This game just seems to look more and more awesome. It's the video game version of Dante's Divine Comedy AKA Dante's Inferno.
The Poem:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)
Dante and Virgil descend into hell and witness the 9 circles of sin:
FULL MAP (yes, there are maps of Hell):
http://www.tabula-rasa.info/HorrorImages/Inferno.gif-Limbo: Neither true Hell nor Heaven or Earth. Those who did not accept Christ remain here; They are not actively punished. King Minos resides here and judges souls to be sent down into Hell.
-Lust:
Those who succumb to lust are blown about in a violent storm, symbolizing how lust can effectively do this to a person. Dante sees Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles and many others here.
-Gluttony: Cerberus guards them, as they lie in a slush made of ice, black snow, freezing rain, and probably their own bile.
-Avarice: Condemned here are those who succumb to material goods. They are punished much like Sisyphus, pushing huge money bags up a hill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus-Wrath and Sloth: The River Styx, where the wrathful fight each other on the surface, and the slothful lie gurgling below.
-Heresy:Heretics are forever entombed in flaming stone.
-Violence:The city of Dis:
Outer Ring - Violence Against People: They are immersed in a river of boiling blood.
Middle Ring - Violence Against Themselves (Self Deletes): The damned are transformed into trees and bushes, torn at by harpies, their bodies dangling from the limbs of the trees.
Inner Ring - Violence Against God and Nature and Order: Everyone here resides in a desert of flaming sand; The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander about in groups.
-Fraud:There are 10 Bolgia for 10 different types of fraud. entrepreneur s and hoes are sent on a death march, falsifiers are constantly afflicted with disease, and corrupt politicians are immersed in a lake of boiling oil...
-Treason:Surprisingly, the nine circle is a lake of ice...
Ring 1 - Traitors to Kindred: Immersed in ice up to their faces.
Ring 2 - Traitors to Country: Immersed in ice so they may not bend their necks.
Ring 3 - Traitors to their guests: Immersed, laying sideways, half their faces showing. Their tears freeze their eyes shut, they are not even allowed to cry.
Ring 4 - Traitors to their lords/benefactors: Completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all sorts of positions.
The Center Of Hell:Lucifer is frozen up to his waist in the lake of ice, crying from his six eyes, condemned for committing the ultimate sin: Treason against god himself. He has three faces, each chews on a different soul: Brutus, Cassius, and Judas. He beats his wings as if trying to escape, but that only ensures the lake stay frozen, as the cold winds get whipped around. (In the poem, Lucifer is depicted as a prisoner, not the leader of hell).
Dante and Virgil escape by climbing down Satan's fur and venturing through the center of the earth, leaving through Mt. Purgatory in the opposite hemisphere.
The Game:
Dante is a sort of hero. He descends into Hell to rescue the soul of his beloved Beatrice, first by defeating THE GRIM REAPER, death incarnate, and STEALING HIS SCYTHE. You venture through all the areas in hell, depicted in the Divine Comedy. Yes, the final boss is Satan. Oh, and that cool-ass "shirt" Dante is wearing? That's actually sewn into his skin.
He's shirtless. He's so badass. This is possibly the most interesting concept for a game I've seen in a while. I'm probably going to spend hours admiring the various locations in Hell.
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/dantes-inferno/10607Prologue - the City of Acre to the Gates of Hell
Dante, the game's protagonist, and his fellow knights are ordered by King Richard to capture the city of Acre and secure an artifact by Saladin, the protector of the Holy Land. Saladin refuses and the townspeople revolt, one of whom assassinates Dante. Dante ends up meeting Death himself, who condemns Dante to hell for his war crimes. Dante refuses to be taken, defeating Death in a battle and stealing his scythe. Coming back to life, Dante returns to his home to find his lover, Beatrice Portinari, has been raped and murdered. Dante witnesses Lucifer drag her into Hell. Giving chase, Dante begins his journey to save Beatrice.
Essentially, Dante is not a hero. In-fact, he's committed every sin in Hell. He's raped, murdered, pillaged, committed greed and gluttony, betrayed his friends, forsaken god, taken advice from false prophets and abandoned his love. As Lucifer says "Your soul was the only one black enough to free me".
BOSSES:
Death - Earth
Charon - Gates of Hell, not technically a boss
King Minos - Limbo
Cleopatra of Egypt and Marc Antony of Rome - Lust
Cerberus - Gluttony
Plutus - Greed
Phlegyas - Gates of Dis, not technically a boss
Francesco - Violence
Lucifer - Treason
The Fallen Angel Lucifer - Round 2, Treason
This game was awesome. I played through on the 2nd Zealot difficulty and genuinely had a hard time, but I beat it. The environments were awesome, it was really cool to see the different rings of Hell and how people were punished, being put in a lake of boiling blood or molten gold, or even trapped in burning stone boxes. The gameplay was extremely linear, but I don't have a problem with that. I like adventure games, the story was what I was even more interested anyway. The gameplay was really fun, yet pretty basic, which is definitely not a problem. I also don't have any problems with quicktime events. The enemies lacked a little variety. The minions were just different skins and different behaviors, but generally the same. Can't say I can complain though, so it's all good. How they portrayed all the circles is really cool, and how Dante enters them and kills the stuff that resides within, like cutting King Minos's face in half. You even see the Archangel Michael. Anyway, I finally reach the Lake of Cocytus, a giant pentagram with a mirror in the center, and Lucifer chained overhead, when I realize: "forget, those chains I've been destroying to scale the walls were actually the chains holding Lucifer in place." Then, we battle him, he's loving huge. It took me like 3 tries, and I thought it was over until he rips open his stomach and out flies a fallen archangel. Okay, the true boss. 2x harder than the huge one, we battle Lucifer. The whole game I wonder; "Why isn't anyone even mildly impressed Dante managed to steal Death's scythe and break into hell?". "Dante, you're dead" Lucifer reveals, oh booooy. While I'm fighting I can't help notice something flapping around between his legs. "Must be fur or something", I say. nope. It's satan's rooster, just flapping around. Wonderful. It even shows it in the cutscene. Essentially, you beat Lucifer and all the souls you've absolved come down and absolve you. You go through the mirror and into Purgatory, standing below the mountain with Paradise on top. You rip off the charred remains of the tapestry from your chest and move on with beatrice. The remains then transform into a snake and you hear Lucifer laugh...
To be continued.I'm excited. It sounds like they're going to do all 3 parts of Dante's Divine Comedy; Inferno, Purgatorio, and the Paradiso. Awwww yeah.
