An abducted soul. A lifetime of sins. A journey to the depths of despair. Based on the immensely influential classic poem, Dante’s Inferno takes you on an epic quest of vengeance and redemption through the Nine Circles of Hell. You are Dante, a veteran of the Crusades who must chase his beloved Beatrice and try to free her soul from Lucifer’s grasp. As your pursuit takes you deeper into the pits of Hell, you must battle ever more fierce and hideous monsters—while also facing your own sins, a dark family past, and your unforgivable war crimes.

We spoke with Tracy Espeleta, assistant producer from EA Games, about the recently released, Dante's Inferno.

Dan Ramirez: Tell us about Dante's Inferno.

Tracy Espeleta: Well it’s a third person action title and one of the big things is that we wanted to focus on the story. Obviously, we took the poem of Dante’s Inferno and built an action story line through it to really drive the game.

Dan Ramirez: Cool. When I first read the poem it sounded like it could be a video game.

Dan Ramirez: I’m glad, I was worried I was the only one who interprets the world as a video game.

Tracy Espeleta: (laughs)

Dan Ramirez: So what was your role in designing the game?

Tracy Espeleta: I was the associate producer working on the cinematics. So a lot of the pre-rendered movies, what we call the flash back sequences and I also worked on some of the UI (User Interface).

Dan Ramirez: I have been playing Dante's Inferno and the pre-rendered movies are stellar.

Tracy Espeleta: Yeah, our pre-rendered movies are done by Blur videos in Santa Monica and they came out with some really great stuff. That’s why we approached them cause they really are the best in the business.

Dan Ramirez: Yeah, it looks great. I am curious as to why your team decided to do half CGI and the other half more of like a cartoon, almost "comic book" look to the cut scenes?

Tracy Espeleta: I think what you’re referring to is the more “cartooney” animation?

Dan Ramirez: Yeah..

Tracy Espeleta: We call it flashback sequences. At first they were supposed to be nightmare sequences in that they are a little bit more surreal, a little bit more fuzzy. We wanted to go for a totally different art style.

Dan Ramirez: Yeah, it looks very cool. Now I hate to ask this question because you've probably heard it a million times, but there have been a lot of comparisons to God of War.

Tracy Espeleta: (laughs)

Dan Ramirez: Sorry! I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

Tracy Espeleta: Well it’s definitely a compliment, I think as a team, when your making a third person action game, your looking at the best and just hope that you can be mentioned in that same circle. So we looked at a lot of games, not only God of War but also obviously Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword for PS3.

Dan Ramirez: In addition to Dante's Inferno, you also worked on Dead Space. How does the animated movie for Dante's Inferno tie into the game? The Dead Space the animated Movie acted as a prequel to the game. Does the Dante’s Inferno animated movie work in the same way?

Tracy Espeleta: Actually what we did with our animated movie is more like the Animatrix. We had six different animation houses work on six different stories based on the game. So you’ll see that the structure is very similar to the game in that it follows Dante through each of the rings. The story is a little bit different and will be interpreted a little bit differently. In our animated feature it gives more background on Lucifer and Beatrice.

So it’s definitely a great companion piece to the game.

Dan Ramirez: When I first started playing the game, I noticed in the menu there is an option for “St Lucia” as downloadable content. What downloadable content can we expect in the future?

Tracy Espeleta: We will be coming out with some DLC called "The Trials of St. Lucia." What it is, is a little bit of a content creator for players. They’ll be able to go in and create arenas and be able to play as both Dante and St. Lucia. So she’s actually a new playable character as well.

Dan Ramirez: Are there any plans for a Dante’s Inferno for the Wii?

Tracy Espeleta: Right now we're just sitting back and seeing how well Dante's Inferno does. Obviously right now the focus on the studio is Dead Space 2 so…we'll see!

Dan Ramirez: Is there anything that was cut from the final version that you wish hadn't been?

Tracy Espeleta: Oh yes! (laughs) We had a very different take on the Cerberus fight. The original take on the gluttony level, where the actual level would take place inside of Cerberus.

We had this whole weird way to get Dante through the anus of Cerberus. (laughs) We realized we had to change it around a little bit. (laughs)

Dan Ramirez: When I first played the game, I knew there would be limbo babies in it, but I don’t think I realized how disturbing it was until I actually played the game. So it made me wonder "Wow..if this made it into the final game, what could have gotten cut out?"

Tracy Espeleta: Yeah. (laughs)

Dan Ramirez: So far it's been a lot of fun.

Tracy Espeleta: Awesome..glad you are enjoying it!

Dan Ramirez: Last question. The Divine Comedy also had Purgatory and Paradise. Will there be a Dante 2?

Tracy Espeleta: Well as long as the first one does well..yeah? Possibly..

Dan Ramirez: Great! Well thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you talking to us. Best of luck with Dante's Inferno!

Tracy Espeleta: Of course! Any time.

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