Dante’s Inferno. Known by many, read by some, and truly understood by few. Regarded as one of the instrumental medieval pieces of literature in establishing the centralized world view of the Christian afterlife. It is probably one of the most masterfully written historical and political texts of its time as well. The depth of meaning, symbolism, and political commentary are astounding.

ZOMG GUYZ LET’S MAKE IT INTO A VIDEO GAME LOLOLOLOLOL!

While I have to admit the trailer looks beautiful (and appropriately next-gen with a full spectrum of browns, brownish-yellows, and brownish-greens) it also makes me feel somewhat sick. As a literature major, I’ve bumped into Dante’s Divine Comedy several times. Each read-through brought more depth and insight into a world that existed almost 700 years ago.

The nine levels of Hell Dante creates are so meticulously detailed in all their horrific splendor that they’re practically begging to be constructed. However, to make a game bearing the same name as the historical work implies that it will simply be a poor copy of what is considered one of the greatest literary works of all time. This I have some issues with.

For those unfamiliar with the epic poem, Inferno begins with Dante lost in a wood (often thought to represent contemplation of suicide) when he is rescued from three symbolic beasts by Virgil. Virgil then becomes Dante’s tour guide of hell. Dante has nothing to fear from the dead, as he is still alive and the dead can’t harm the living. He is a guest of Hell, and the purpose of the visit is to simply uncover the mysteries of the afterlife. The political commentary was woven in by including recently deceased political figures in certain circles of Hell who Dante recognizes and speaks with.

The videogame version takes all of the elements of Dante’s Inferno and and warps them to fit a 3rd-person action genre. The main character is still Dante, though seemingly in name only. Instead of being a 35-year-old political and literary figure (as he was in his time) he is now a burly young…magician warrior?

Pushsquare.com has some details:

• Dante Aligheri, the Florentine poet of whom the game is based upon, has been turned into a ‘œmuscular six foot knight with magic powers’ to suit the tone of the game. Dante is fighting his way through Hell to save his lost love Beatrice, who has been murdered and wrongly sent to the underworld.
• One of the first boss encounters takes place in ‘œLimbo’, an area of lost souls who are agonisingly close to God but can never reach Him due to a life of non-believing. It’s here that Dante fights Death himself and steals his magical scythe before plunging into the underworld.

This is a horrible mish-mash of Greek and Christian beliefs. Inferno was a book based on the Christian faith, where any characterization of “Death” was purely allegorical. The story line of Dante saving his beloved Beatrice (based off of Beatrice Portinari, whom Dante fell in love within real life)  is much closer to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridice. What’s funny is that in Dante’s Divine Comedy, he doesn’t see Beatrice in Hell at all–in fact, she serves as his guide in the higher levels of Heaven!

The issue here is really the manipulation of the literary title into a marketing tool instead of as a true inspiration for the game. They are calling this “Dante’s Inferno” and naming the main character Dante,  when the game will embody neither a true depiction of the levels of Hell and their meaning for Christianity, nor an accurate portrayal of Dante as a historical figure and poet. God of War, based off of Greek mythology, at least had the initiative to create its own main character and story that simply melded into the preconceived world. The name of Dante is being used for marketing, as consumers tend to prefer a name that they recognize (as proved in a marketing study by Dr. Robert Kent called “Competitive interference effects in consumer memory for advertising: the role of brand familiarity”). The character, for all intents and purposes, is not Dante.

Maybe I’m taking this all a little too seriously. I grudgingly admit, the trailer is visually stunning. However, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth to see game designers taking a brilliant idea and manipulating it to fit their own marketing schemes. It’s like taking a normal balloon and trying to make it into a balloon animal. In the end, someone’s just going to end up crying….and it will probably be me.