Long before Bill and Ted or that space marine from Doom went to Hell, one guy had already taken an excursion to the underworld. He wrote a wicked poem about it.
In Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, 14th-century poet Dante Alighieri toured the devil’s domain, using allegory and cultural references to comment on contemporary politics and the human condition. Little did the guy know that he was also writing a videogame design document.
It may be heresy to call Dante the world’s first videogame designer, but Jonathan Knight, executive producer of the forthcoming Dante’s Inferno videogame, suggests that by dividing hell into nine distinct circles, the poet made his job a heck of a lot easier. “He almost creates a boss for each level,” said Knight.
But in large part, the kind of narrative at work in Dante’s epic poem didn’t translate well to consoles. That’s why Knight’s team at Visceral Games chose to play fast and loose with the plot. Dante’s Inferno recasts the poet as a medieval knight who returns from the crusades to find his lover, Beatrice, dead and dragged to Hell. Under the guidance of the poet Virgil he quests to regain her soul and right the wrongs that made Bea the Princess Peach to Lucifer’s Bowser.
Recently, I got some hands-on-time with the game’s opening levels — the same demo that PlayStation 3 gamers get to play this week and Xbox 360 owners will play on December 24.
We hope you enjoyed this Dante’s Inferno article!
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