Demo descends for The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Haunting reinterpretation of the Divine Comedy unveiled by the creator of The Suicide of Rachel Foster

Dante's Divine Comedy describes a harrowing version of its poet's own journey through Hell to get to Heaven. But what if the experience wasn't simply imagined, and his descendants are fated to walk in his footsteps? That's precisely your lot in life – and the afterlife – in The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline, the upcoming psychological thriller by One O One Games, creator of The Suicide of Rachel Foster. 

Gabriele Alighieri is "not a soldier, nor a hero," just a normal man burdened by a centuries-old family curse. Every 33 years the "barrier between our reality and Hell fades," and only an Alighieri family member can seal it. Unfortunately for Gabriele, he is the last living heir so he's inherited the responsibility this time. Stepping directly into Gabriele's shoes, you must return to your "ancestral Italian villa to accept a destiny you have spent your life running from." Only by performing "The Ritual" can you cross "the threshold into a distorted reflection of the infernal depths." There you will "descend into a psychological nightmare where the only escape is to uncover the dark secrets of your ancestors." Along the way, you must "gather the lost, magical pages of the Divine Comedy and reunite them" to seal the gate between realms once more. 

Rather than a straightforward retelling of Dante's fourteenth century epic poem, The Alighieri Circle promises a "dark, modern" reinterpretation in which "the Inferno is a shadow waiting to consume you." As with the developer's previous game, this one is a free-roaming 3D "psychological mystery thriller with narrative-driven gameplay." It begins with scouring the "silent, melancholic halls of the Italian manor" belonging to your family in search of the components needed to open a portal to "The Dive." This "surreal dimension molded by the psyche" is nearly monochromatic apart from its ominous blood-red sky – at least at first. 

It's chilling but not dangerous, as the game focuses on "atmosphere, exploration, and story" instead of survival. As you make your way through the "Dark Forest and Outer Hell, where the environment reacts to your internal state," you will "decipher esoteric riddles" and search for "hidden collectibles and diary pages" that will help you "piece together the tragic history of the Alighieri bloodline and the forgotten memories of Gabriele’s life to understand the true cost of the Ritual." Only after confronting Gabriele's "deepest fears and trauma" will you be able to "decide what of your humanity you are willing to leave behind in the abyss" in order to "complete the purification journey." 

The full version of The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline is due out later this year on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, but you can take your first tentative steps into the unknown right away, as a playable demo is available now on Steam.