Hands up — Did Bayonetta fans want a game centered around her teenage years? I know it didn’t. As we’ve learned from ’90s Flash Gordon cartoons and Star Wars prequels, turning an adult character into her teenage years can only lead to great disappointment.
But here’s the problem. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza & the Lost Demon is a great game. It even claims to be better than Bayonetta 3. If that offends you, I recommend downloading the demo and trying it out before talking to the Editor-in-Chief.
In Bayonetta Origins, a young heroine (here named Cereza) takes refuge with master witch Morgana. While learning witchcraft from Morgana, she dreams of rescuing her mother, who was imprisoned in an illicit relationship with an angel. disgusted by her lack of admiration and action. When a mysterious boy appears in Cereza’s dream and urges her to explore the forbidden forest of Avalon, Cereza immediately sets off on an adventure.
Although not a choice, Cereza does not travel alone. An early spell went awry and he inadvertently summoned a demon to his stuffed Cheshire. The demon isn’t happy with this situation, but Cereza doesn’t know how to free it. The two must adventure together – Sereza frees her mother Cheshire and returns to the underworld.
Gameplay revolves around controlling these characters simultaneously. Cereza follows a guided trail as she makes her way through the forest, encountering many obstacles along the way (although there is a lot of debris). These are divided into environmental puzzles and enemies to fight. It takes the combination of Cereza and her Chesire to overcome both. Cereza operates on the left side of her Joy-Con and Cheshire on the right.
Movement is done with the stick, and actions are done with the shoulder buttons. ZL allows her Cereza to cast spells for various reasons, while RL is Cheshire’s attack trigger. Cereza can cast spells to release items or open pathways when interacting with the environment, while Cheshire can use her brute force to knock down barriers. And, as you’d expect in a game like this, you’ll often need to use one character to unlock another path.
The dual control mechanic comes into play during combat. For example, Cereza can cast spells that trap enemies, and Cheshire can ride them into town. Each character’s new abilities open up through skill trees to allow you to use two in a comfortable way, often with the wrong stick he tried to move Cereza or Cheshire, but at once he I was impressed with how quickly I got used to controlling two characters. New mechanics can be tedious to learn and use at first. It’s also easy to forget certain moves once you get used to the routine, but the system doesn’t frustrate you, in fact it should feel too easy for the typical Bayonetta-her fan.
I also like that the developers don’t control the heroes individually throughout the game. In fact, it won’t let you move forward. Cereza is able to transform Cheshire back into her plush toy form and carry her. In this state, Cheshire can perform actions such as crossing chasms during combat and hooking onto items to stun enemies. There are countless secret items to be found throughout the game, and finding them all requires full use of Cheshire in all its forms. These contain power-ups and potions that are useful in combat, so it’s worth picking up as many as you can.
One of the gameplay downsides is that despite the slow introduction of new abilities, the overall feel doesn’t change at all. The first battle feels like the last one, so unlike True Origins, Bayonetta Origins is definitely more of an adventure game than an action title.
But the presentation of that adventure is great. The story is told as if you were reading an illustrated fairy tale, with page turning and very good narration.Cereza and “Mystery Boy” each have their own actors, but most of the other characters are handled by a narrator who changes his voice as if he were reading a book to school kids…and she You really know what you’re doing. If you’ve seen Storybook Classics by Rabbit Ears Entertainment (Denzel Washington reading John Henry Or reading Holly Hunter three goats rattle, for example), you know what I mean. Similarly, Cereza has a good voice as well. Charming and trustworthy when optimistic and determined, intimidating when wavering.
The visuals also deserve a special mention. It also appears as a storybook illustration that uses saturation and lighting to bring different locations to life. The colors are also very attractive, especially in the Tir na nog puzzle segment.
This is important because the game requires a lot of backtracking. If you’re a perfectionist, you’ll have to revisit areas to pick up items you didn’t get on your first trip. Attractive visuals make revisiting the area less tedious.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza & the Lost Demon can be completed in 15-20 hours, but expect double that if you want the full game experience. No matter how you play it, it’s a unique and unexpected entry into the world of Bayonetta…and will cause a lot of confusion for those entering that world from here.
