EA started the Dante’s Inferno panel by giving us an overview of what The Divine Comedy is. If you’re interested in learning more, then check out the Wikipedia entry on it. The game is based on Dante’s work so while it’s not an exact retelling, it will have elements that people will be able to recognize from The Divine Comedy. Plus, if the game was exactly like The Divine Comedy, then it would just be text adventure game with Dante talking to people the entire time.

Dante’s Inferno begins with Dante killing Death and taking Death’s scythe. Dante then returns home to find that his fiancée, Beatrice, murdered and Lucifer has seduced her into Hell. This is what causes Dante to break through the gates of Hell and go through the nine circles of Hell to rescue his love.

Have you noticed that cross that’s on Dante’s chest? It’s actually tapestry sewn into his chest and each seam marks a sin he has committed in his life. As Dante goes through the circles of Hell, he will have to deal with the sins of his past in some form. He must face his past sins and redeem himself on his quest to rescue his true love, who we soon find out was also full of sin herself.

Dante’s Inferno holds a lot of potential. The game is being developed at EARS where Dead Space was developed at, two of the developers on the team have worked on Half-Life 2, Oddworld, God of War II and Metroid Prime and EA’s recent track record should leave gamers with some confidence that the game will turn out great.

And as far as the God of War comparisons go, one of the EA reps talking (I believe it was Jonathan Knight) at the panel said that they are flattered to be compared to God of War and were surprised that they don’t get more Devil May Cry comparisons. Oh, and one thing that I thought was pretty cool was the premise behind the Charon, the ferryman of Hades. Charon is the man who takes souls across the river to the other side. For the game, they've transformed Charon into a living boat.

There's a few versions of the Charon boat design as well as some other behind-the-scenes look at Dante's Inferno in the gallery. Check it out ... or go to Hell!