A deal with the devil is never going to end well, and Dante’s Inferno is set to show this through a path of nine individual circles of Hell, each packed full of unique and equally vile monsters and some properly gory combat. Essentially Dante’s missus made a pact with Lucifer that her husband would return safely from the war of which he was a part, on the condition that he stayed completely faithful to her. His eventual betrayal led to her eternal spirit being confined to Hell, unless of course Dante himself could fight his way through the darkness to rescue her.
Your first few hours within Dante’s Inferno are likely to hold you captive, with an incredibly atmospheric transition from Earth into the realm of darkness and despair. From unstable floors, disappearing under your footsteps, to the many different enemies hovering close by to make your journey more difficult, everything contributes to the general tension and atmosphere generated as you make your way deeper into Hell. Much thought has obviously been put into the particular monsters you will encounter through each of the nine circles, with different characteristics depending on the circle in question. Take gluttony for example, where you will be faced by an assortment of obese and rightfully disgusting foes, or lust where promiscuous prostitutes will be your enemy.
Unfortunately it seems that the most exciting and novel of enemies are faced within the first few hours, leaving the rest of the game lacking in the lustre of evil that should have been enjoyed the further into the realm of despair that we wandered. Likewise the gameplay itself soon becomes repetitive, with oversimplified puzzles that won’t offer any real challenge. They simply detract from the combat system which actually offers some enjoyment throughout. Though even that enjoyment is minimised by the continual formula in which you enter a room, are halted by an invisible and magical barrier, forced to kill every foe before finally you are able to move on.
You’ll find yourself armed with two uniquely different weapons as you foray through Dante’s Inferno; a scythe and a holy cross. With your scythe you’ll be able to slice violently through any foes that dare to stand in your path, earning experience points for each soul that will provide you the ability to access upgrades and new and improved skills. The holy cross on the other hand, will let you bathe your foes in a holy light, lowering their defences in an increasingly more powerful way as you progress.
Had the pace and atmosphere of the first couple of hours of gameplay been maintained throughout Dante’s Inferno, this would be an absolutely incredible title. Unfortunately though, the repetitive nature and the somewhat bland design (the majority of your time is spent in enclosed narrow spaces and corridors) drastically reduce the enjoyment. With a setting like Hell it seems that developers Visceral could have painted a vivid and impressive display of death and destruction, but alas, they settled for a hemmed in and constricted environment. While the combat system will certainly hold your interest for a while, and on the whole the concept is an interesting one, you’ll be lucky to enjoy it for long.