The new game from Platinum Games is the third chapter of the “Bayonetta” saga, which I had the pleasure of playing on Wii U, which tells the story of the witch of Umbra, named after Bayonetta.
Or rather, a nickname, since the real name (as it turns out in l2) is Cereza.
For those unfamiliar with this series, you play the role of Bayonetta, a witch, a woman who is eternally young, beautiful and with a statuesque physique.
In the different chapters, different opponents are fought: the witch has powers related to demons, they can be summoned, and at the end of some combos we will see them appear to give a blow, or parts of their bodies such as punches or kicks.
Game of the “hack and slash” genre, initially conceived by those who created the “Devil May cry” series, in fact it has many similarities.
In this we have the world invaded by mysterious creatures, who are neither angels nor demons, they are creatures made with human nature, it seems. Indeed initially, in the game, the demons will not automatically attack these beings, they only do it against the celestial creatures that appear in the previous chapters.
A combat system linked to martial arts techniques, executable through combos, at least, with Lady Butterfly and with the “the colors of the world” weapon.
In addition, by dodging at the right moment, the “temporal sabbath” technique is activated (also present in the previous chapters) which slows down time very much, almost stopping it, which allows us to attack enemies for a short time, without risk.
There is a great variety of weapons that we unlock as the game progresses, to score higher in the various levels we must be careful to take as little damage as possible, spend as little time as possible and perform the best possible combos.
Unfortunately I’m not very good with combos, it “annoys” me to learn them, maybe they are the ones I’m most passionate about, so I tend to attack “at random”, which however is “rewarded” with “improvisation”.
In fact, more than the combos, my problems have been too much time or the damage suffered. I have a tendency to think about how to avoid damage etc, so maybe I waste time and suffer, meh.
We will have to save the world, or rather, the universe from these mysterious creatures, a being who commands them called “singularity”, creeps between dimensions to destroy them.
An equally mysterious girl named Viola tells us what we should do. It is a geese character we will guide in some chapters, who has powers similar to those of the protagonist, however she activates the temporal sabbath by parrying and only uses Chesire, leaving him free while she can continue to fight with kicks and punches, unlike Bayonetta who when she summons the demon can’t move not to drive demons like puppets attacking enemies.
It’s a spectacular game, in the sense that it focuses on epic scenes and almost cinematic moments.
What happens many times? Bayonetta uses scary magic: she rips her heart out of her chest summoning demons in their purest and most powerful form.
In the first against singularity which becomes a huge beast, for example, Gomorrah becomes a creature that is also colossal, and the two monsters collide, like godzilla.
Telling you a little about the plot (beware of spoilers) we will move between various dimensions, where we will meet different versions of the witch, who will all be killed by singularity. On the other hand we will have new and interesting weapons, and also demons related to them, to summon.
Another very interesting thing, I really liked the spider-demon, it gave spider-man vibes, since you move in the same way, throwing cobwebs.
The game ends with the three Bayonettas we played fighting united against singularity. Horrendous Detection: The creature claims that she had already eliminated them.
I was convinced that the Bayonetta of 3 was the same as the previous chapters, instead it seems that they “simply” belonged to other worlds. Didn’t all three have the same experiences, then?
At the end of the game we discover what we had even a little intuition: Viola is the daughter of Bayonetta and Luka, and it could be that she will be the next protagonist in the games.
It seems they wanted to undo the Bayonettas of every world, so there seems to be no alternative? We’ll see.
I don’t mind Miss Viola as a character, perhaps less sexy, less flashy, but her fighting style and her character, together with her background, make her a futuristic and interesting character.
Interesting and also shareable choice: a breath of fresh air, as happened with Devil May Cry 4, when they introduced Nero.
Will it really be like this? Or as in DMC we will see Bayonetta appear as we see Dante and Virgil appear?
We’ll find out.
While not my favorite genre, Bayonetta is now a milestone along with DMC itself. Both the witch and the half-demon are charismatic characters, that’s for sure.