NYCC 2010: Visceral Wants To Make Dante's Purgatory

[Greg Tito]

NYCC 2010: Visceral Wants To Make Dante's Purgatory

No plans are set in stone, but if it was up to a producer at Visceral Games, he would make a Dante's Purgatory.

Ever since Divine Comedy [http://www.amazon.com/Dantes-Inferno-Xbox-360/dp/B001NX4DUQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286810418&sr=1-2]. The epic poem by Dante Alighieri is actually told in three parts, only the first of which deals with Hell while the other two has Dante travelling to Purgatory and then Heaven. Wouldn't it be cool to have a videogame trilogy that featured each location? It seems that I wasn't the only one with that notion. I asked producer Zach Mumbach about his plans for a sequel and he said that if it was up to him, he'd make it in a heartbeat.

"I'd like to. It's up in the air, I think," Mumbach said at New York Comic Con. "It's tricky because the Inferno was such a cool environment. Hell sort of sells itself. When you start talking about Purgatory and Paradise, it's like, where do you go [with that?]"

But luckily there is a lot fo great source material to draw from. "Dante, just like the Inferno, has a very specific description of his Purgatory. It's obviously not nearly as horrific as his descriptions of Hell. You'd have to add a lot more."

Without getting too spoilerific, the ending of Visceral's Dante's Inferno definitely left the door open for them to make a sequel. "That was the idea. Let's make sure we leave this sorta open to follow with it if we wanted to."

Ultimately though, Mumbach said the decision isn't his to make. "I don't make those decisions, I just make videogames. I make what they tell me to make," Mumbach said. I don't know if it's his bosses at Visceral that will give the greenlight on that project or if it needs an OK from the publisher EA.

But I do know that Mumbach himself is interested and has already given thought to how a Dante's Purgatory could be done. "It would be easy enough to come up with a plot. We'll see," Mumbach said with a smile. "If it was up to me, I'd do it."

It would certainly be interesting to see a videogame set in such a different setting like Purgatory so let's hope that Mumbach gets his wish.





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[Vigilantis]

Please do, Dantes Infernos gameplay was mediocre but god damn did I love it. From start to end that game was badass. The only problem I see is that Dante is pretty much out of fire and into a nice fluffy cake compared to the last game.

And for those of you who think this game just deminishes the book...come on its just the same as a reboot...a retelling of the story and quite honestly I loved it and I'm sure plenty of others did too.

And to EA...if you gotta completely rip apart the Divine Comedy's Purgatory and Paradise to make it into a dark, gruesome story and gameplay then do it.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

PLEASE!!!!!!! QUIT RAPING DANTE ALIGHIERI! PLLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEEEEZ!!!!!

These people are officially WORSE than George Lucas!

It's not rape if he can't say "no."

I'm not sure how to feel about this news. I've never played the original game, so I can't make any judgements on whether or not it needs a sequel. Still, if there's demand for it, let them have at it, I suppose.

 

[Jumplion]

I've played Dante's Inferno and it was mediocre at best. Not "horrible" or anything, but it was just insanely average and it became a complete joke once I found out I could just spam the Holy Cross button for the rest of the game.

I'd be interesting to see how they'd make Purgatorio or whatever, but we'll see.

 

[GonzoFish]

Purgatory!? Have these people even read the divine comedy? Purgatory is easily the most boring book out of all of them. It is literally people who were good in life waiting around on a mountain. Sure some of them have their eyes wired shut for delaying their repentance until shortly before dying, but still.

At least Inferno had demons and terrifying imagery that they had to work with even if they did bastardize the story. Dante depicts purgatory as god's moderately unpleasant waiting room. There is nothing there to make a good action game out of. Its was pain in the ass to read, and it will be a pain in the ass to play.

 

[Jaebird]

I'm probably in the minority of people who liked the game for what it is, and I for one would like to see it continue.

Spoilers, for those who haven't beaten the game, nor watch the animated film:

Spoiler

After defeating Lucifer, Dante emerges into Purgatory. Following this, he walks out of a cave to the view of Mount Purgatory. After which, he tears off the now burned tabard he sewn to his chest and tosses it aside. The camera follows the cloth as it drifts to the ground, turns into a snake and slithers off. Maniacal laughter is then heard.

Here is what I would like to see happen, since it is already difficult to come up with a plot for more games. Following the ending of the aforementioned spoiler, something terrible can happen on Mount Purgatory, and the blame will fall on Dante. And, since Purgatory is about redemption for some souls, the powers that be will charge Dante to fix the problem. Said problem can then extend all the way toward Heaven itself, at the risk of copying all of God of War (cliffhanger ending in 2, then 3 starts from there), but hopefully differentiates from it.

I'm sure someone will pick apart this plot-line I just made up on the spot and tell me how wrong I am, but I won't fret over it.

See, I actually am reading The Divine Comedy (not as much, though), and I like the stupefied story in the game. I mean, the book is great for it's depictions of Hell, but it's mostly the writer's political and religious soapbox, which bogs the story down, in my opinion.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Oh man, if Dante's Purgatorio is made, I won't even be able to play it due to all the finger crossing I'm doing right now. He'd better keep his scythe; I know it wasn't the first game to use the scythe but it was the first to do it the way it did. I mean, Dante could swing with style. The blade could hinge, the staff sould collapse and extend. And it was pretty cool looking too. The staff was freaking verebrae.

 

[Xanadu84]

Purgatory!? Have these people even read the divine comedy? Purgatory is easily the most boring book out of all of them.

Woah, woah, lets not get crazy...

Paradise...did you read paradise? Dante looks at light, says he loves God. Moves a little, sees more lights, says how great God is. The closest thing to a plot is him worrying that later on, he might be arrogant for being shown Heaven. But he can't do that in heaven...oh no...because by definition, if you define plot as a conflict, then heaven can't have a plot. At least purgatory has levels with "bad" guys who have been tortured, and a sense of needing to overcome an obstacle. And there is some interesting punishments. But paradise would be like an episode of Barney, except replace all the characters and actors with dots of light, and even more sacchrine.

 

[Jaebird]

I'm probably in the minority of people who liked the game for what it is, and I for one would like to see it continue.

Spoilers, for those who haven't beaten the game, nor watch the animated film:

Spoiler

After defeating Lucifer, Dante emerges into Purgatory. Following this, he walks out of a cave to the view of Mount Purgatory. After which, he tears off the now burned tabard he sewn to his chest and tosses it aside. The camera follows the cloth as it drifts to the ground, turns into a snake and slithers off. Maniacal laughter is then heard.

Here is what I would like to see happen, since it is already difficult to come up with a plot for more games. Following the ending of the aforementioned spoiler, something terrible can happen on Mount Purgatory, and the blame will fall on Dante. And, since Purgatory is about redemption for some souls, the powers that be will charge Dante to fix the problem. Said problem can then extend all the way toward Heaven itself, at the risk of copying all of God of War (cliffhanger ending in 2, then 3 starts from there), but hopefully differentiates from it.

I agree with you Luicfer is going to do something he wanted out of hell so he take over the kingdom of Purgatory.

Dante would need new clothes,weapons and abilities because his old stuff only worked in Hell.

Now that you mention it, I can see Dante earning weapons, items and abilities based on which plateau he's on. Also, think of the puzzle possibilities. Inferno had a lot of visually interesting puzzles, even if some were simple.

 

[Darks63]

what enemies would u even find in purgatory? and how would u sell the concept of conflict in a place of pennace and meditation?

 

[Souplex]

How would that work? Isn't purgatory basically a giant waiting room?

 

[Something Amyss]

I wonder what kind of QTEs will be involved in Paradiso. Purgatory's weird enough, but we have to go for a trilogy here, people.

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Maybe we can have a Salvation War thing going on, with evil god. Or maybe corruption is seeping into Purgatory?

 

[Snarky Username]

How would that work? Isn't purgatory basically a giant waiting room?

Well it's not like they were very true to the book on the first game. I don't remember any parts where Dante started kicking ass and/or taking names.

 

[Weaver]

PLEASE!!!!!!! QUIT RAPING DANTE ALIGHIERI! PLLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEEEEZ!!!!!

These people are officially WORSE than George Lucas!

I also find it a pleasant co-incidence that the name Dante is also the main character's name of the Devil May Cry series as the games are very similar.

 

[mParadox]

This could actually spawn a puzzle game!

Exactly how does that work is beyond me!

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

How would that work? Isn't purgatory basically a giant waiting room?

Well it's not like they were very true to the book on the first game. I don't remember any parts where Dante started kicking ass and/or taking names.

Yeah. If one thing can be said that every one agrees on its that the game had damn near nothing to do with the book. Dante Algeretti is ready to come down from heaven and kick viscerals ass for all the butchering/duming down. but puratory holds promise. True merit for prehaps an open world game (if they wanted to switch it up) and for an interesting plot.

Maybe we can have a Salvation War thing going on, with evil god. Or maybe corruption is seeping into Purgatory?

I like this idea especially