Psychological horror meets 15th-century poetry when 'The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline' comes to Xbox later this year

Shortly before his death, Italian poet Dante Alighieri would pen what we now call The Divine Comedy — a piece of art so masterful that it would eventually become known as one of the greatest works of Western literature.

The story is a combination of three epic poems into one cohesive story, imagining Dante’s travels through an afterlife that reflects the worldview of the 14th century.

Throughout the course of the poems, Dante’s soul moves through hell in Inferno, before entering purgatory in Purgatorio, and eventually heaven in Paradiso. While all three poems are a collective imagining of the afterlife, it is Dante’s Inferno that has become the most recognizable to modern audiences.

If you’ve played any games where hell is portrayed as having nine circles, for example, that likely was inspired by Dante’s Inferno. And that’s without even mentioning all of the references to the Divine Comedy in games like Capcom’s Devil May Cry series.

Despite already having spawned a plethora of media inspired by Dante’s lengthy epic poem, there’s still plenty of material for new takes on the story. Developed by ONE-O-ONE Games in partnership with Entalto Publishing, The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline manages to breathe fresh new life into this classic poem by creating an unsettling psychological horror by tossing out the idea that The Divine Comedy is merely just an old poem.

Instead, it is a warning.

"The Alighieri Circle" is Dante's Inferno from a new terrifying angle | Xbox Preview - YouTube

Watch On

The Alighieri Circle puts players in the shoes of Gabriele Alighieri, a living descendant of Dante himself. Dante’s heirs have long been cursed with the task of performing a ritual that has defined — and destroyed — the family for generations. Every 33 years, when the barrier between reality and Hell weakens, an Alighieri must complete The Ritual to protect the world from the horrors on the other side.

Gabriele does not see himself as a hero, regardless of what his bloodline decrees, and his relationship with the legacy he has inherited from Dante is a crushing weight in his life that he has spent many years trying to escape. Even as he is burdened by unease about The Ritual, Gabriele still returns to his ancestral home when it is his time.

As Gabriele, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a sprawling Italian manor known as The Villa, an ominous environment rich in history that can be explored by finding hidden collectibles and diary pages that reveal more of the family’s tragic history and memories of Gabriele’s life. There are no ghosts or monsters lurking about the manor, but Gabriele’s dread is still an unbearable and tangible force in the silent hallways. Esoteric puzzles give the player challenges without having to contend with combat.

Image 1 of 11

An early puzzle players can experience in the free demo for The Alighieri Circle right now on Steam has players scouring the grounds to locate missing statuettes that — when combined — open a portal in the home’s crypt that allows Gabriele to cross into the game’s second environment: The Dive.

The Dive is a unique take on the infernal depths Dante Alighieri describes in Inferno, creating a distorted reflection of Gabriele’s memories and fears that he must explore in order to confront the generational trauma that torments him before it destroys his own family. Gabriele’s quest is to gather the lost pages of the Divine Comedy and reunite them, but doing so requires him to unravel the emotional experience and creeping dread of inherited responsibilities, while the player experiences dramatic environmental storytelling through symbolic landscapes and surreal imagery.

The Alighieri Circle forgoes gore and combat for a more deliberate, exploration-focused gameplay experience that is similar in style and substance to other psychological horror titles like Layers of Fear and P.T. It's a harrowing psychological journey through melancholy that weaves in creative references from The Divine Comedy into its puzzles and environmental story telling that you’re going to want to bump up to the top of your wishlist when it launches on Xbox later this year.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.