Dante’s Inferno is a 2010 hack and slash video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released on February 9, 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. On March 1, 2010, the game was released for the Playstation Portable. It’s based on the 14th century poem Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The ending of the game was a tease for Purgatorio, the second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which was supposed to come in a sequel, but eventually the sequel was cancelled.
Dante's Inferno going live picture.
Dante, a Templar knight, is haunted by the sins he committed during the Crusades. Tasked with protecting prisoners during a mission to retrieve the True Cross, he brutally murders them, believing them to be heretics, only to be betrayed and stabbed by an assassin. Death appears to condemn Dante for his actions, but he refuses his fate, kills Death, and takes his scythe. After sewing a tapestry of his sins onto his chest, he returns home to find his lover, Beatrice, and his father murdered. Beatrice’s soul is captured by Lucifer, who drags her to Hell. Determined to save her, Dante blesses the holy cross she gave him and begins his descent into the underworld.
At the Gates of Hell, Dante meets Virgil, who offers to guide him through the Nine Circles of Hell in exchange for Beatrice’s praise in Heaven. Dante boards the living ferry Charon to cross the River Acheron and slays it to force his passage. In the first circle, Limbo, Dante faces King Minos, the judge of the damned, who declares him beyond salvation. Refusing the judgment, Dante kills Minos and enters the second circle, Lust, where he witnesses Beatrice being corrupted by Lucifer. He faces the temptations of Lust, battling and defeating Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony. In Gluttony, the third circle, Dante slays the guardian Cerberus and learns the truth about Beatrice and his father’s deaths.
Dante's Inferno starting screen.
Dante’s journey through Hell continues as he battles his own past and faces each of the deadly sins. In Greed, he encounters his father, Alighiero, and absolves him after a fierce confrontation. In Anger, Dante fights a colossal demon, Phlegyas, and learns that Beatrice’s soul is in Hell because she wagered on his faithfulness, which he betrayed. Heartbroken, she joins Lucifer, sealing her damnation. Dante presses on, traversing the City of Dis and passing through Heresy, the sixth circle, and Violence, the seventh, where he absolves his mother’s soul. In Fraud, he endures Beatrice’s trials and overcomes the challenges of the Malebolge.
At the entrance to the ninth circle, Treachery, Dante faces his deepest sins. He recalls slaughtering prisoners out of rage and how his brother-in-law Francesco died taking the blame. Realizing he is damned, he confesses his sins, leading to Beatrice’s redemption as she is restored to her original form. She ascends to Heaven with the promise that Dante’s redemption is near.
In the final confrontation, Dante reaches Lake Cocytus, where he faces the three-faced demon Lucifer, who is chained in the ice. After defeating the giant demon, Lucifer reveals that Dante’s actions have freed him from his imprisonment. In a climactic battle, Dante overcomes Lucifer and traps him again, aided by the souls he has absolved. As he ascends from Hell, Dante emerges in Purgatory, removing the tapestry from his chest as he prepares for the next stage of his journey, leaving the story with a promise of more to come.
