EA confirms Dante's Inferno game

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 December, 2008

Divine inspiration.

Electronic Arts has confirmed reports that its Redwood Shores studio is working on a Dante's Inferno game.

It's described as a third-person action-adventure adaptation of the first canticle of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

EA has yet to confirm formats or a release date, but the studio's last outing - Dead Space - was for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

As EA points out, The Divine Comedy is "widely considered to have defined the western world's contemporary conception of hell and purgatory", as seen in the likes of Se7en and Aldi.

In the poem, Dante is led through hell and purgatory by the Roman poet Virgil (perhaps there'll be headset banter), and then his missus trots him through heaven, although it doesn't sound like EA plans to do that bit.

There were nine circles of hell in all - limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery - where Alighieri brought poetic justice to the likes of fortune-tellers and money-lenders, who, judging by that BBC documentary on the Medici family the other day, weren't his favourite people.

(Incidentally, you could just read Wikipedia yourself - we've no real education).

In terms of EA's adaptation, for now all we've got to go on is a trailer on the official website (also now on Eurogamer TV, featuring a lot of dark imagery and concluding with a character, presumably Dante, caving a pleading demon's head in with a crucifix.

We've also got the words of executive producer Jonathan Knight. "The time is right for the world of interactive entertainment to adapt this literary masterpiece, and to re-introduce Dante to an audience that, until now, may have been unfamiliar with the remarkable details of this great work of art," said Knight. "It's the perfect opportunity to fuse great gameplay with great story."

Since Redwood Shores wrapped Dead Space some time ago, we can also assume that members of that team have since shifted over to help unleash hell.

Like Dead Space, there's also talk of cinematic action to back it up, with Variety recently claiming that Universal outbid rivals to secure film rights to the EA game.

Look out for more on Dante's Inferno soon.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • drumbaby #1 3 years ago

    DMC5 confirmed.

  • space_ace #2 3 years ago

    capcom should sue

  • neilka #3 3 years ago

    I look forward to the War and Peace FPS.

  • Farfarer #4 3 years ago

    I'm all for doing cool and strange things with games... but EA's Dante's Inferno? Some things should be left well enough alone.

  • Malek86 #5 3 years ago

    Being italian I know my Divina Commedia, it's a mandatory subject in pretty much every high school here.

    But hey, I never thought I would see Dante going around with guns, shooting demons and stuff. During those boring lessons, I always thought it would've been cool if it were like that. But I never thought I would actually see that idea come to life. Now I have a chance to see how it turns out to be (probably bad, but hey).

    I wonder if it's' going have Cagnazzo as a giant turtle.

  • the_dudefather #6 3 years ago

    Of Mice and men MMO please :D

    its from the same dudes who did dead space, so might turn out good

  • Tomo #7 3 years ago

    Well, I reckon EA deserve another hearty pat on the back for more intriguing original IP. Ok, so there's a bit of creative licence at play but could be very good. Looks like a God of War/DMC kind of vibe though which isn't really up my street sadly.

  • guernican #8 3 years ago

    With added Christian values and religious brainwashing by stealth? Lovely. Although it clearly won't be exploring the "turn the other cheek ethos", from the looks of it.

    Can open, worms everywhere. Next for development...

    A Midsummer Night's Dream: Puck's Revenge
    Faust: the Videogame
    Great Expectations HD
    Steppenwolf Goes Postal
    Anna Karenina: After The Train

  • Eraysor #9 3 years ago

    I just hope Nero isn't in this one.

  • romanista #10 3 years ago

    lasciate ogni sperzanze,voi ch'intrate

  • illusiondance #11 3 years ago

    "Karenina: After The Train"

    heh heh, nice one.

  • Daryoon #12 3 years ago

    In the poem, Dante is led through hell and purgatory by the Roman poet Virgil (perhaps there'll be headset banter), and then his missus trots him through heaven, although it doesn't sound like EA plans to do that bit.

    Nor Purgatory, if they're making Dante Inferno, which is the Hell portion. Purgatory comes in, oddly enough, Purgatorio.

    /James May

  • Gnort #13 3 years ago

    I wonder if it's' going have Cagnazzo as a giant turtle.

    I'll bet you'll be able to flip him over and strike his weak point for massive damage if it does.

  • StooMonster #14 3 years ago

    Will it be a remake of the old Denton Designs' Dante's Inferno published by Beyond in 1986 for the Commodore 64?

  • Farzlepot #15 3 years ago

    'Action-adventure'? Those boffins haven't even read the damn thing!

  • ExplodingClown #16 3 years ago

    +1 Stoomonster! I loved that game but never got past the rock-hard maze full of vicious dogs after you'd crossed the river Phlegethon. Hurrah!