Dante’s Inferno: You might have read the epic poem, now play the epic video game!
December 16, 2008 by Tech-Marky
Filed under Video Games
EA Redwood Shores, makers of Dead Space, are about to turn away from outer space and go to the underworld. The company has just announced a third-person action title called Dante’s Inferno.
Its tough to come up with new ideas for video games, but I think it is better to get inspiration from Fourteenth Century master works rather than the latest flash-in-the-pan movie. For those who aren’t familiar with this masterpiece, The Inferno is one of three parts of The Divine Comedy, a long poem by Dante Alighieri.
In The Divine Comedy, the poet is taken on a trip through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, in that order. Since there isn’t really any combat in this poem, I can imagine that certain creative liberties will be taken in this adaptation.
Believe it or not, Universal has actually bid on movie rights for this game, beating out Paramount, New Regency, MGM, and Warner Bros. You might want to check out the trailer below, as it appears horror in video game has been taken to a new level. How could you not? The game’s tagline is go to hell, for crying out loud.
It appears that EA is planning for a hit with this. I can’t wait to see what other masterworks from the Middle Ages will be adapted into video games. Perhaps The Canterbury Tales or The Song of Roland. How about Doctor Faustus, where you must make a deal with the devil and fight to get yours? Bound to be a hit.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSMPmuXzrgQ[/youtube]
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Thomas on Sun, 8th Mar 2009 11:02 am
Didn’t this niche already get filled by Diablo? Maybe I’m a purist, but I think this is a little bit more than creative liberty. Dante spent most of the Inferno cowering behind Virgil as he got taken through a perfectly safe tour of watching people that he hated receive horrible torture. I dunno, the whole idea is just kind of bleh to me.