14 DAY TRIAL // Right from the beginning, Dante's Inferno announced itself as a game that wouldn't shy away from graphics or explicit content. After all, the studio behind the title is Visceral Games, and its name reflects very well its mentality, as we've already seen in Dead Space. Across several developers' diaries, the people that worked to give the game a shape, form and soul admitted that they wanted to produce something that would make people flinch in horror. As they said themselves, the game took place in Hell, and this is supposed to be the most horrific, gruesome and visceral place imaginable.
So, while the title would have one hell of a time passing an Australian Review Board's review, the ESRB has let it slide with a Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity and Sexual Content. But the exact description and rating review made by the ESRB is quite an insightful one and, while the things it reveals aren't all than new or shocking, they are more than worth a look at, as they're bound to stir a good chuckle.
We already know that, for Dante, so as to rescue, Beatrice he'll have to hack and slash his way through the horrors of Hell, but the ESRB shows in quite minute detail the actual battles. “Blood often splatters out of monsters' bodies when attacked; weakened monsters can be finished off with a set of commands leading to tongue-evisceration, but more often, some version of dismemberment. Amidst the sounds of moaning, drowning, crying, and chastising, some bizarre creatures appear (a veritable monster's ball), accentuating the surreal nature of the game.”
Another terror of the Circles is represented by the “unblessed infants” with sharp blades-for-arms zealously attacking Dante in “dark spaces,” and, since you have to defeat and kill these monsters, some might find this disturbing. But the ESRB doesn't think it's really that bad, as it casually lets it pass by saying that, “These 'unbaptized' demons resemble babies only in size, as they tend to hack, slash, scream, and impale/get impaled as often as taller demons.” So, the message it sends is that it's OK if they're too young, as long as they act like adults.
Violence isn't the only thing that made the game be rated M, so there are other elements in the picture as well. Just like with violence, the hilarity issues attempt to describe these things in a very pedagogic manner and language. “During another, [sequence] 'shade minions' in high heels moan lustfully—in the Lust level—as tentacles protrude from their stomachs, their lower regions.” And, while Ninja Gaiden went half-way, Dante's Inferno eliminates any form of sexism as, “There are equivalent physics applied to female/male body parts.” Of course, this is all for the sake of art, and realism in video games.