Dante’s Inferno: The Trials of St. Lucia Review

Critics who chastised Visceral Games for their lenient adaption of Dante’s Inferno will undoubtedly be incensed by the latest downloadable content designed to augment the action game. Veering even further from Alighieri’s prose, The Trials of St. Lucia has players controlling the patron saint of the sightless in an effort to slaughter demonic foes. While pithy purists might balk at such poetic license, most of us will be too busy hectically butchering hellspawn to even care. 

Those who have already ventured through the series of challenges offered by Dante’s Inferno’s Fraud circle will be familiar with the core mechanic of St. Lucia. Each stage presents players with consecutive waves of foes fought in an arena-like environment. Unlike the original disk, where players took a solitary but storied expedition through the underworld, this content offers a cooperative trip filled with nothing but gratuitous combat. Players who require an impetus for their carnage might find St. Lucia superficial; stages are nothing more than varied successions of enemy attacks. Those untroubled by the concept will find satisfaction in the title’s new protagonist as well as additional scythe fodder.

Whereas, Dante predominantly relies on ground-based strikes, St. Lucia complements the purgatorial protagonist with a range of air attacks. When used simultaneously, the duo pose a considerable threat to beasts; it’s too bad they can’t team up for some type of collaborative super-strike. After getting accustomed to the winged seraph’s speedy attack speed and imposing combo tree, some players may regret the inability to take Lucia into Dante’s main adventure. 

The content’s challenges come in three varieties: EA’s own stages, other players’ creations, and the player’s own designs. No matter where the trial originates there are some basic ground rules: each stage may use up to six (out of twelve available) arenas. Each separate venue may have up to twenty-five waves of differing creatures, offering up to 150 separate barrages. Based upon the difficulty of each creation, a bronze, silver, gold or platinum medal is awarded to players. While the publisher’s stages offer textbook examples of level creation, user-made levels are a bit hit or miss. Taking a cue from Little Big Planet, the most popular levels (each can be rated) are the ones that promise players a “Super Easy Platinum. Still, a number of solid entries can be found if players are willing to wade through the fluff.

Level creation endows players with the ability to choose from an assortment of game modes that are both self-explanatory (ranging from ‘Kill ‘Em All’ to ‘Health Drain’) and offer just enough variety to offset fatigue. Gamers may also set the number and strength of each foe, how much health and mana each releases, and well as position both aids and traps around the battlefield. Fortunately, stage creation is intuitive and allows players to test their handiwork at any time of the construction process.

Dante’s owners who appreciated the title’s challenge levels should consider picking up The Trials of St. Lucia. The ten-dollar download offers a solid amount of entertainment, offering both a perpetual supply of custom stages and well as a robust toolset. For the gamer who finds gratification in the recesses of combo mastery, St. Lucia is the exceptional add-on, which justifies its cost.