Bayonetta 3, released in October, brought our favorite video game witch back for an unexpected adventure. In a departure from her famous beat’em all games, this prequel explores Bayonetta origins in the action-adventure genre. Though Platinum Games’ offering has flown under the radar, it’s a pleasant surprise.
Within five months, we’ve received two Bayonetta games. After a nine-year gap, it’s astonishing to see her return in a new adventure so swiftly. This time, it’s not an intense beat’em all but a more relaxed top-down adventure featuring a young Bayonetta and storybook-like graphics. Despite the limited marketing for Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, it has the potential to be a delightful Nintendo Switch exclusive. Reasons include:
- Unique genre shift
- Engaging origin story
- Visually appealing graphics
Enchanting Art Style and Storyline
Playing previous Bayonetta games isn’t necessary to enjoy Origins, but fans will appreciate the references. The plot follows Cereza, Bayonetta’s real name, a girl born from a forbidden love. With her parents imprisoned, Cereza is mentored by witch Morgana. Seeking power to save her mother, Cereza explores a magical forest, guided by a mysterious white wolf from her dreams.
Bayonetta Origins’ striking graphics evoke a children’s book illustration. The vibrant colors, minimalist style, and enchanted forest setting create a fairy tale atmosphere. The top-down camera angle enhances exploration, and detailed character animations bring the game to life. Despite occasional slowdowns during confrontations, the visuals deliver a captivating experience. Key points include:
- No need for prior Bayonetta knowledge
- Engaging plot following Cereza’s journey
- Beautiful, fairy tale-inspired graphics
Unique Gameplay for Seamless Exploration
In Bayonetta Origins, an action-adventure game, players navigate a magical forest as young Cereza. With limited magical abilities, Cereza relies on her demon-possessed stuffed toy, Chouchou, for combat. The dual-stick gameplay involves:
- Controlling Bayonetta with the left stick
- Moving Chouchou with the right stick
- Immobilizing enemies for Chouchou’s attacks
As players progress and unlock skills, combat complexity increases. Despite occasional clutter during action sequences, the gameplay offers a fresh, engaging experience.
Game Test
Intrigued, we dove into the depths of Avalon Forest with the young Bayonetta, then known as Cereza.
Like a lucid dream in a fairy tale
As the name suggests, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (which we will quickly call Bayonetta Origins) focuses on the origins of the heroine, at a time when she doesn’t yet master the occult arts.
Born from the forbidden union between a Lumen sage and an Umbra witch, Cereza finds herself alone after her mother is imprisoned in an unknown location. That’s when a witch named Morgana agrees to take her under her wing to train her in magic, with the young girl’s goal being to save her mother using her powers. But as her training doesn’t bear fruit, Cereza decides to venture into the Fairy Forest, a place forbidden by Morgana, due to a recurring dream that tells her to follow a white wolf to gain the power to save her mother.
Isolated in this unfamiliar place, our heroine accidentally summons a demon into her stuffed toy, Chouchou (who has the same name and appearance as the one accompanying Viola in Bayonetta 3). Unable to return to Hell by himself and Cereza not being able to create a portal, our two heroes must cooperate despite their differences to survive within this hostile forest.
While Bayonetta Origins offers a relatively classic story, it multiplies the nods to the original trilogy that will please loyal fans who have played all the episodes. It deepens the lore to better discover how the fearful Cereza became the intrepid Bayonetta.
Rest assured, if you have never played a game in the series before, the adventure remains perfectly understandable due to its simplicity. But if the title’s plot was simple enough, it is through its visual aspect that Bayonetta Origins shines particularly.
By opting for an artistic direction inspired by fairy tale books (which is also reflected in the fact that the entire adventure is narrated through the voice of a narrator), the game offers a colorful and shimmering rendering of great beauty.
The charm operates throughout the adventure without becoming tiresome and is by far the first quality of the experience. Well aware of the beauty of its environments, the title multiplies the panoramas to amaze the player. This feeling is further reinforced by the game’s equally sumptuous soundtrack, offering dreamy and delicate themes, as well as by the understated but effective sound design reminiscent of Breath of the Wild.
With this visual approach and the choice of a distant camera, the whole adventure remains fluid, with a few rare exceptions, such as when the action becomes too intense. Because yes, even though exploration plays a central role in Bayonetta Origins, the battles are not absent.
One stick for you, one stick for me
To face the fairies of the forest, Cereza cannot defend herself like the Bayonetta we know. At best, she can immobilize them with her basic spell, but that’s it. Fortunately, our heroine can count on her stuffed-toy-turned-demon Chouchou to attack in her place with sharp claws. Thus, our protagonists complement each other perfectly, one paralyzing the enemies so the other can easily devour them.
The peculiarity of Bayonetta Origins is that you control Cereza and Chouchou at the same time using the two sticks of the controller, the first with the left one and the second with the right one. This gameplay is initially disorienting as it requires managing the movements of two characters simultaneously, which is reminiscent of the demon summoning in Bayonetta 3 that worked somewhat similarly.
Rest assured, the pace of the battles is much slower than those of the original trilogy, allowing you to quickly familiarize yourself with the controls. This is especially true since the goal is often to keep Cereza safe while Chouchou goes on a rampage, with the young witch only returning to the heart of the action to immobilize her target again.
Of course, the demon is not overly powerful, as each hit consumes his magic gauge, which, once empty, turns him back into a plush toy, forcing our heroine to hold him in her arms until he recovers. Thanks to the numerous effects accompanying the attacks, the battles are genuinely dynamic, especially considering Chouchou’s whirlwind assaults.
They even become more complex as you unlock new techniques in the skill tree. The downside of all this is that the confrontations sometimes lack clarity due to the confusion on the screen, a feeling reinforced by having to manage two characters at the same time. But alongside that, the most important boss battles benefit from a spectacular presentation, as Platinum Games knows how to do so well, which helps reinforce the stakes of the moment. It is in these moments that it feels like a Bayonetta game.
Cereza in the land of Tír na nÓg
To ensure that the gameplay experience remains fresh throughout the progression, you regularly obtain new elemental powers for Chouchou. These skills prove useful in both battles and exploration phases that require putting each character’s abilities to good use. Throughout the adventure, you alternate between fights and puzzles to advance through the Avalon forest.
The progression is smooth, and there’s even a slight Metroidvania aspect since you can easily retrace your steps to unlock new paths with Chouchou’s powers. This is a must for those aiming for 100% completion, which will take about twenty hours, as the adventure lasts only about fifteen hours in a straight line.
Despite its short duration, it must be acknowledged that after a while, the game’s structure, alternating between combat and exploration, eventually becomes repetitive towards the end. This is particularly noticeable because of the Tír na nÓg dungeons encountered throughout the adventure.
While some offer pleasant little puzzle sections that require smart use of our heroes’ abilities, most simply reproduce the same structure with a basic arena as a challenge. It makes one wonder if this is a way for developers to artificially inflate the game’s longevity, as these dungeons become repetitive over time.
Final Words
Pros:
- A beautiful, colorful, and charming art direction
- Original two-stick gameplay with numerous possibilities
- Smooth progression that alternates between combat and exploration
- Spectacular staging in key moments
- A lovely soundtrack and polished sound design
Cons:
- A structure that tends to become repetitive after a while
- Battles sometimes cluttered due to controlling two characters
Editor’s Rating
With Bayonetta Origins, Platinum Games steps out of its comfort zone to offer a more relaxed experience, and it’s successful. Thanks to its stunning, colorful art direction, Cereza’s first adventure draws inspiration from fairy tale books, providing a visual appeal that retains its charm until the end. In terms of gameplay, the title borrows elements from Bayonetta 3 by having us control two characters simultaneously for an approach that is both original and initially disorienting.
Ultimately, it is the well-paced progression that captivates the player, alternating between battles and puzzles with great fluidity, even though the structure tends to become repetitive towards the end. For all these reasons, Bayonetta Origins is a delightful and charming adventure that earns a special place among the Nintendo Switch exclusives.
Final Impressions
Bayonetta Origins has the potential to be a top 2023 Nintendo Switch exclusive. Boasting a visually captivating storybook art style and polished animations, it offers engaging dual-stick gameplay for exploration and combat. The smooth progression evokes Nintendo’s classic adventure formula. Bayonetta Origins promises to be an exciting addition, with the final version releasing on March 17th.
