CCRB RECORD No. 0011
Dante's Inferno
Determination: Explicit — Blasphemy 3, Corruption 2
Absolution is a finishing move, the cross is a ranged weapon, and Dante's sins begin with a bishop who sold him forgiveness in advance.
The previous record cited a crucifix reforged as a weapon, which undersold what the game actually does with the sacramental. Dante carries the cross Beatrice gave him as a token of their vow; before entering Hell he charges it with divine light, and from then on it fires crosses of holy light as a ranged attack and executes Absolution as a finishing move, dispatching shades and demons by forgiving them. Souls are the game's currency, spent to unlock abilities. His other weapon is Death's scythe, taken from Death after killing him. Dante himself has a red cross sewn into his chest as mortification of the flesh and goes shirtless for the remainder of the game so it stays visible. In the closing scene he rips it off at the foot of Purgatory; it turns into a snake and slithers away as Lucifer laughs. The moral engine of the story is clerical: Dante joined the Third Crusade after a bishop…