When Dante’s Inferno was announced there was a great deal of confusion. How would Dante Alighieri’s 1,400 line Divine Comedy function as a video game? It seemed like a strange goal for EA, and one that didn’t really seem to have a great reason to exist. It’s not like Alighieri’s work was having a resurgence or anything, which meant someone at EA must have had a really interesting idea. When it was announced to be a God of War styled hack-and-slash set in the nine layers of hell, with each circle playing as a different level, it became slightly clearer why, of all things, EA choose Inferno to base a game off of. In fact, it almost became too obvious.

Ever since the first details were released I’ve been extremely interested in the premise: Dante’s Inferno does, indeed, lend itself to a game better than most originally thought. The promise of a number of unique locations based off of sins? Brilliant. Bringing the circles to life in the most grotesque of ways? Stunning. Putting it in the hands of the team that made Dead Space? Perfect. However, after getting a chance to finally play the game at PAX, I’m unsure how Visceral Games’ latest venture will turn out, despite my early optimism inflating my hopes.



The demo started off fairly well. In a small arena (which, in actuality, was a ferry on the River Styx), I was given a gaggle of hellish foes to face off against. Using his scythe, Dante is able to make quick work of standard enemies, relying on combos and juggling to take down more powerful foes. Occasional variations and a splash of holy magic helped with the larger ones, and ended with the enemy winded with an indicator flashing above their heads. At this point, a quick-time-event could be initiated, very similar to the ones found in God of War. These sequences allow Dante to spin around, slice off legs and arms, and finish off the beasties in an epic manor.

After taking down the enemies a much larger beast appeared, this one being ridden by a smaller foe. After enough combat, the jockey was kicked off (in, of course, a QTE), and Dante was allowed to control the beast. With my new found friend, I was able to pound apart the remaining enemies that spawned before ripping the head off of the ferry. This led to another action-packed sequence that had Dante riding the beast up a crumbling wall. There was no lull in the action in this short demo. Visceral made sure that gamers never feel safe, no matter where they are. It's Hell; there might be the most hostile place in... well... ever.

This is where the demo started to go downhill. At the top of the climb, the level began to shake, and the bridge in front of Dante showed signs of collapse. Gaming instinct took over, and I began to run forward, escaping falling debris with every step. After a bit, a final chunk gave out, and I was left standing on a large pilliar that slowly fell forward. At the last second I jumped, but it was far too late, and I was forced to repeat the section. On a second try I observed my surroundings, thinking that I had missed something, and died again. On the third try I saw that I had to jump and hit a bumper, using Dante's scythe as a grappling hook to bridge the gap. It felt cheap. If it had been established earlier in the game that this type of thing is commonplace then, well, that's great, but in the demo on the show floor it was the first time it was shown, and it didn't really work too well.

It truely feels like Dante's Inferno, or at least the build shown at PAX, has an over-reliance on quick-time-events. The boss battle shown, a fight against King Midas, is filled with them, to the point where they lose any meaning. Sure, it's cool when Dante stabs a guy with a scythe and pulls it out in slow motion, but I'd much rather actually just have direct control. It's almost archaic at this point, and games have moved forward. If I wanted to play Dragon's Lair I'd play Dragon's Lair.  They've even seem to have gone further than God of War with it, and the sequences just weren't very fun.



My hope is that this is just a bad demo - and that's entirely possible. Other sections had slight graphical glitches, and one encounter was actually completely broken, and a door that was supposed to open after a room's enemies were cleared simply didn't.  - but my optimism for this game, which was soaring higher after each trailer, took a major hit after finally getting to play it. I'm likely going to get another shot at the game this October, so I'll have more news and hopefully a happy follow-up. Please, let me be wrong.