Mediterranea Inferno Review

thesixthaxis.com:

A lot of video games, media and works of art took on a whole new meaning in the 2020s, despite not directly addressing the global pandemic that blighted the start of the decade. Themes of isolation and societal collapse are common in fiction, but revisiting games about stories like that is a bit more harrowing after living through something felt so similar. Very few games directly tackle the idea of life after COVID lockdown, and the fact that Mediterranea Inferno does just that is only one of several reasons why it’s the most unorthodox, unique, and unforgettable visual novels I’ve ever played.

Mediterranea Inferno focuses on a trio of fashionable, trend-setting boys in their early 20s who have made a name for themselves in the Milan club scene. They’re popular, they’re desirable, and they’re the talk of the town – ‘I ragazzi del sole’, or Sun Guys. At least, they are all these things and more until COVID-19 strikes and brings their lives crumbling down. COVID protocols and lockdowns in Italy were far stricter than they were in some other countries, and the Sun Boys – Claudio, Andrea, and Mida – have each lost something important to them as a result of it.

In August 2022, the three reunite after two years apart to rebuild their friendship and, though nobody wants to admit it, to rebuild themselves. Claudio struggles to find his identity after missing out on such crucial years of his life, while Andrea longs for connection with others – physically, mostly. Mida, despite seeming well-adjusted with a fancy new modeling gig, has some of their own skeletons to worry about. For each of them, this scorching Italian summer slowly descends into a sensory onslaught, a nightmarish coming-of-age adventure through hell, and a volatile journey of either self-reflection or self-destruction, depending on your choices as the player.

Mediterranea Inferno is entirely a visual novel – everything is told through text and shown through both environmental illustrations and character