As strange as it might sound, there truly might be no better piece of writing to turn into an anime girl roguelike than Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. It’s the original self-insert fic after all (arguably, anyway), so why shouldn’t Hell Maiden put its own little spin on it? That’s the nature of these sorts of works. And today, you’ll be able to get a bigger taste of the game and see if it’s able to pull all of this off, as it’s now out in early access.
For those that haven’t heard of it yet, Hell Maiden is technically a sort of sequel to the original Divine Comedy. Only in this version of events, everyone is an anime girl, including Dante. This version of Dante has somehow wound up back in hell with a bad case of amnesia, but still has the drive to make her way up to Paradiso once more. As she does so, going through the nine circles of hell, she’ll come across the numerous poets of limbo, all of which factor into your playstyle.
Hell Maiden | EA Launch Trailer
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Speaking of, mechanically it’s sort of like a fusion between Vampire Survivors and Hades. In the case of the former, that translates to fending off hordes of enemies by building up various attacks and affects the automatically play out at set intervals, with some deckbuilding thrown in for good measure. In the case of the latter, it’s that similar structure of repeatedly dying and finding more strength across multiple runs.
Given that it is an early access release, you should keep your expectations in check for now. At launch it only has the first two circles of hell, four poets of limbo, and two bosses and one mid-boss. The next patch, due out sometime in 2026, will add another story chapter and circle, another poet of limbo, more weapons, a new boss, and some new achievements. After that the following patch doesn’t have a release date, but will add the same as the first one, and future patches will and even more of that alongside difficulty modifiers and a compendium.
The current plan is for the game to be in early access for one year, with a price increase coming at 1.0. Given that it’s only a tenner right now, it seems like a good time to get in on the ground floor. You can pick it up on Steam right here.
