Header for The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline. Credit to ONE-O-ONE GAMES and Entalto Publishing, embedded from Steam.
Header for The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline. Credit to ONE-O-ONE GAMES and Entalto Publishing, embedded from Steam.
This article is in English. Untuk membaca versi Bahasa Indonesia, klik di sini.

TL;DR

With stunning visuals — despite not being able to hold a stable 60 FPS — the The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline demo, with its Walking Simulator, Psychological Horror, and Story Rich themes, is well worth looking forward to when the full game releases.

Notice and Specs


Notice
  • This article aims to review and spread information about this game.
  • There is no intention to infringe any copyright.
  • Copyright of all images, videos, or any other media used in this article belongs to their respective owners, including the game's developers and publishers.
  • The author is not affiliated with the developer, publisher, or any other parties related to this game. Although I received a key to write this article, I am not affiliated with the developer, publisher, or any related parties.
  • This article is purely based on the author's own perspective and experience.
  • This article is based on my experience playing the game on February 21, 2026. Future patches or changes to the game may not be reflected in this article.
  • This article was translated from Indonesian to English by Claude. The quality may not be up to par with human translation.
Click this box to see my PC specs.
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
  • GPU: Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB
  • RAM: Crucial DDR4-3200 2x8GB
  • SSD: TeamGroup MP44L NVMe M2 1TB
  • Monitor: Lenovo L24i-40 100 Hz and Samsung S3 S33GC 100 Hz
  • Gamepad: 8Bitdo Ultimate 2C Peach
  • Mouse: Logitech Signature M650 Rose
  • Keyboard: Logitech K380 Rose

Game Details

Details

Hero Capsule for The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline. Credit to ONE-O-ONE GAMES and Entalto Publishing, embedded from Steam. Version Played: Demo Version
Developer: ONE-O-ONE GAMES
Publisher: Entalto Publishing
Tag/Genre(s): Psychological Horror, Walking Simulator, Story Rich, Dark, Cinematic
*Review key for this demo provided by JF Games PR.

Trailer

Check out the demo trailer below :)

The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline | Announcement

Credit to Entalto Publishing channel on YouTube.

Quick Review and Rating

Quick Review

For about a year now, I've rarely covered demos, playtests, alphas, betas, and the like on stream. So on both Twitch and YouTube, the focus has been on full version games only. Then JF Games PR reached out and offered me the chance to play the demo of this game — so... I was expecting a demo key, but apparently they provided a full-game key! Yay! 😆

So I decided to cover this game on stream — and hoped everything would go smoothly without any issues, especially since lately demos and playtests have had a habit of crashing on me.

The demo opens its story with Dante's Divine Comedy. The official website also references Dante's Divine Comedy. Unfortunately though... I've never read or known anything about Dante's Divine Comedy, so... it didn't quite click for me. Even the cinematic intro... I had to rewatch it multiple times because somehow I just didn't catch it on my first playthrough.

At its core, in this demo we play as Gabriele, the last descendant of the Alighieri family. Gabriele must enter the "Dive", passing through the "Villa" — two locations featured in the demo. The intro also touches on hell, the key to the gates of hell, rituals, and a sort of "curse" that comes with being an Alighieri, among other things — but... even after rewatching it multiple times, somehow I still couldn't quite grasp it. 🥲

That said, the roughly 30-minute demo experience is genuinely interesting and well worth looking forward to when the full game releases. More detailed thoughts below.

Quick Rating

Category & Assessment Details Score
1. Mechanics & Gameplay
  • Controls: Smooth overall. Despite using a first person perspective (FPP) and not being able to hold a stable 60 FPS, the controls are still good. Smooth, and the keyboard and mouse inputs aren't complicated or complex to use at all.

    I also didn't feel nauseous while playing, so motion sickness wasn't an issue in this game — which is a good thing, at least for me.

    One more thing though. Somehow, aiming objects to get them to rotate just right... is tricky. Not sure why.
  • Game Loop: Since this is a Story Rich game, it likely follows a single narrative path — or maybe there are multiple? So there's probably no traditional game loop to speak of, unless you want to replay it from the beginning.
  • Difficulty: Honestly not hard at all. In this 30-minute demo, the riddles and their solutions were straightforward. Very linear and not particularly challenging.
 8.5
2. Visuals & Aesthetics
  • Art Direction: The style here feels Realistic. Everything looks "authentic" and "real", giving the sense of actually being in a real space with all its decorations. The last time I played a game with this kind of Realistic style was Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy, which I finished a few months ago.
  • Optimization: Runs smoothly, but... FPS can't stay stable at 60. My GPU also mostly stayed around 99% as seen through the Steam Overlay visible at the top of my gameplay video. Hopefully it'll get further optimized in the future, especially since the graphics settings aren't all that extensive yet.
  • UI/UX: Luxurious, Elegant, Formal. Those three words probably best describe the UI and UX here. Most text in the game uses a Serif typeface, with a few exceptions like the diary papers. Overall though, the UI and UX are quite well done.
 8
3. Story & World
  • Pacing: Hmm, this is a demo after all. Finished in around 30 minutes, but it felt just right. Maybe because the puzzles are relatively easy? You can move pretty quickly from one objective to the next.
  • Characters: The main character is Gabriele, and we essentially play as Gabriele as he enters the Dive. There are a few other characters in the demo, such as Dalila — Gabriele's wife — and the Mysterious Voice, a guide within the Dive.
  • Lore: So far... aside from the cinematic intro, I understood it well enough. It's really just that opening that lost me, even after rewatching it several times. Not sure why that is...
 8
4. Audio & Music
  • Sound Design: Just right! Not intrusive, not too quiet, not too loud. Very comfortable to listen to...
  • Music: The music is equally fitting — elegant like the UI and UX, atmospheric in the right moments, and never distracting while playing through the demo.
  • Voice Acting: Excellent! It adapts well in terms of intonation, acting, and the emotions and actions of the characters in the game. Very pleasant to listen to... 😄
 10
5. Replayability & Value
  • Price vs Content: Can't say much about the price yet since this is still a demo. But a 30-minute demo that's optimized and free? Pretty good — and it sold me on the game, tbh.
  • Post-Completion Content: Honestly, the 30 minutes flew by. So... short, but perfectly sized. Not too long, not boring — just right.
 8
TOTAL SCORE xx

Gameplay Video

Want to watch my gameplay video? Check it out below:

(EN/ID) The Alighieri Circle: Dante's Bloodline (Demo) - First Impression - Full Gameplay #JFGames

Adli's gameplay on Adli_HM's channel on YouTube.

Steam Price

Closing

Even though it's short — only around 30 minutes — smooth yet not fully optimized, and despite being a Walking Simulator, the demo is genuinely engaging. It's a surprisingly entertaining interactive experience for something that's still just a demo.

Since JF Games PR also provided a full-game key, I might revisit this in the future to cover and review the full version.

That's all for now!

See you in another Adli's Quick Games Review :)