Dante's Inferno Preview

10 Dec 2009 at 17:04:36 by Richard Walker

Few games open with the level of outrageous spectacle on display in Dante’s Inferno, Visceral Games’ bold take on Dante Alighieri’s series of highly regarded Commedia poems. As source material goes, it seems massively incongruous to a gaming medium and bordering more on the stupid than the brave in attempting to adapt the literature for a videogame audience.

Kudos to the developer then for its ambition if nothing else, because despite the game’s treatment of Dante’s original poetry, there’s a wealth of imagination clearly evident in Dante’s Inferno the game.

Playing the forthcoming demo prior to its release on PSN (with the Xbox 360 version to follow soon after), we’re treated to a glimpse of the opening moments of the game, which sees Dante return home from killing to find his ladylove Beatrice slaughtered and then cruelly snatched away by a nasty looking demon that resembles a swirling black cloud.

Naturally, he then has a huge knife plunged into his spine while his back is turned, so prompting Dante’s own descent into Hell to rescue Beatrice, but not before an epic fight with Death himself on a rocky plateau hurtling its way down into the bowels of the eponymous fiery pit itself. Obviously.

The pre-rendered cut sequences leading up to this battle are truly exemplary and the transition into silky smooth 60fps, hack and slash action feels completely seamless, as the walls of Dante’s world literally fall away to reveal Hell’s immense, gaping maw.

Taking the fight to Death with our battle axe, a variety of combos are easy to pull off with the controller’s face buttons meaning it’s not long before the big, skull-faced one is brought to his knees. Snatching away Death’s scythe, we callously finish the job, tearing his cold bony countenance to shreds with his own weapon. And so, helping himself to the perfect killing tool for taking the fight to Hell’s minions, Dante holds on to Death’s scythe and continues his journey.

Adding the Saint Beatrice Cross to our arsenal, we’re able to hurl crucifix-shaped projectiles at airborne enemies, the first of which happen to be fierce winged demons with clawed tails and fanged mouths. Attacked by both these and lumbering zombie types on the ground, the slicing and dicing is fast and frantic, but it’s not long before we’re introduced to the game’s binary decision mechanic, Punish or Absolve.

Grabbing a diabolical minion causes the button prompts to pop up, granting you the option, which then plays out in front of you. Absolution results in button hammering as you steal souls whereas Punishment involves a short QTE as you rip them apart in the most gruesome and bloody fashion imaginable.

Depending on your decisions, you’re given either Holy or Unholy currency to spend on upgrades, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive, meaning you’re able to mix up the abilities you acquire if you like. Going into the pause menu brings up a skills tree where you can spend your hard-earned souls on new combos and moves to add to your repertoire, while simultaneously unlocking an extra tier of abilities as you level up by filling up your Holy and Unholy gauges. And with names like Impaler, Diabolic Rupture and Vile Flurry, you can’t fail to be intrigued by the array of moves on offer.

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