Visceral Games has confirmed that a sequel to Dante’s Inferno is not underway and there are currently no plans to create one.

When asked by website Joystiq whether gamers would see adaptations of poet Dante Alighieri’s other works in the Divine Comedy – Paradiso and Purgatory – Visceral’s Zach Mumbach replied, “I'm sure that if enough people are like, 'I got 60 dollars for Purgatory or Paradiso,' then we would make that game. But I don't know. I don't get to make those decisions.”

Dante’s Inferno received middling marks from critics and a bit of heat from vocal gamers. That no doubt came as a great disappointment to publisher Electronic Arts who made a multi-million dollar marketing push for the game, including the purchase of extremely expensive advertising during Super Bowl.

Accompanying the retail release of Dante’s Inferno is a trailer for the game’s upcoming downloadable content pack, The Trials of Saint Lucia.

Available on the 29th of April, the pack adds a new character, online co-operative play and player-created trials.

In the game, Dante must pass a series of trials – gameplay challenges similar to set-piece achievements – before advancing into the blackest depths of Hell. With the DLC, players will be able to create their own versions of these and upload them to a community site where they’ll be ranked.

 

Visceral Games and Electronic Arts have today announced that the playable demo for Dante’s Inferno will be available as a free download on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on December 24.

Dante’s Inferno takes gamers on a quest through hell, in an adaptation of part one of Dante Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy. The ‘Gates of Hell’ demo includes the entire opening level and gives gamers a taste of the odyssey to come in the Nine Circles of Hell as depicted in the full game.

In the demo of Dante’s Inferno, players are introduced to Dante Alighieri’s re-imagined past as a crusader who returns home to Florence to discover his true love, Beatrice, murdered. As her soul escapes her body, she is kidnapped by the dark shadow form of Lucifer. Sworn to her rescue, Dante must journey to the Gates of Hell and beyond to battle undead monstrosities, unholy boss demons, and Death himself. Offering a glimpse into the world of Dante’s Inferno, the demo serves as a prelude to the player’s journey to the inner bowels of hell.

 

Visceral Games have announced this morning that a playable demo of Dante’s Inferno will be available on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in December.

The ‘Gates of Hell’ demo will allow players to control the namesake character, Dante Alighieri, as he descends from the surface to the threshold of Hell in a battle that will culminate in an encounter with Death.

 

Arriving at the offices of Electronic Arts NZ for a Dante's Inferno video conference, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

There's been little discussion around this new venture for EA's Redwood Shores studio, other than the obvious association with the medieval text known as The Divine Comedy.

Written by Florentine poet Dante Alighieri in the early 14th century, this remarkable work of literature formed the basis for the medieval worldview of the afterlife, and painted a pretty grim picture of what lied in wait for those who strayed from the path of good. Hell, as depicted by Dante, consisted of nine concentric circles, each worse the one one preceding it, where sinners would be punished according to their particular sin. For all eternity. Which, in the words of Rowan Atkinson, is "a heck of a long time".