Dante’s Inferno Review (360)

As if this needed more marketing

Not to sound like you’re reading The News Of The World here, but the world truly is a horrid place to be in right now. Full of stubbed toes, parent-in-laws and homeless who will only ever unite to pull off a no holds barred heist at Lidl, it’s easy to forget that after our fragile lives are over there could be so much worse just waiting around the corner. It can even leave people in the media in a slight pickle, making it somewhat difficult for a creative artist to truly encapsulate the idea of ‘Hell’ to a desensitised audience. This may be why the team behind Dante’s Inferno needed a bit of outside help from the past.

Loosely based on the first book in Dante Alighieri’s series of poems based around the poet’s troublesome hikes through the afterlife, EA changes Dante’s profession from Master Artist to Brutal Crusader. After a self reflecting sit by a camp fire with a painful embroidery tutorial across his very chest, Dante returns home to find his house ransacked and lady love Beatrice murdered. What starts off as the simple theft of life soon unravels into revelations about Beatrice’s half of a deal with the Devil,the only means of rescue through Dante’s determination to take on the Underworld and making for a marital issue even Jeremy Kyle would want to keep his nose out of. Although the main story slowly seeps into a Hollywood script of ‘The Destruction of all that exists’, intervals unravel the deeper you dig into Hell, and You’ll find yourself ravelled deeper into Dante’s past through the tapestry sewn into his chest. Impressively crafted animations detail the past of a hero increasingly slipping into the stigma of the infamous, and who’s eventual fate remains truly unclear until the very end.

As soon as you enter the depths of Hell, it’s easy to reconsider how you should spend your Sunday mornings. All nine rings of Hell hold fearmongering surroundings which soak you in putrid immersion, squandering what little light there is at the end of the demoralising tunnel. The enemies however, are nigh on enough to bring to your knees in a frenzied panic of praying. All equipped with twisted weapons of ironic justice, the complaint that in some cases the creative team went too overboard with some of the antagonist designs is shrouded by a compliment. Towering beasts threatening to tear you in half, flabby half ton masses showering you in excrement in the ring of Gluttony and phallic imagery in the depths of Lust that are enough to put Hugh Hefner in an awkward disposition tonight combine to form just the right mix of fear and loathing needed in a title attempting to encapsulate a truthful pixelation of Hell.

It’s lucky that the environment doesn’t prove to be too extraordinary, as too much artistic merit could squander the hatred of the Underworld. The atmospheric surroundings seem somewhat squandered by the fact that Dante seems to be taking the route through Hell as suggested by The National Trust. Despite minor hints of exploration to find secret items, the production line linearity enforced throughout the whole game never takes advantage of the world that has been created. Perhaps the feeling of being shackled to one path for all eternity was deliberate, but it was nevertheless frustrating.

The complaint that in some cases the creative team went too overboard with some of the antagonist designs is shrouded by a compliment.

Although the artistic flair is clearly aided by poetic source material, not all demonic issues can be sorted through rhythmic scribblings. It was perhaps something of a positive choice from a gameplay perspective to swap pen for scythe. Armed with the Reaper’s signature weapon and..a crucifix that fires lasers…it’s easy to put the damned back in their place. As long as you’re not playing the game blindfolded and can tell what way is up, you can easily direct a flurry of death at any one who dares come your way. All Dante’s Inferno really asks from you is patience I order to chop away at some enemies bizarrely extensive health-o-meters, extending the smooth breeze of combat to dangerously near dull moments.

The only thing that manages to jilt the ease of combat is grabbing the damned by the scuff of the neck and deciding whether to ‘Absolve’ and ‘Punish’ the already luckless souls. Leeching onto an opponent practically halts every other being wishing to nab a piece of you as you ponder the moral choices in your somewhat liberal repertoire. The only everlasting effects the choice makes is what upgrades will be unlocked for Dante, absolution unlocks more across the ‘Holy’ trick tree, damnation moves its way up the ‘Unholy’ equivalent. Though a welcome addition, events become especially grindworthy when the fluid combat must pause for a basic moral scuffle. With powers from both paths practically even and no alteration to the narrative coming from these actions, it’s somewhat unclear why a method that damages gameplay was made the primary source of gaining EXP.

For all the artistic merits Dante’s Inferno is worth, it occasionally steps too far into the camp of God Of War to truly become a landmark title. All the gameplay elements that made the game good aren’t fresh enough to be deemed exciting, resting in the purgatory of average. Despite this, it’s a short and sweet pilgrimage for rent that definitely warrants a trip to Hell, but just the one way ticket.