The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline | PC Demo Review
If you tell me that your game is inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, I’m going to want to play it. We haven’t had many games that have used the source material as their main gameplay concept (shoutout to the brilliant Dante’s Inferno). There is finally another game that draws inspiration from this seminal work. One O One Games’ The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline is an intriguing upcoming game that I was lucky enough to get to play the demo of early. I’m fascinated by what I played and am eagerly anticipating the full release.
Go to Hell
You play as Gabriele Alighieri, a man who travels to a family estate to settle affairs. Once there, he finds diary pages that detail dark events. To say more about the story would spoil the short demo. It only took me about thirty minutes to play it to completion but it was enough to whet my appetite. You explore, solve a puzzle, and go to another location in this short slice of gameplay. It wasn’t difficult to solve the puzzle, and it was more time-consuming than anything. I’m looking forward to the full release to see if the level of difficulty increases. The rest of the gameplay is very much a walking simulator, which I’m always drawn to. It was fascinating, eerie, and dark (figuratively and literally).
A Bump in the Road
My only complaint about The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline revolves around its camera. I have to turn motion blur off when playing first-person games to avoid motion sickness. I followed my usual steps to ensure a smooth experience, but the camera was a major issue in this demo. It moved at the pace of a snail and the sluggishness caused me some frustration. I had to start turning the camera before I even started moving to get it to revolve around turns in a somewhat timely manner. This is my only gripe with the demo, and I’m hoping it’s ironed out before the game is released in full. It may have also been because I was playing on Steam Deck, but it’s still an issue that needs looking at.
Final Thoughts
The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline is an intriguing concept inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. Its short yet intriguing demo featured light puzzle work, exploration, and an interesting gameplay conceit. I’m excited to check out the finished product, but I hope the camera issue is resolved by its release. This may not be an issue if you don’t turn off motion blur or play on PC, but it put a slight damper on things for me. Luckily, it wasn’t enough to turn me off from wanting to experience what else the game has in store for us.
This review is based on a PC demo copy of The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline provided by Jesus Fabre for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.
