An abducted soul, a lifetime of sins, a journey to the depths of despair… So goes the tantalising description of Electronic Arts’ newly announced third-person action/adventure Dante’s Inferno.

And that, improbably, is Dante’s Inferno as based on the 14th century masterpiece of epic poetry “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri and not a spin-off of the Pierce Brosnan-starring volcano disaster movie of a similar name. Although that’d be pretty cool too. But we digress.

Okay, so the action in this game follows the not-so comedic exploits of the titular Dante as he journeys through the nine circles of hell - limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery - in search of his lost love Beatrice who, presumably, has been a bit of a bad girl in real-life. A promising premise, no?

Alas that’s pretty much all there is to know at the moment. However we do know that the game is in development at EA’s Redwood Shores studios and is scheduled for an 09 release. Also the trailer posted at www.dantesinferno.com indicates that we’re in line for some kind of gothic survival horror rather than a scholarly discourse on themes of sin and retribution. Good job too since at least seven of those nine circles sound like they’ll be an absolute hoot! Anyway, more soon…