Superbia is a single-player supernatural horror action-adventure game in which the player combats various enemies and solves puzzles to progress through the story. Players will be in control of the main character, Mia Capitani, as she struggles to uncover what has happened to her missing girlfriend, who has seemingly been erased from existence.

Mia Capitani, age 25, lives in the big city with her roommate Nick Morrigan and her girlfriend, Sara Barakat. Their spacious apartment is located over a bar that Mia both owns and bartends at – The Fall. Sara works at an animal shelter, while Nick is an aspiring musician; the trio makes an odd grouping, but they’re as happy as can be, living their normal every-day lives.

However, they are far from normal; while Sara is a human, with little interest in magic, both Mia and Nick are deeply entrenched in the magical underground of their city. Mia’s bar acts as a haven for those of magical persuasion, away from the ‘mundies’; Mia, a half-demon, is well-respected as a leader in the community. Nick, while human, is a wizard, and Mia relies heavily on them to help keep Sara safe and unexposed to the dangers hiding in the magical community.

One evening this delicate balancing act comes crashing down when Mia awakes from a nightmare in which Sara was kidnapped by demonic entities to find that Sara is not in the apartment. In fact, neither are any of Sara’s things, and Nick is confused when Mia asked where she’s gone. It’s simply as if Sara had never even existed.

The game chronicles Mia’s fight to regain normalcy, and her fight to save her missing girlfriend.

Mia Capitani – the main character. A half-demon bartender who wants to live a life away from the expectations forced upon her. The player controls her as she fights through Hell to find and save her missing girlfriend.

Sara Barakat – Mia’s girlfriend. A ‘mundie’ human, completely uninvolved in the magical community. The game begins when she mysteriously vanishes.

Nick Morrigan – Mia’s roommate. A human wizard. Attempts to help Mia regain normalcy. Can be talked to in Mia’s apartment.

Leviathan/Levi – One of the seven princes of hell and its vessel. The player only interacts with Leviathan throughout the course of the game; it gives cryptic messages and hints that everything may not be as it seems. Can be spoken to in the bar.

The Cardinals – Mia’s demonic family, six demons who were each once human. They each represent one of six of the seven deadly sins (Mia being the seventh). They appear during “nightmare” scenarios, one for each, excluding the final scenario. They are as follows: Ten (Lust), Eda (Gluttony), Ira (Wrath), Ivn (Envy), Des (Sloth), and Luc (Greed).

By day, Mia works in her bar, where the player can interact with patrons, save their game, check messages on Mia’s phone, or head to her apartment over the bar. In her apartment the player can check news feeds on her computer, see what’s on the TV, talk to Nick, and go to bed to enter the “nightmare” scenarios.

The “nightmare” scenarios are the main gameplay, wherein the player, as Mia, navigates through hellish environments populated by enemies and the souls of the damned. Puzzles that impede progress are scattered throughout, and the player must use both Mia’s abilities and, on occasion, the aid of nearby NPCs to progress. In each level, the player will encounter a member of Mia’s demonic “family” – six in all, collectively calling themselves the Cardinals.

In the “nightmare” scenarios, Mia finds herself in hellish landscapes, loosely inspired by Dante’s description of the circles of Hell. However, in this case, there are only seven levels rather than Dante’s nine, each corresponding with one of the seven deadly sins: Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy, Sloth and Greed, with the final circle being Pride. Each level contains its own unique obstacles and puzzles the player must fight through, as well as unique enemy types.

With the exception of the final level, each level is home to a member of the Cardinals – six humans-turned-demons, representative of the sin of the level in which they appear.

While Dante lists Greed as being the third circle, after Lust, Greed is the penultimate level, as the demon presiding over it is Mia’s birth father, Luc Cardinal.

The first circle, Limbo, is not excluded, meaning there are technically eight levels; however, Limbo is not one of the “nightmare” scenario levels.

At several points in the game, the player is faced with choices that can affect the outcome of the game. These can range from interacting with (or not interacting with) NPCS, specific choices during interactions with NPCs, or even general gameplay choices. Choosing to spare one of the Cardinals during a confrontation, for example, may lead to a better outcome than destroying everyone and everything in your path.

While stealth is not a factor in this game, enemies do not spawn as random encounters, which allows for the player to consider their navigation patterns and avoid detection. While enemies will give chase, they will be limited with how far they can follow the player, both by type of enemy and the environment.

However, combat will not always be avoidable, so choose wisely when you do decide to fight, and keep an eye on this game’s version of health – the ward system.

Rather than health, the game keeps track of the status of Mia’s wards—magical bindings that keep her demonic nature in check. Wards can be depleted not only by taking damage, but by using powerful attacks that rely on Mia’s demonic abilities. Wards can be recovered by collecting unique spell sheets scattered in the environments, and occasionally dropped by enemies – be careful, however, as the spell sheets are used as soon as they’re collected.

Wards can be upgraded by collecting special spell books, extending the amount of damage that Mia can take in battle.

If Wards are completely depleted, the player will be brought back to the last save point.

When Mia’s wards are close to depletion, she will enter Infernal mode. This mode lasts for a short period of time, during which all weapons and character upgrades (runes) will be deactivated, and defense will be lowered, at the plus of increased speed and strength. The chance for enemies to drop spell sheets to recover wards is higher in this mode.

The player can also voluntarily enter the Infernal mode by using special keys that are collected throughout gameplay – however, wards are automatically depleted by 1/3 upon exiting this mode.

Runes can be equipped to both Mia and her weapon of choice – a war hammer with a deadly spiraled spike.

Runes that can be equipped to Mia can be changed in the menu. Two runes can be equipped at any one time. These must be found during gameplay; however, the Shield is given to Mia in the first “nightmare” scenario. They include:

Shield – when the proper button command is prompted, a shield materializes that can be used to deflect attacks, and, with the correct timing, send projectiles back at the attacker.

Strength – Mia’s attacks become stronger, at the cost of slightly lowered speed.Speed – Mia’s attack and movement speed increases, at the cost of a slightly lowered defense.

Regeneration – Mia’s wards regenerates slowly while outside of combat; however, enemies will have a lower chance of dropping spell sheets upon defeat.

Absolution – locks Mia’s demonic abilities, including the Infernal mode, but allows players to revive with 1/4th their wards recovered when defeated in combat.

Runes that can be equipped to her weapon can be found during gameplay, given by NPCs, or bought at the beginning of each “nightmare” scenario, using carvings that can be collected from defeating enemies, or found within the environment. These runes have a limited number of uses before they expire and need to be re-equipped. They do not transfer between scenarios, and equipped runes will automatically expire if Mia enters Infernal mode. They include:

Ice – grants the elemental abilities of ice when attacking enemies, can freeze the environment.

Fire – grants the elemental abilities of fire when attacking enemies, can destroy the environment.

Quake – causes the ground to shake and deal damage to enemies within range.

Lightning – can be arced across the ground towards enemies, cause a “cascade” effect within groupings of smaller enemies, or simply be used to deal lighting damage against a larger enemy. Can also be used to activate mechanical elements within the environment.

Mia has several special abilities the player can unlock and uncover throughout the game. These abilities have cooldowns after their usage, with the times varying on the strength of the ability. Their use comes at the cost of the depletion of Mia’s wards, which also varies from power to power. These include:

Thrall -- Mia can control several lesser enemies or one more powerful enemy for a short period of time. Will not work on certain enemies. Can be used to control some non-combatant NPCs to solve puzzles.

Intimidate – stuns enemies within a certain radius for a short period of time. Will not work on certain enemies.

Throughout the game there are collectables the player can find, called mementos. Collecting them gives backstory on Mia and her relationships with other characters in the game, and occasionally, may give hints as to what’s actually going on.

Superbia has multiple endings that can be affected based on how the player chooses to interact with it. Relying too heavily on demonic abilities may lead to a “bad” ending, but balancing it out with decisions made while talking to NPCs might lead to a more neutral ending. Either way, each ending reveals one important fact about the story: Mia’s “waking world” throughout the game has not been real. Instead, it is a facsimile created in Limbo by forces attempting to manipulate and bend her to their will. Mia’s physical body has actually been in a comatose state after collapsing in the bar, while her soul travels through Hell. Whether Mia wakes up or not will depend on the player’s choices; her state of being when she wakes up will also be determined by the same choices. While Sara is alive in most endings, her state of being is determined by Mia’s state of being.

This game has an ‘M’ rating for Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Language, and Suggestive themes. As such the target audience is mostly young adults, 17 and up, and includes fans of the game Alice: Madness Returns, as well as individuals with an interest in theological themes. The game appeals to LGBT individuals with a cast of LGBT characters, while not being an LGBT-specific game. The game is designed to appeal to individuals of all gender identities, but leans a bit more towards female players by having a female protagonist, which is uncommon in most action-adventure games.

Superbia is funded through Kickstarter. Advertisement is mainly word-of-mouth via social media sites such as Tumblr.

Pricing for the game with be set at $20, comparable to the current pricing of similar games such as Alice: Madness Returns. Additional revenue can be made from DLC content, such as alternate outfits or weapons. Revenue can also be made from merchandise, such as scale models of Mia’s war hammer and figurines. The world and storyline also leaves open the potential for novelizations and extensions to the story, such as novelizations providing background for characters like Levi/Leviathan.

The game is distributed via Steam, initially for PC, and later for OS X. Steam is considered to be the largest platform for digital distribution of games. It is not tied to a specific publisher like comparable programs Origin and Uplay, maybe by EA and Ubisoft, respectfully. Many indie games are distributed via Steam.

Alice: Madness Returns – developed by Spicy Horse and published by Electronic Arts, Madness Returns is the 2011 sequel to the 2000 American McGee’s Alice. It is a psychological horror action-adventure game that alternates between the real world and Wonderland throughout gameplay to move the story along. However, the story is concrete, and the player is not given any choices to make. The replay value comes in the form of the collectible secrets and the hidden “Radula rooms”. The game uses Hysteria mode, increasing Alice’s speed and damage when her health (sanity) is low. There are multiple weapons available for use, and they can be upgraded by collecting and spending items dropped by enemies.

The PC version of the game game received a rating of 74% from Gamerankinds and Metacritc, based on 15 reviews, and a 75/100 based on 29 reviews. The Xbox 360 version received 73% based on 49 reviews, and 70/100 based on 67 reviews; the PS3 version received 71% based on 35 reviews and 70/100 based on 52 reviews. The game was rated M by the ESRB.

Madness Returns and its predecessor are largely considered cult classics. McGee has expressed the desire to make a third game, but it largely depends on the interest of the audience.

Dante’s Inferno – Inspired by Inferno, the first canticle of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the 2010 action-adventure game follows a Templar knight named Dante as he fights through the nine circles of hell to save the soul of his beloved Beatrice from Lucifer. It was developed by Visceral Games and published by EA. Critics praised the visuals, but said that gameplay-wise, it was not so different from God of War, though lacking some of the grace and refinement in combat. Critics also stated that, towards the end of the game, it became tedious, and that Dante’s quest lost its momentum. Literary experts also critiqued the game, protesting the reduction of the character Beatrice to nothing more than a damsel in distress, stating that in Inferno, it is Beatrice who saves Dante, not the other way around.

EA launched a unique marketing campaign for the game, abusing the concepts of the seven deadly sins to try and push the basic theme of the game. Examples of this include mailing packages that contained wooden boxes that would do nothing but play “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley on repeat to journalists. There was no way to stop the music aside from destroying the box with a hammer and safety goggles, also in the package. Upon destroying the box, the journalist would find a note observing that they gave into the sin of Wrath. A similar ploy was EA mailing checks for $200 to select video game critics, including a note that explained that whether they cashed the check or not, submitting to the sin of Greed, and to “Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin. And scoff not, for consequences are imminent.” EA also paid people to pretend to be members of a church, protesting the production of the game.

United States NPD Group sales data showed that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dante's Inferno sold 242,500 and 224,700 copies respectively in the month of February 2010. The two editions also debuted together on the UK's top 10 games list for that month. The game was rated M by the ESRB.

Catherine – Catherine is a 2011 puzzle platformer adventure game developed and published by the Japanese publisher Atlus. It is an adult-oriented game that focuses on themes of sex and infidelity. The main character, Vincent, begins having strange nightmares after his girlfriend Katherine begins talking about marriage. He meets Catherine, who seems to be the girl of his dreams, and begins an affair. Catherine is eventually revealed to be a succubus working with a bar owner to seduce men who are unfaithful and remove them from the gene pool. The game utilizes a Daytime/Nightmare dichotomy, with Vincent spending his time in the Stray Sheep during the day, and the main gameplay being the Nightmare scenarios. It features several different endings.

Catherine holds average aggregate scores of 82 and 79 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, respectively, on Metacritic. In an import review, GamesRadar gave the game a 5/10, praising the story but criticizing the game's difficulty due to random enemy AI, though they later gave the English release 8/10, citing that crucial changes had removed most of the game's annoyances.

The PlayStation 3 version topped the Japanese charts in its opening week with over 140,000 copies sold while the Xbox 360 version came in 7th with over 21,000. The game has also been commercially successful in America, selling 78,000 copies across both systems to consumers in its first six days, making it Atlus' biggest launch yet for a game.  The game sold 260,000 copies in Japan and 230,000 in North America by the end of 2011.