Dante's Inferno: the video game
A couple of people have pointed out Dante's Inferno: the video game, since I was vaguely thinking about making a game based around Inferno as well. However, there are some subtle differences between the game as it currently stands, and the poem. Here's a quick guide for telling the difference between The Divine Comedy, three poems published by Dante Alighieri in the 14th Century, and Dante's Inferno: the video game:
Poem: Dante, an essentially good man, finds that he has strayed from the correct path -- he has become too worldly, accepting God in name only. As a sinner, he cannot repent and go directly back on the path of righteousness: He must first recognise, and then renounce, his sin. As part of this process, he is led through Hell, Purgatory, and finally to Heaven. The journey is both real and metaphorical: to recognise his own sin he must understand and accept God's punishment of the sins of others. The poem is intensely political, reflecting the tumultuous politics of Italy at the time -- Dante encounters historical figures and his political enemies at every level of Hell. Dante's logical and emotional reaction to these tortured souls is critical to his progression, both physically and spiritually.
Game: You're a guy and you get to stab things with a cross. Every so often you encounter a boss and you have to kill him in order to free lost souls so they can return to Purgatory.
As a game based on the poems, I think it's going to suck. Inferno is really only incidentally about Hell: it's a landscape which mirrors the condition of Dante's soul rather than a tangible place. Neither the author nor his guide commits any act of violence and, in fact, Dante cannot interact with the souls, as he is corporeal and they are not. It's obvious (I did it) to look at Inferno and see game-like concepts: there are nine circles, each one themed; there are various boss-like characters; the world is nicely filled with thousands of non-speaking NPCs plus a handful of more detailed characters; and it's set in Hell, which means there is a rich and accessible cultural heritage to draw from. But if you put all that together, you don't get Inferno, you get Doom, or God of War, or whatever. These are great games, but they're not Inferno, they're genero-Western-culture mashups. It's not even like someone could claim that they were re-using Dante's imagery, because he didn't come up with most of it. His genius was in re-using it to tell his story.
Anyway, I could be wrong and, to be fair, it's far too early to tell. There are lots of themes in the poem which are still relevant today (such as that of making best use of your time on Earth), but some which only make sense in a religious context (such as "human reason can only take us so far and to go further requires God's grace") -- which, I suspect, EA won't be keen to put in a mass-market game.
Sorry to go all Roger Ebert (ref) on this, but I had the same sort of idea about Inferno to start with: cool! Each level reflects a sin, there are lots of different monsters, awesome theme for a game! Then I actually read the book.
Poem: Dante, an essentially good man, finds that he has strayed from the correct path -- he has become too worldly, accepting God in name only. As a sinner, he cannot repent and go directly back on the path of righteousness: He must first recognise, and then renounce, his sin. As part of this process, he is led through Hell, Purgatory, and finally to Heaven. The journey is both real and metaphorical: to recognise his own sin he must understand and accept God's punishment of the sins of others. The poem is intensely political, reflecting the tumultuous politics of Italy at the time -- Dante encounters historical figures and his political enemies at every level of Hell. Dante's logical and emotional reaction to these tortured souls is critical to his progression, both physically and spiritually.
Game: You're a guy and you get to stab things with a cross. Every so often you encounter a boss and you have to kill him in order to free lost souls so they can return to Purgatory.
As a game based on the poems, I think it's going to suck. Inferno is really only incidentally about Hell: it's a landscape which mirrors the condition of Dante's soul rather than a tangible place. Neither the author nor his guide commits any act of violence and, in fact, Dante cannot interact with the souls, as he is corporeal and they are not. It's obvious (I did it) to look at Inferno and see game-like concepts: there are nine circles, each one themed; there are various boss-like characters; the world is nicely filled with thousands of non-speaking NPCs plus a handful of more detailed characters; and it's set in Hell, which means there is a rich and accessible cultural heritage to draw from. But if you put all that together, you don't get Inferno, you get Doom, or God of War, or whatever. These are great games, but they're not Inferno, they're genero-Western-culture mashups. It's not even like someone could claim that they were re-using Dante's imagery, because he didn't come up with most of it. His genius was in re-using it to tell his story.
Anyway, I could be wrong and, to be fair, it's far too early to tell. There are lots of themes in the poem which are still relevant today (such as that of making best use of your time on Earth), but some which only make sense in a religious context (such as "human reason can only take us so far and to go further requires God's grace") -- which, I suspect, EA won't be keen to put in a mass-market game.
Sorry to go all Roger Ebert (ref) on this, but I had the same sort of idea about Inferno to start with: cool! Each level reflects a sin, there are lots of different monsters, awesome theme for a game! Then I actually read the book.