��� ��� ��� ���
Gaming
Artists at Visceral Games
take players to the
depths of the netherworld in Dante���s Inferno
By Karen Moltenbrey
In the 14th century, Dante Alighieri set the world ablaze
with his allegorical tale ���The Divine Comedy,��� an imaginative epic poem that describes his journey, as the main
character, through the three realms of the dead: Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise. The piece is considered one of
the greatest examples of world literature, serving as an
inspiration for many artists throughout the past several
centuries, from Geo���rey Chaucer and John Milton, to
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Karl Marx, and T.S. Eliot. And more recently, the 3D artists at Visceral Games,
which used ���The Divine Comedy��� as the basis for its
Dante���s Inferno computer game.
���Dante���s Inferno is a big, epic action/adventure game
that���s loosely based upon Part One of ���The Divine Comedy,��� ��� says Jonathan Knight, executive producer/creative
director of the title. In fact, it is Knight who is credited
for the game���s conception.
The original literary work presented a spiritual journey in which Dante, halfway through his life, becomes
assailed by three wild beasts after becoming lost in a
dark forest. He is led from the woods by the Roman
poet Virgil, ���rst to Hell and then Purgatory, where
24
May 2010
Artists at Visceral Games looked to
the macabre when designing Dante���s
Inferno, an interactive re-imagining
of ���The Divine Comedy.���
