Guide Written by: Brandon "Lust Storm" Cackowsk-Schnell

It's the classic tale: boy meets girl, they fall in love, he goes off to war and then returns to find her murdered and her soul held captive by Lucifer. Ok, so maybe it isn't so classic but it's the story we're given here so we're going with it. Dante will stop at nothing to rescue his fair Beatrice from the clutches of Satan and hopefully give her a shirt or a cloak or something to cover herself up with. With GameShark's help you can get all 1000 points in the game in your quest for absolution and appropriate clothing choices.

Before we get started, there are a few things you should know so that you can best plan your path through the game. First of all, there are no achievements tied to a particular difficulty level. Woo-hoo! Classic (easy) mode is extremely easy so if you're just looking for points and want to complete the game in the shortest amount of time, this is the way to go. Obviously, if you want a challenge then go with something higher but know that you won't be getting any extra points for your efforts.

The second point is that you will not gather enough experience during one playthrough to max out both the holy and unholy tree. As you fight enemies and find shades you'll be given the chance to either punish or absolve the enemy or shade. Absolving gives you holy experience, punishing gives you unholy. As you move up both trees you'll unlock various powers you can spend your souls on. You can go with a more balanced approach so that you have the most varied mix of powers but doing so means you won't get either achievement for maxing out the holy/unholy tree and you won't get either achievement for unlocking all of the holy/unholy powers. Luckily once you complete a game you can start a game in resurrection mode and all of your powers and current holy/unholy tree levels carry over. That means you can pick a path and stick with it through your first play and then carry on into the second for the second. As for which path to take, holy is more defense oriented and powers up your cross attacks while unholy is more offense oriented and powers up the scythe. The cross attack is pretty useful especially on classic mode, so if speed is your primary concern then holy + cross + classic is the way to go.

Finally, the game uses a combination of automatic saves and manual saves to keep you moving forward. If you die, then the automatic save will put you back at a predetermined point. Manual saves, at save statues, will be a "permanent" save that will keep your progress should you decide to take a break from Hell for a time. What is very important to keep in mind regarding saves is that the collectibles you get (coins, stones, shades and Virgil commentaries) are not saved to your profile. What this means is that if you grab some stuff and then die and come back, anything between where you come back and where you died will have to be collected again. For this reason, I suggest not crossing anything off of your collectible until you save at a Beatrice Statue. Once that happens, check those puppies off as they're officially collected.

Story Related Achievements

Slaughter at Acre - 5 pts

Fight against the prisoner at Acre

You'll get this one at the very beginning of the game. After the opening cut scene, when the prisoners are released and you start fighting, it will pop.

Abandon All Hope - 15 pts

Break through the Gates of Hell

After fighting through the church you'll gain control over a giant demon. Use it to bust open the big doors and you've officially arrived in Hell.

Sentence the Judge - 25 pts

Defeat King Minos

Not counting Death, this is your first big boss fight. When the fight begins, Minos will pop his tail up through the floor in an effort to impale you. Just keep moving and you should be fine. After Minos' tail stops popping up Minos will rear back. Move to the sides of the arena and you'll get a right bumper button prompt. Hit the correct button and Dante will grapple up to the glowing circle on the wall allowing him to safely hide from Minos' lethal halitosis. Once Minos' is done hop down and start pummeling his face with attacks. Minos will try to tongue lash you here so be prepared to dodge. After enough whacks to the face Minos will rear back and protect his face but offer up his stomach to your scythe. Make use of this misguided attempt at defense and keep on attacking. After enough hits Minos will grab on to the surrounding pillars and summon some enemies. Tend to them and then start running around again to dodge Minos' tail. After some tail attacks Minos will attempt to pound you with his fist as well as nail you with an arm sweep.

Keep on jumping and you should be fine. When Minos slams his palm down on the ground you'll get a right trigger button prompt for a quick time event. Hit all of the buttons and Minos will once again show you his stomach for your attacking pleasure. After this it's more tail dodging, more enemy killing and more fist attacks from Minos to jump over. After the fist pounding look for Minos to try another breath attack which you can safely grapple away from. Once the breath attack is over you can keep hitting Minos in the noggin, dodging tongue attacks as necessary until Minos rests his head on the ground and you get a quick time event. Hit all of the buttons and Minos is nothing but a memory leaving you with a shiny new relic and a new achievement.

Lovers Torn Asunder - 25 pts

Defeat Marc Antony

The description of this one is somewhat misleading as you have to defeat both Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Once Marc Antony shows up keep pressing the attacks, dodging and blocking as necessary. He'll block a lot of your attacks but is vulnerable to air to ground combos. Once you've done enough damage to Antony he'll be bathed in green light meaning that Cleopatra is healing him. When this happens, run over and whack her hand so that she stops and then go back to knocking Antony around. Keep repeating this cycle of damaging Antony and stopping Cleopatra from healing him and eventually Antony will fall. Watch a brief scene and then be ready to deal with Cleo and a quick time event. Once the fight is over you'll have the achievement and a new relic.

The Great Worm - 25 pts

Defeat Cerberus

This doesn't look like any Cerberus I've ever head of. No matter, dead is dead so let's get to it. See those four glowing orbs on the ground? The basic idea here is to run over to the orb and hit right bumper and then mash the B button to destroy the orb and cause a gout of flame to appear. Lure Cerberus into attacking you so that either of the outer heads gets hit with the flame column. Then, once the head hits the ground, rush up to it and smack it around. Do this enough times and you'll get a right trigger prompt for a quick time event that will allow you to take one of the heads clean off. Once that head is taken care of go to the other side of the area and do the same thing with the other head. Once the outer heads are gone you'll do the same thing all over again this time luring the middle head into attacking you and getting burned to a crisp. Do it enough times and you'll get the final quick time event prompt allowing you to show what an awful, awful snack Dante would make. You'll get the achievement and a new relic for your troubles.

Like Father Like Son - 25 pts

Defeat Alighiero

Dante's pops has certainly seen better days. As boss fights go, this one is pretty straightforward. Alighiero has a heavy attack with his cross that can't be blocked so try a lot of air to ground combos. He also has an area of effect attack that he triggers by spearing his cross into the ground. Be ready to jump when you see him lifting his cross up. He also has a variation of this attack that ends up with a glowing column in the ground that will emit pulse attacks that can be quite annoying. Try to avoid these attacks and pound on Alighiero when he gets winded from all of the fighting. There's no quick time event needed to finish this fight, just deal enough damage and he'll be done. You'll get the achievement and a new relic.

Gates of Dis - 35 pts

Enter the lower circles of The Inferno

You'll get this one automatically as you ride Phlegyas out of Anger.

The Harrowing - 35 pts

Escape Heresy

Pretty self explanatory. Enter Heresy, travel through Heresy, leave Heresy. You'll get this one as soon as you make it past the crumbling floor.