Mediterranea Inferno

Mediterranea Inferno is a brief experience that you can likely see all of in around five hours, but those five hours were some of the most gripping I’ve had all year. I had to go to work between finishing my first run and going back in to see the rest, and it was truly all I could think about. This game isn’t merely a haunting tale of betrayal. It may even betray the player themself with its final twists and turns. It’s queer, it’s brutal, and it’s not for the faint of heart – but if you can handle it, it’s one of the most poignant stories I’ve ever experienced in the medium.

Mediterranea Inferno is a compelling adventure that shines when you notice how many questions and thoughts you will hold dear after going through its journey.

Mediterranea Inferno, from a gameplay point of view, is a solid visual novel in which the choices left in the hands of the player lead to radical turns, really giving the impression of being in control of events. However, the quality of the writing and the ability of its young author to deal with complex and multifaceted themes with great maturity, awareness, and courage in taking clear-cut positions (which should be common ground in 2023, but that's another matter) should be even more emphasized.

Mediterranea Inferno is outrageously weird, intensely homoerotic, and absolutely wonderful, and I never wanted it to end.

In reckoning so candidly with the conflicting emotions we've experienced over the past few years, Mediterranea Inferno achieves a purgative potency few of its peers can match. [Issue#390, p.135]

Mediterranea Inferno offers an effective blend of history, artistic direction and characterization, accompanied by a valuable sound sector. This visual novel - essential to say the least on the playful front - is able to tell the exciting story of three friends, in which it is difficult not to identify. Also for this reason, going beyond the end of the first run and dedicating ourselves to discovering the various endings of this journey seemed to us a natural choice, as proof of the talent shown by the insiders.

Mediterranea Inferno is a well-written visual novel that deals with adult themes in an honest, courageous, sometimes painful way, showing the experience of the pandemic from different points of view and able to reflect critically on contemporaneity. What is striking is Redaelli's ability to mix different expressive codes, combining Japanese aesthetics with Italian figurative art in order to evoke images capable of giving concreteness to symbols and allegories. At times it seems that the subtext has overtaken the text, making certain passages of the narrative somewhat instrumental to the reflection that follows, rather than the other way around, but all in all this is fine, because the storytelling works and leads to unexpected twists.

Mediterranea Inferno is a successful work with a strong expressive force, in which one can indulge with pleasure while following the events of the three main characters. There is current affairs, there is politics, there is artistic vision, there is psychology. In short, in its own way, it's a beautiful fresco. It's a shame about some dialogues that are a bit too didactic, driven by a certain exhibitionistic anxiety, which clashes a bit with everything else, to the point that sometimes it makes you want to look at the images alone, without reading anything. There are also some minor technical issues, however. Give it a try.

Mediterranea Inferno is unafraid of tackling a multitude of serious themes and exploration of the more immoral, shadowy parts of human desires. It has moments where it’s too brash and its themes won’t sit comfortably with many. But, for those who descend into this psychological character study, there’s a host of beautifully rendered, disturbing imagery to feast upon.