New Dante’s Inferno Developer Diary Showcases Fraud

The home to liars, falsifiers, thieves, evil councillors, panderers, crafters, politicians, pimps, seducers and Simon Cowell, Dante’s Inferno’s Fraud (or Malebolge in Italian) is where things really heat up. Probably the darkest, creepiest strata Dante must traverse in the entire game, the guys at Visceral have published a new Developer Diary about the layer in order to get a few things off their collective chests.

First up,  Fraud is designed to get smaller and smaller — almost claustrophobic  –the further down you go. Only flashes of fire (and, trust us, there will be fire) illuminates the dank, unholy pit. The level is also where all hell (pun intended) breaks loose, with one of the developers of the title going so far as to designate Fraud “the hardest part of the game.”

From the footage below, and considering it’s the penultimate circle before heading into Treachery to face the final boss (slight spoiler warning: the very end of the video briefly describes the Ninth Layer and its master, so – feel free to stop watching around the 3:50 mark if you wish to remain oblivious), it does seem to be the culmination of everything you’ve already encountered in the game. And then some. Expect the full gamut of denizens you’ve already faced to return in wave after despicable wave. Kinda like that level in Onimusha (and a hundred other games) where you must defeat all that has come before once more – in one final push.

Visceral equate the challenge of Fraud to something like a high-school reunion or medieval Fight Club. We reckon it might account for the inexplicable reason we all need to purchase new controllers next month.