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File:Dante's Inferno.jpg
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"This game would actually make a good recruiting tool for Christianity. Never has saving someone's soul been so hardcore! I'm sitting there on the good play through, and I'm forgiving every enemy I can, and going 'I forgive the shit out of you!' and 'mutha fucka, you just got forgiven' and 'oh, you little bastard, I'm gonna forgive you for that!' and the always good 'go to heaven fucker!' I just wish you could forgive the lust demons. Heaven would be so much better with those sexy bitches in it."

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The Inferno part of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy is one of the most well-known, well-referenced pieces of work today. It described in great detail Dante's vision of what hell would be like, and in doing so invented many of the tropes associated with Hell. This has led to several film adaptations, theme park rides, and — in this case — a video game "adaptation."

Rumored and announced midway through 2009 for a release date in February 2010, the game is about Dante, a fresh veteran of the Third Crusade, chasing after the kidnapped love of his life, Beatrice, through the Nine Circles of Hell while tearing the place — and the demons which inhabit it — to little pieces. Unlike Dante Alighieri, this Dante is muscle-bound, an expert magic wielder, and (after the first boss) carries Death's Scythe itself. As he descends deeper and deeper into the Inferno, he must confront his own sins, war crimes, and his family's past, and eventually faces off with Lucifer himself, who has kidnapped Beatrice in order to wed her and break free of Hell.

A DLC titled "Trials of St. Lucia" was released on April 29th, 2010.

Tropes used in Dante's Inferno (video game) include:
  • Adaptation Distillation: The sinners Dante encounters in the book are all there, and you get the option of forgiving them or smiting them. They even say a lot of the same things. Virgil's speeches are mostly accurate. Even the original political satire survived mostly intact ("In these popes and cardinals, greed suffered its excess") The design of the Nine Circles in game is actually quite accurate with Alighieri's descriptions (except for the level of Greed, and the changes there are understandable). About the only thing that's really different is Dante himself, and the whole "Famous pagans as lords of hell" thing. Also, a few politically incorrect things, like Mohammad in hell, and crusaders in heaven have been taken out as well.
    • The Gates of Hell. The Gate itself was modeled after Auguste Rodin's Gates of Hell, which was described in Dante's Inferno to have a sign at the top that read a poem[1] about Hell. The sign itself was removed from the Door and is instead spoken by Charon (who is also half-demon half-ship and not a boatman demon)
  • The Anime of the Game: Here called Dante's Inferno: The Animated Epic.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: A number of the demons, like those in Gluttony.
  • Art Shift: The Anime of the Game goes through at least four different art styles over the course of the story. Most notable with Vergil, who goes through the most drastic changes in appearance each time.
  • The Atoner: Dante. When Death tells him that not only is he damned, but everyone he loved, he goes on a quest, not only to redeem himself, but everyone else he loves as well. Double Subverted at the end.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Cleopatra. Also Minos and Phlegyas.
  • Ax Crazy: Dante himself, during the Crusades.
  • Badass: Dante all the way. He starts off the game by killing Death and taking his scythe. He proceeds to fight his way through Hell, ultimately killing any and every demon that gets in his way. All as a baseline human, to boot.
    • He apparently gets it from his father, who, for all his faults, puts up a valiant fight against the unnamed assassin.
  • Batman Gambit: Beatrice is just Lucifer's bait to get Dante to destroy the chains holding him in Hell, as they are in Dante's way as he traverses Hell.
  • The Baroness: Cleopatra doubles with The Vamp (she is a succubus, after all).
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: Minos has two of them.
  • Big No: Lucifer.
  • Bishounen Line: Lucifer.
  • Bloody Bowels of Hell: Gluttony.
  • Building Swing: One of Dante's primary means of locomotion.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Subverted; Dante's father taunts him to do it, but Dante absolves him instead of punishing him. Dante's father's last words to his son are:
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"Go on, use me as an excuse! Blame me for everything!"

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  • Censor Steam: Subverted in the final cutscene.
  • Collapsing Lair: Lust and Heresy.
  • Combat Tentacles: Temptresses. You don't want to know the details.
  • Corrupt Church: Very much so, if the various Popes in Hell and the Large Ham bishop in the cutscenes are any evidence on the matter.
  • Crusading Widower: Dante.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Every time Dante rides a Beast or Phlegyas. The only enemies that are a threat while Beast riding are the Beast Tamers that try to retake control of the Beast. Everything else dies. The only challenge is deciding on how you want to slaughter your foes. Roast them with firebreath? Turn them into pancakes with your fists? Literally stomp on them? Eat them? It's a tough choice.
    • Also, between Dante and Death after Dante steals Death's scythe... and cuts him in half with it.
  • Dead All Along: Dante, of course.
  • Deadly Lunge: The disgustingly tubby Gluttons of the Third Circle are incredibly slow and easy to take down, but if you are distracted by other enemies, they may lumber towards you and snatch you up. If you fail the quicktime struggle, they eat you alive.
  • Deal with the Devil: Beatrice.
  • Demon Slaying: Considering that almost every enemy in the game is a demon, this is a given.
  • Demoted to Extra: Malebolge and Cocytus, which compared to the other circles are the less expanded levels. Many of the guardians of Hell in the original novel however appear as statues (like the Minotaur, Geryon and Pluto).
  • Deranged Animation: The flashbacks to the Crusades.
  • Did Not Do the Research: In Dis, Virgil explains that the heretics are locked into coffins that will open only on the Judgment's Day. In the original novel, the coffins were open and would eventually close only after the world's end.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Dante has a long resume of this.
  • Dirty Old Man: Dante's father.
  • The Determinator: Dante starts out his quest by killing Death, the proceeds to bring a one man holy war down upon all of the legions of hell that dare to stand in his way, up to and including the Devil himself.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The nameless assassin, in retaliation for Dante sleeping with his wife as part of a deal for freedom which Dante actually honored, a deal that she offered, kills Dante, travels all the way to Europe to find Dante's home, and kills Dante's father and his love Beatrice. His determination is nearly on Dante's level.
  • Damsel in Distress: Beatrice.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Lust is a Freudian nightmare, and it's not subtle about it.
  • Driven to Suicide: Well, the Suicides forest. At one point Dante is influenced by a demonic tree and, if not quick enough, kills himself.
  • Eat Me: Against Cerberus.
  • Enfant Terrible: The unbaptized babies are cute little babies with scythes for arms who want to kill you.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Dante is clearly shown to love his mom very much.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Cleopatra is genuinely grief-stricken when Dante kills Anthony. They did damn themselves to be together forever after all.
  • Eye Scream: Dante's father is murdered with a cross through his eye.
  • Fan Disservice: Lust, full-stop.
  • Fan Service: Beatrice is an Innocent Fanservice Girl. Dante also goes through the majority of the game shirtless, and is wholly naked at the end.
  • Fat Bastard: The Gluttonous demons and Dante's father.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Lucifer.
  • Fire and Brimstone Hell: You don't say.
    • Though actually is sometimes averted.
  • Follow the Leader: The developers are being pretty open about their God of War inspirations.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: Lucifer.
  • Good Is Not Nice: The Absolve finishers aren't too terribly less brutal than the Punish finishers. For those who haven't played the game, the Absolve finishers literally burn the sin out of the damned, causing them to explode in holy light.
  • The Grim Reaper: The first boss; he's sort of weak, actually, compared to the other things to be found in Hell.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Lucifer and the rest of Hell spend the entire game delivering one to Dante.
  • Heroic BSOD: Dante when he finds his mother in the Forest of Suicides, since he always thought she had died from a fever when he was a child.
  • Historical Domain Character: You find famous souls scattered about all over the place, such as Boudica, Attila the Hun, and a couple different Roman emperors, among others. In addition, there are a significant number of people present who were not famous, but whom the real life Dante had a personal beef with and so wrote into the original story to get back at.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: King Minos has his face split in half by his own spiked wheel.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Dante's trusty cross.
  • Horny Devils:
  • Infant Immortality: Completely, utterly averted: among the first monsters you meet are the unbaptised children of Limbo, little weeping babies with scythe blades instead of arms.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Beatrice.
  • Invulnerable Attack: Enemies will still try to attack Dante during a grab, but as long as you have started the kill animation — as opposed to still mulling whether to Punish or Absolve — any attack that is not another grab will just pass harmlessly through him.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Upon completing the Eighth Circle, Dante is told to face his sins of betrayal by the Queen of Hell, Beatrice. Believing himself eternally damned and Beatrice worthy of Heaven, Dante asks for forgiveness and places Beatrice's cross on the ground. This results in the restoration of Beatrice and her rescue by the archangel Michael, leaving Dante to face his final challenge.
  • Karma Houdini: The unnamed assassin never receives punishment for his killing spree.
  • Karma Meter: Albeit one with Gameplay and Story Segregation. You level up your cross and scythe depending on how you execute enemies. Absolving them earns you Holy points that give you more Cross moves to buy and "Punishing" them earns you Unholy points for scythe moves.
  • King Mook: Malacoda, a fiery demon. Fittingly enough he was the boss of the Malebranche devils.
  • The Knights Templar: Dante seems to have been one, judging by his uniform.
  • Large Ham: Many; King Minos, Lucifer, and the cutscene bishop are the most obvious examples.
    • One of the damned souls in Heresy gives us a fine exemple of scenery chewing:
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"What will become of MYY GOOD NYYAAAAAAMMMMEEE!?!!!"

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The DLC includes the following tropes:[]

  1. Through me the way to the suffering city; Through me the everlasting pain; Through me the way that runs among the Lost. Justice urged on my exalted Creator: Divine Power made me, The Supreme Wisdom and the Primal Love. Nothing was made before me but eternal things And I endure eternally. Abandon all hope - Ye Who Enter Here.
  2. plus Big Star and Digital E Mation
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