously comparable titles would be God Of War, Heavenly Sword and yep, Devil May Cry. The visuals don’t feel bold, but rather sub-par to similar titles but they’re still pleasing. Honestly, I’m still impressed by the cinematic beauty that is Heavenly Sword and speaking from playing the DEMO, I don’t think Dante’s Inferno is really an improvement albeit the same game I’ve played a billion times. Sadly, the only thing I give this game a thumbs-up for is drawing attention to our ignorance when it comes to important pieces of history. At least now my friends know what “The Divine Comedy” is. Ah, the music is good, too.

First and foremost, I’m sure Hell is a sucky place to be. This is why I would’ve liked to see aforementioned game company take a different route; I would’ve preferred something a tad more immersive than a simple “Hack N’ Slash.” I mean, the dude is travelling to the nine circles of Hell and I should probably feel the need to crap myself. Instead, I just feel out-of-time! “NO TIME, THERE’S NEVER ANY TIME!” My key point here is, unfortunately, I’ve never taken ‘Hack N’ Slash” games seriously. A fable dealing with Christian Purgatory is srs biznezz and because of this, I would’ve liked something with an ounce of intelligence and originality just as said story. Some of us may never escape Hell, no matter how big our Scythes are (…that’s what she said), so Dante should just be grateful he knows how to utilize artillery bigger than his guilty arse. Oh, and let us not forget the veiny, fully exposed boobies. The only thing that would make me purchase this game is if I knew certain scenes were to be directly adapted from the work and this is purely for shock value. Just how far can they take an “M” rating?

The gameplay is moderately entertaining due to “action sequences” and combo upgrading, both of which do a fair job in preventing this game from becoming insanely repetitive. The only thing that kept me on my toesies was the dramatic music. It presented to me an uncanny feeling of overwhelming anxiety which consequently made me button mash ten times faster. So, that’s a good thing. According to developers, it’s up to the player to decide on whether or not they use the politically correct “Dark” and “Light” powers to fight against enemies, but this is an action separated by a mere button and probably has no real consequence in the game. All in all, Dante’s Inferno looks like a good time killer. A religious allegory probably isn’t every gamer’s cup of tea, but it’s safe to say the gaming industry is heavily influenced by this subject matter and at least the story is interesting. My only regret was refusing to keep-up with current information regarding this game, but I was under the impression that I’d be pleasantly surprised. Don’t take my word for it, though. If you’re not able to download Dante’s Inferno at the moment or you refuse to wait over three hours for PSN to download a demo, then you can watch me get familiar with the entire thing here. Enjoy!

Dante’s Inferno Full DEMO PS3 from Amanda on Vimeo.