DaRmaZat Releasing today, The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline is a dark psychological thriller inspired by classic literature, specifically Dante’s Divine Comedy. With no combat to worry about, you’ll instead explore a melancholic Italian manor and its hellish mirror dimension, solving puzzles and trying to seal the gates of Hell while uncovering the dark secrets of the Alighieri family.
The setup for The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline is as surreal as it is straightforward, explained in an opening cutscene lasting under a minute. It is late at night in 1993, and a heavy storm is brewing over an eerie, sprawling mansion – the ancestral home of your grandfather. You play as Gabriele, the sole remaining heir of Dante’s bloodline. Every 33 years, the barrier between realities weakens, forcing Dante’s descendants to reassemble the lost pages of the Divine Comedy through a ritualistic portal jump known as the Dive. As the current Guardian, your duty is clear: perform the ritual to reseal the gates of Hell before they break wide open.
Once you gain control, your first task is simple enough: head to the fumoir and make a quick phone call to your partner, Dalila, to confirm your arrival. She knows about the assignment and the interdimensional journey that lies ahead. Shortly after, you set out to find the key to the crypt, though getting inside requires tracking down three beast statues first. Upon crossing over into the Dive, a mysterious voice begins guiding your path through a bizarre landscape of pale rock and dead trees.
Within this surreal mirror realm, petrified humans line the path, strange noises echo through the fog, and completely out-of-place objects represent Gabriele’s inner memories and emotional baggage. An abandoned airplane, for example, triggers recollections of his very first flight – a rare moment of freedom and happiness – prompting him to pick up the ticket left behind. Dreadful creatures drift past in the distance, and iconic figures from the lore make unsettling appearances, including a tormented Livia and Charon the ferryman, depicted as a colossal head floating down a river of blood.
The Alighieri Circle can definitely be best described as a puzzle walking sim. Beyond item collection, the game occasionally tosses in timing-based button prompts, while countless scattered letters flesh out the surrounding lore. All the while, the near-monochrome environment relies heavily on deep red pools of blood for color contrast, giving the experience a distinctive look and atmosphere.
Performance is generally smooth, and the controls feel responsive. Finding your way around isn’t much of an issue either, since the map is quite detailed and clearly shows your current location. However, the fact that you can’t skip cutscenes is annoying, especially when you’re replaying the same sections.
Unfortunately, the momentum hits a wall during the first trial due to the vague puzzle design. You are tasked with searching the environment for 14 distinct paintings, a tedious process made worse by sparse autosave checkpoints. Once found, you must align the symbols for various virtues, vices, and animal icons on a massive rotary portal door. Exiting the game mid-puzzle forces you to collect the paintings all over again, often wiping out more than ten minutes of progress. Indeed, this is something you’ll encounter throughout the game: the puzzles can be genuinely intriguing while being equally challenging, but with no built-in hint system, you’re left relying entirely on trial and error. This can be frustrating enough to turn some players away.
Final Thoughts
While The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline has a great atmosphere thanks to its eerie setting, lore, and audiovisual presentation, the puzzles can be frustrating at times due to vague objectives and saves that are few and far between. It’s a game that requires quite a bit of patience, especially when you’re stuck and have to replay parts you’ve already completed. In short, The Alighieri Circle: Dante’s Bloodline is a challenging narrative puzzle adventure that will probably appeal most to patient players and fans of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Additional Information
Release Date: September 10, 2026
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: ONE-O-ONE GAMES
Publisher: Entalto Publishing, C&R Creative Studios
Relevant Links: Available on STEAM
