Mediterranea Inferno

« Lorenzo Redaelli follows up 2020's uncompromising The Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star with a pulverising, shape-shifting visual novel of friendship, post-COVID trauma, and horror in the blistering Italian sun that's as artistically dazzling as it is emotionally raw. »

« 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 outrageously weird, intensely homoerotic, and absolutely wonderful, and I never wanted it to end. »

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

« 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. »

« 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 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. »

« A masterpiece of art, writing and sound design. If you're on the fence, just hop in, Im not a visual novel or walking simulator type gamer and I'm not **** either. But this has surpassed all my expectations andis easily one of the best art games I've ever played. Give me this over Dear Esther any day of the week! 10/10 don't hesitate »

« (MY SCORE : 7.8 /10) The world in this game is filled with "LGBT" things, so I don't recommend this game for those who are anti-LGBT! This game, which I think is unique and eccentric, may seem strange and absurd to some people at first! But what I didn't expect was that this game is a game full of mystery!Set in Southern Italy, we take turns being three characters who are close friends, namely Claudio, Mida, and Andrea. And all three are LGBT! (Mida even expressed her feelings of love for Claudio, but Claudio rejected her! And he made Mida feel disappointed. And what's more unique is that they were involved in a love triangle, because Andrea liked Mida, while Claudio liked Andrea!). Until someone named Madama came to them and offered Mirage Fruit, where she promised "Heaven" for the three if they were able to collect some Mirage and they had to buy it! In fact, this Mirage causes hallucinations with a terrible ending from their deepest feelings! Yup, this feeling increases hatred and jealousy to the point of wanting to kill! The hallucination that Claudio experiences after eating the Mirage fruit ends with Claudio killing Andrea and Mida. Meanwhile, Mida, who was burning with jealousy and hatred as a result of being rejected by Claudio, killed Andrea in front of Claudio, and crashed her car into Claudio, killing him! However, Mida also died because of it! And in fact this is really just a hallucination caused by Mirage, because in the Ending Game, we will see the three of them still alive! »

« Oh boy how deep did I get so dragged in the story of this game? I started very skeptical as this is definitely not my genre, and after 10min I was hooked. After finishing I actually started feeling a lot of empathy towards the way the covid lockdown affected the teens around me, and I started asking them how did it feel. »