Best Bayonetta game in years.
When Bayonetta 3 came out a few months ago, there was a secret chapter you could access, about 10 minutes long, featuring zoomed-out child versions of the series’ titular protagonists in several colorful art styles. I was solving a light puzzle. It was slow, not very interesting, and lacked context. What was this… DLC?
As it turns out, it wasn’t. It was actually a playable teaser for the full-price puzzle action-adventure game Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. If that’s not enough for you, get this. The final product is truly outstanding! It’s a clever take on both Bayonetta and Zelda and represents some of Platinum Games’ most creative developers.
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This spin-off is notable in that it shows a side of her early life, the seldom-seen Platinum’s iconic protagonist. Cereza’s real name is the result of a forbidden tryst between her mother, the Umbra Witch, and her father of the rival Lumen Sages tribe. Due to the nature of the romance, Rosa was imprisoned and Cereza was exiled to a nearby forest after her rescue attempt failed, after which she was raised by her fellow witch exiled Morgana. .
One day, in a dream, Serezha was told to follow a white wolf in order to gain the strength to reunite with her mother. On her way, she was able to summon a demon who resides in a doll her mother made for her, a demon Cereza names her Cheshire, who is not particularly fond of young witches. Cereza wants to gain confidence in her witch abilities and save her mother, while Cheshire wants to return to her underworld. Apparently, destroying four elemental orbs gives the pair the power to accomplish both goals.
I can’t say enough good things about how exciting the atmosphere is here. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the game’s vibrant colors pop like you’re playing a living storybook, and the dark whimsy found in its obvious inspiration is at full force. Appear. It appears in sentences, soundtracks featuring full instrumental ensembles, cutscenes told through storybook pages, and even a warm-voiced narrator (her grumblings as she narrates the game). The impression that says is actually Cheshire’s voice actor.. Not as radical as Bayonetta.
Bayonetta Origins is quite different from its character action counterpart. Instead, it pulls the camera back somewhere between traditional third-person action games and 2D Zelda. The big gimmick here is controlling both Cereza and Cheshire at the same time. The former is controlled with the left stick and the latter with the right stick.
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Cereza casts spells that bind enemies and manipulate the environment, while Cheshire uses damage-based attacks to destroy large objects. His moveset expands several times as he progresses, with Cheshire gaining the ability to use his vines to reach distant objects and shoot water guns from his mouth.
Simultaneous operation has a bit of a “stomach pat, head pat” effect at first, but it works surprisingly well. This is no doubt aided by the simplified nature of enemy encounters. You attack by pressing , and the puzzle/battle environment usually stays on the less elaborate side to accommodate. Duo-centric game design is consistently fun and rarely frustrating.
The biggest point of comparison at the end of the game is Zelda. Although it deals with interconnected locations rather than Zelda’s dungeon hub structure, the blend of action, puzzles, and exploration is very memorable. That’s not all. Open a large chest to match the fluttering piano and collect “hearts” (flowers, etc.) in the same way. A world health upgrade piece and a full post-boss battle upgrade for him. There are also optional portals and some that are not, including puzzles and combat challenges. They have a real BOTW shrine vibe.
However, the motives go beyond Zelda. Once Cheshire gains additional power, the pair can fast travel back to the previous area (unlocked near the halfway point) and use that power to clean up the side area and acquire additional collectibles. These different flavors make for a game that sits at the intersection of Bayonetta, Zelda, Metroid, and 2009’s indie narrative puzzle game. That’s been on my mind when I’m not playing her 10-15 hour adventure in Cereza and the Lost Demon. She may be back to 100% in the next few weeks.
Of course, the final product is not without flaws. The adventure was pretty easy overall, taking very little damage for the first 60-70%. Bosses also took about half the game to start getting interesting, and only a few represented Platinum’s best.
There were also very few gameplay annoyances here and there. I found Cereza’s main environmental spell (holding ZL and activating the left stick) to be a bit repetitive and tedious. Thanks to the game’s handy accessibility menu. You have the option to hold down the ZL trigger and let the game do the rest.
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My final issue concerns the game’s storybook cutscenes.90% of the story in Bayonetta Origins is through storybook cutscenes with lightly animated drawings, text, and (excellent) narration. be told. Simply put, they tend to last way too long and usually drag on an otherwise very fast-paced experience. Sometimes it felt like there was a disconnect between what the game was actually doing and the story it was telling.
I hope a potential sequel to this alleviates some of these issues. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, though imperfect, is a big surprise as it beautifully blends the design of Platinum with the trappings of light Zelda and Metroid. The game’s quiet release (and troublesome title) betrays Cereza and the Lost Demon’s status as perhaps Platinum’s best Switch game, to me.