Dante's Inferno (video game)



""This game would actually make a good recruiting tool for Christianity. Never has saving someone's soul been so hardcore! I'm sitting there on the good play through, and I'm forgiving every enemy I can, and going 'I forgive the shit out of you!' and 'mutha fucka, you just got forgiven' and 'oh, you little bastard, I'm gonna forgive you for that!' and the always good 'go to heaven fucker!' I just wish you could forgive the lust demons. Heaven would be so much better with those sexy bitches in it.""

- Youtube comment about the game.

The Inferno part of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy is one of the most well-known, well-referenced pieces of work today. It described in great detail Dante's vision of what hell would be like, and in doing so invented many of the tropes associated with Hell. This has led to several film adaptations, theme park rides, and -- most recently -- a video game "adaptation," which is what this page is concerned with.

Rumored and announced midway through 2009 for a release date in February 2010, the game is about Dante, a fresh veteran of the Third Crusade, chasing after the kidnapped love of his life, Beatrice, through the Nine Circles of Hell while tearing the place -- and the demons which inhabit it -- to little pieces. Unlike Dante Alighieri, this Dante is muscle-bound, an expert magic wielder, and (after the first boss) carries Death's Scythe itself. As he descends deeper and deeper into the Inferno, he must confront his own sins, war crimes, and his family's past, and eventually faces off with Lucifer himself, who has kidnapped Beatrice in order to wed her and break free of Hell.

A DLC titled "Trials of St. Lucia" was released on April 29th, 2010.

""Go on, use me as an excuse! Blame me for everything!""
 * Adaptation Distillation: The sinners Dante encounters in the book are all there, and you get the option of forgiving them or smiting them. They even say a lot of the same things. Virgil's speeches are mostly accurate. Even the original political satire survived mostly intact ("In these popes and cardinals, greed suffered its excess") The design of the Nine Circles in game is actually quite accurate with Alighieri's descriptions (except for the level of Greed, and the changes there are understandable). About the only thing that's really different is Dante himself, and the whole "Famous pagans as lords of hell" thing. Also, a few politically incorrect things, like Mohammad in hell, and crusaders in heaven have been taken out as well.
 * The Gates of Hell. The Gate itself was modeled after Auguste Rodin's Gates of Hell, which was described in Dante's Inferno to have a sign at the top that read a poem about Hell. The sign itself was removed from the Door and is instead spoken by Charon (who is also half-demon half-ship and not a boatman demon)
 * The Anime of the Game: Here called Dante's Inferno: The Animated Epic.
 * Anthropomorphic Personification: A number of the demons, like those in Gluttony.
 * Art Shift: The Anime of the Game goes through at least four different art styles over the course of the story. Most notable with Vergil, who goes through the most drastic changes in appearance each time.
 * The Atoner: Dante. When Death tells him that not only is he damned, but everyone he loved, he goes on a quest, not only to redeem himself, but everyone else he loves as well. Double Subverted at the end.
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Cleopatra. Also Minos and Phlegyas.
 * Ax Crazy: Dante himself, during the Crusades.
 * Badass: Dante all the way. He starts off the game by killing Death and taking his scythe. He proceeds to fight his way through Hell, ultimately killing any and every demon that gets in his way. All as a baseline human, to boot.
 * He apparently gets it from his father, who, for all his faults, puts up a valiant fight against the unnamed assassin.
 * Batman Gambit:
 * The Baroness: Cleopatra doubles with The Vamp (she is a succubus, after all).
 * Beware My Stinger Tail: Minos has two of them.
 * Big No: Lucifer.
 * Bishounen Line: Lucifer.
 * Bloody Bowels of Hell: Gluttony.
 * Building Swing: One of Dante's primary means of locomotion.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Subverted; Dante's father taunts him to do it, but Dante absolves him instead of punishing him. Dante's father's last words to his son are:

""What will become of MYY GOOD NYYAAAAAAMMMMEEE!?!!!""
 * Censor Steam: Subverted in the final cutscene.
 * Collapsing Lair: Lust and Heresy.
 * Combat Tentacles: Temptresses. You don't want to know the details.
 * Corrupt Church: Very much so, if the various Popes in Hell and the Large Ham bishop in the cutscenes are any evidence on the matter.
 * Crusading Widower: Dante.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Every time Dante rides a Beast . The only enemies that are a threat while Beast riding are the Beast Tamers that try to retake control of the Beast. Everything else dies. The only challenge is deciding on how you want to slaughter your foes. Roast them with firebreath? Turn them into pancakes with your fists? Literally stomp on them? Eat them? It's a tough choice.
 * Also, between Dante and Death after Dante steals Death's scythe... and cuts him in half with it.
 * Dead All Along: Dante, of course.
 * Deadly Lunge: The disgustingly tubby Gluttons of the Third Circle are incredibly slow and easy to take down, but if you are distracted by other enemies, they may lumber towards you and snatch you up. If you fail the quicktime struggle, they eat you alive.
 * Deal with the Devil: Beatrice.
 * Demon Slaying: Considering that almost every enemy in the game is a demon, this is a given.
 * Demoted to Extra: Malebolge and Cocytus, which compared to the other circles are the less expanded levels. Many of the guardians of Hell in the original novel however appear as statues (like the Minotaur, Geryon and Pluto).
 * Deranged Animation: The flashbacks to the Crusades.
 * Did Not Do the Research: In Dis, Virgil explains that the heretics are locked into coffins that will open only on the Judgment's Day. In the original novel, the coffins were open and would eventually close only after the world's end.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Dante has a long resume of this.
 * Dirty Old Man: Dante's father.
 * The Determinator: Dante starts out his quest by killing Death, the proceeds to bring a one man holy war down upon all of the legions of hell that dare to stand in his way, up to and including the Devil himself.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: The nameless assassin, in retaliation for, . His determination is nearly on Dante's level.
 * Damsel in Distress: Beatrice.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Lust is a Freudian nightmare, and it's not subtle about it.
 * Driven to Suicide: Well, the Suicides forest. At one point Dante is influenced by a demonic tree and, if not quick enough, kills himself.
 * Eat Me: Against.
 * Enfant Terrible: The unbaptized babies are cute little babies with scythes for arms who want to kill you.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Dante is clearly shown to love his mom very much.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Cleopatra is genuinely grief-stricken when Dante kills Anthony. They did damn themselves to be together forever after all.
 * Eye Scream: Dante's father is murdered with a cross through his eye.
 * Fan Disservice: Lust, full-stop.
 * Fan Service: Beatrice is an Innocent Fanservice Girl. Dante also goes through the majority of the game shirtless, and is wholly naked at the end.
 * Fat Bastard: The Gluttonous demons and Dante's father.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Lucifer.
 * Fire and Brimstone Hell: You don't say.
 * Though actually is sometimes averted.
 * Follow the Leader: The developers are being pretty open about their God of War inspirations.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: Lucifer.
 * Good Is Not Nice: The Absolve finishers aren't too terribly less brutal than the Punish finishers. For those who haven't played the game, the Absolve finishers literally burn the sin out of the damned, causing them to explode in holy light.
 * The Grim Reaper: The first boss; he's sort of weak, actually, compared to the other things to be found in Hell.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Lucifer and the rest of Hell spend the entire game delivering one to Dante.
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Historical Domain Character: You find famous souls scattered about all over the place, such as Boudica, Attila the Hun, and a couple different Roman emperors, among others. In addition, there are a significant number of people present who were not famous, but whom the real life Dante had a personal beef with and so wrote into the original story to get back at.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: King Minos has his face split in half by his own spiked wheel.
 * Holy Hand Grenade: Dante's trusty cross.
 * Horny Devils:
 * The Temptresses and Cleopatra, but instead of being attractive, they're extremely disturbing.
 * Infant Immortality: Completely, utterly averted: among the first monsters you meet are the unbaptised children of Limbo, little weeping babies with scythe blades instead of arms.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Beatrice.
 * Invulnerable Attack: Enemies will still try to attack Dante during a grab, but as long as you have started the kill animation -- as opposed to still mulling whether to Punish or Absolve -- any attack that is not another grab will just pass harmlessly through him.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Upon completing the Eighth Circle, Dante is told to face his sins of betrayal by . Believing himself eternally damned and Beatrice worthy of Heaven, Dante asks for forgiveness and places Beatrice's cross on the ground. This results in the restoration of Beatrice and, leaving Dante to face his final challenge.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Justified Trope: See One True Faith below.
 * Karma Meter: Albeit one with Gameplay and Story Segregation. You level up your cross and scythe depending on how you execute enemies. Absolving them earns you Holy points that give you more Cross moves to buy and "Punishing" them earns you Unholy points for scythe moves.
 * King Mook: Malacoda, a fiery demon. Fittingly enough he was the boss of the Malebranche devils.
 * The Knights Templar: Dante seems to have been one, judging by his uniform.
 * Large Ham: Many; King Minos, Lucifer, and the cutscene bishop are the most obvious examples.
 * One of the damned souls in Heresy gives us a fine exemple of scenery chewing:


 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: Dante.
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Cleopatra.
 * Male Frontal Nudity: Lucifer's very large, very furry penis is on full display.
 * Dante's is also visible during the ending. Blink and you'll miss it, but it's clearly there.
 * Mark of Shame: The cross Dante sewed onto his chest to remind himself of his sins.
 * Mook Debut Cutscene: The various "sin" demons all have one, a squicky one if possible.
 * Mook Maker: Cleopatra again. Don't ask how she makes them.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Didn't you notice that during the whole game, several things you break in order to advance are in fact ? Why do you think you kept hearing his laughter every time you approached one?
 * Also,
 * Nipple-and-Dimed: Completely averted, to occasionally squicktastic effect.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Whenever Lucifer slips into Large Ham mode, the actor voicing him seems to be channeling Tim Curry. Appropriate, considering Curry once portrayed another version of The Devil.
 * No Name Given: The Large Ham cutscene bishop.
 * No OSHA Compliance: It is Hell, after all. Bridges are especially prone to collapsing, cracking, and generally falling apart.
 * Nonstandard Game Over: If you're seduced by Cleopatra, the game's over.
 * Notice This: There's a glowing wheel attached to anything in need of pushing, pulling, or climbing.
 * Oedipus Complex:
 * Off-Model: The Anime's animation ranges from gorgeous and/or fluid (Manglobe, Film Roman and Dong Woo), to sub-par (Production I.G) to just average (JM Animation).
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: It wouldn't be a game set in Hell without it.
 * One True Faith: Zig Zagged. Pagans are in supposedly in Hell, but Lucifer tells Dante that those he fought in the Crusades are not, after all, in this Hell.
 * One-Woman Wail: The slopes in between each layer generally feature a creepy version of this usually sorrowful wail.
 * Posthumous Character: The majority of the characters shown in-game are already dead -- this being Hell, after all -- although Beatrice and Dante deserve special mentions.
 * The Power of Friendship:
 * Rated "M" for Manly
 * Recycled in Space: It's God of War  IN (Christian) HELL! 
 * More of a repeat since God of War has already tackled "Hell"... And "Purgatory" and "Heaven".
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Refuge in Audacity: The game's enemies include, among other things, giant naked succubi, not to mention all the demonic creatures liable to offend anyone of a religious upbringing.
 * Refuge in Vulgarity: see Refuge in Audacity.
 * Rule of Cool: Seems to be the line of thought behind the development process of this game: "How can we take the Inferno and make it badass?"
 * Rule of Symbolism: Every Circle of Hell is designed in such a way that the scenery shows the sin it embodies, although Lust, Gluttony, and Greed deserve special mention in this regard.
 * Satan: Well, obviously. He's the Big Bad and Final Boss.
 * Scenery Gorn: The one positive trait everyone can agree on.
 * Second-Hour Superpower: Death's Scythe.
 * Serial Escalation: Often, primarily in the level design, and most visibly in terms of squick factor. Gluttony is somewhere near the top of this, although Violence's giant river of boiling blood competes.
 * Sequel Hook: Don't forget, the Inferno is only the first canticle of Dante's epic.
 * Seven Deadly Sins: Not all of them, however. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, and Wrath are all prominently featured in their own circles (all in Upper Hell, outside of Dis), but like in the poem, where the others aren't referenced until the Purgatorio, enviers, acediacs, and the vainglorious are absent.
 * Sinister Minister: There's the bishop on the flashbacks, and the heretic and pagan enemies.
 * Sinister Scythe: Taken from and used against Death himself.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: The commercial famously uses Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine" to honestly pretty cool effect.
 * Spirit Advisor: Virgil.
 * Stock Scream: A falling soul in Limbo does the Wilhelm Scream.
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge: The corpse of Dante's father is left for him to discover, a cross rammed into his eye.
 * Tainted Veins
 * That's No Moon: How Phlegyas reveals himself in the Styx River.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: How Beatrice ends up biting it, thus resulting in her being condemned to Hell. Also Francesco.
 * To Hell and Back: Subverted.
 * Too Many Mouths: The Gluttons and their boss, Cerberus.
 * Turn Out Like His Father: Having done so, one of Dante's side purposes in his journey is to avoid meeting the same fate that his father did. Made creepily evident by some combat and aesthetic similarities, like using the cross as a ranged weapon and a cross on the chest.
 * Undead Child: The unbaptized babies, because well, you know... and you get the "Bad Nanny" achievement from killing them. Stay classy, Visceral!
 * Unholy Matrimony: Cleopatra and Marc Antony.
 * The Vamp: Cleopatra, who doubles as The Baroness. The temptresses may also count, but they don't really try to seduce Dante, as they're too focused on tearing him to shreds.
 * Video Game Caring Potential/Video Game Cruelty Potential: The "absolve" or "punish" options.
 * Villain Protagonist: Dante is a mass-murderer. People remind him of this frequently.
 * Viral Marketing: Mass: We Pray, a spoof of The Moral Substitute which actually had people very worried that it was a real product. Also, notable people in the media who cover video games received items tailored to a specific Deadly Sin:
 * The "Wrath" portion of their Seven Deadly Sins based marketing campaign: a box containing a hammer and safety goggles was sent to various gaming media. The catch? When said boxes are opened, a certain song starts playing and the only way to stop it is to smash the hell out of the box. Once the unfortunate recipient is done, they find a scroll claiming that Wrath has damned them to Hell.
 * "Fair enough, but I'd rather go to the hell for the wrathful than the hell for the EA marketing department- which I'm pretty sure is the EA marketing department."
 * "Greed" consisted of a cheque for a large sum of money; if they didn't cash it, they were branded as "wasteful", wheras if they cash it, they're "greedy".
 * "Lust" was a highly controversial use of booth babes at E3.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Just look at the box cover.
 * Wall Crawl: One of the other ways of getting around Hell. By the way, the walls you crawl on throughout Hell are made out of the souls of the damned -- who keep moaning and screaming over their damnation as you crawl all over them.
 * We Can Rule Together: Lucifer proposes this to Dante in the end.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Beatrice spends a good chunk of the game doing this, especially after So does Francesco,
 * World of Ham: It's Hell. If people aren't screaming lamentations or cackling madly, something's wrong.
 * Yin-Yang Bomb: The scythe for Unholy attacks and the cross for Holy attacks.
 * Yin-Yang Bomb: The scythe for Unholy attacks and the cross for Holy attacks.

The DLC includes the following tropes:

 * Disability Superpower: St. Lucia.
 * Lady of War: St. Lucia.
 * Prophet Eyes: St. Lucia.