Bayonetta 3

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""Look, I gotta be real. After I've finished this game, I thought to myself, "I think this might be my least favorite game in the line-up!""

— SomeCallMeJohnny from his review of Bayonetta 3 in "Johnny vs. Bayonetta 3"

Bayonetta 3
Travel through the Bayonetta-verse and stop Singularity from destroying it!
Protagonist(s): Bayonetta Jeanne Viola Genre(s): Action Adventure Hack-and-slash Platform(s): Nintendo Switch Release Date: October 28, 2022 Developer(s): PlatinumGames Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Bayonetta Predecessor: Bayonetta 2 Successor: Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (by release date)

Bayonetta 3 is an hack-and-slash/action-adventure game made by Platinum Games. It was released on the Nintendo Switch on 2022, is the sequel to the 2014 game Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U and is overall the third installment of the Bayonetta series.

Story

Settings and characters

The universe of Bayonetta is set in a location known as Trinity of Realities, which comprises Paradiso, the realm of angels; Inferno, the realm of demons; and the World of Chaos, the human world. The World of Chaos is composed of multiple alternate universes, which makes for the main setting of Bayonetta 3. The titular witch Bayonetta — known also by her real name Cereza — returns as its protagonist, an Umbran Witch who makes contracts with demons to fight angels. She is joined by a witch-in-training Viola, who fights alongside her demon familiar Cheshire. They team up in order to fight against the forces of man-made artificial weapons called "Homunculi"; led by an artificial entity known as "Singularity", which seeks to eliminate all worlds in the multiverse to strengthen itself and conquer the Trinity of Realities. The two are assisted by Bayonetta's childhood friend and fellow Umbran witch Jeanne, the investigative reporter Luka, the information broker Enzo, and the demonic arms dealer Rodin.

Plot

An alternate universe Bayonetta fights against Singularity, but is killed as Viola watches and inherits the last of her power. Viola is tasked by her commanding officer Sigurd to use a world bridge to escape to another universe, and to seek help in the battle against Singularity. Viola uses the world bridge and escapes as Sigurd is killed, arriving in a universe where Bayonetta and Jeanne witness the Homunculi launching their attack on New York City. Taking refuge with Enzo in Rodin's bar the Gates of Hell, Viola explains that the Homunculi and Singularity have already destroyed countless alternate universes; Rodin confirms that if all universes collapse, Singularity will have ultimate power over the Trinity of Realities. To stop Singularity, Bayonetta and Viola must travel to the island of Thule, which serves as a gateway between universes, and collect the Chaos Gears that can lead them to the "Alphaverse" where Singularity resides. Jeanne is tasked with infiltrating a research facility to locate their universe's version of Sigurd, a doctor and scientist with knowledge about the multiverse.

Bayonetta and Viola arrive at Thule and fight across several alternate universes. During the travels, Bayonetta pursues alternate universe incarnations of herself who are protecting their own worlds, and fights alongside them to obtain the Chaos Gears; each is ultimately killed and absorbed by a vessel of Singularity, who is pursuing each Bayonetta incarnation as the "Arch-Eve", which can influence reality. Viola ends up pursuing Luka, who has been following them throughout the multiverse. Viola discovers that the deaths of his counterparts across the multiverse has caused Luka to transform into a wolf-like beast known as Strider, influenced by the rage of the Alphaverse's incarnation dubbed Dark Adam. During the game Viola reveals she is the daughter of her universe's Bayonetta and Luka, and encounters an alternate Luka dubbed "Lukaon", king of the faeries with knowledge of the multiverse. Jeanne manages to retrieve Sigurd and reconvenes with Bayonetta and Viola on Thule. Using the Chaos Gears, Sigurd opens up a portal into the Alphaverse, allowing Bayonetta and Viola access. Upon their arrival, they discover that Singularity's real identity was the Alphaverse's Sigurd, an artificial human who sought absolute power over the multiverse.

Singularity, who was impersonating Sigurd, kills Jeanne and traps Bayonetta and Viola in the Alphaverse. Luka reaches the Alphaverse too, with Bayonetta defeating Dark Adam and Lukaon restoring Luka's mind and allowing him to become "Arch-Adam", a guide to the Arch-Eve. Bayonetta, identified by Singularity as "Arch-Eve Origin", pursues and fights Singularity, freeing the spirits of Jeanne and the other Bayonettas, who briefly aid her before vanishing. She is then aided by incarnations of herself from Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2, and finally kills Singularity with help from Viola, Luka and a final Demon Summoning; Singularity's death restores the multiverse. Bayonetta, wounded and exhausted, loses control of Gomorrah and her soul is knocked from her body. Luka subdues the summon and embraces Bayonetta, restoring her body; they are dragged into Inferno, leaving Viola behind. Post-credits sequences show Viola defeating Dark Eve, a remnant of the Alphaverse's Bayonetta, and being given the "Bayonetta" title as a final message from Bayonetta; and later going to school in New York while taking on jobs for Rodin.

Why It's Time to Dance Once Again

1. While it may not have a very creative storyline, the game is still just as good as its predecessors in terms of combat and gameplay.
2. The graphics look fantastic, and are a step up from previous games.
3. The controls are still just a solid as always, and several new features were added to keep things interesting, such as transforming into a demon depending on which weapon you equip via Demon Masquerade (Madama Butterfly for the Colour My World guns, Gomorrah for the G-Pillar, Baal for the Ribbit Libido BZ55, etc.)
   • Also, you get a different Double Jump, Dash, and atrack style for each Demon Masquerade you use and can swap between the two of them by pressing L. Used creatively, the feature replaces the Beast Within mechanics (but the latter can still be used when Bayonetta equips the Scarborough Fair and Love is Blue guns).
4. Unlike previous games, the levels in this game are more open world-like, making the world larger than it already was.
5. There's a huge amount of collectibles, including Umbran Tears (each of which
6. Much like previous PlatinumGames titles, the bosses are fantastic, and the final boss is among one of the most thrilling in the series.
7. There is a variety of environments across fourteen levels to play through, such as Tokyo, Han China, Ancient Egypt, Paris, etc.
   • Additionally, there is a different Bayonetta for each of these places, each with a different demon to use, thus making a welcome multiversw for the series (the Bayonetta-verse, if you will).
8. The new Demon Slave ability is a nice way to integrate Umbran Climaxes and Summoning: you can carry up to three Infernal Demons with you at a time, with each one having a different move set from each other that can be useful to solve puzzles. Be careful, as they can Rampage if they take too much damage.
9. Despite the controversy it caused, Jennifer Hale (Ms. Keane from the original Powerpuff Girls, Cinderella from modern Disney media, Katherine from Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., and Numbuh 86 from Codename: Kids Next Door) does a good job voicing Bayonetta and serves as a great replacement for Hellena Taylor.
10. Unlike the last two games, there are no slideshow cutscenes whatsoever (except for some flashbacks), and almost all of the cutscenes are entirely in motion.
11. Viola is a decent addition to the cast, despite her controversial gameplay (see BQ #8), being the daughter of Cereza who later takes up her mantle at the end and acts as a hilarious comic relief character.
12. Some Infernal Demons who did not return in the previous game (such as Gomorrah, Phantasmareanae, Malphas, etc.) make a return in this one alongside Baal, Mictlantecuhtli, and Alraune from the second game and brand new ones such as the Umbran Clock Tower itself and Kraken.
13. In some chapters, usually the end of each dimensional story arc, you control bigger, stronger versions of specific Infernal Demons, each with a different gameplay style (Sin Gomorrah participates in a side-scrolling fight, Baal Zebul has a rhythm game to defeat the possessed Bayonetta β4 and her Mictlantecuhtli minions, etc.)
14. Levels are selected via a world map once again, this time with Viola throwing a dart at the targets, and you can choose to play a challenge after beating each level once.
15. The soundtrack is just as epic as previous games, especially Viola's battle theme.
16. After being a damsel-in-distress and a weapon-swap with slightly different mechanics in the previous two games, Jeanne becomes playable in four Side Chapters, which are side-scrolling stealth platforming levels where she must find Dr. Sigurd.
17. Each weapon now has a Skill Tree that you can use to unlock new skills for each weapon (and Viola). You can also upgrade Bayonetta and Viola's health and magic using Demon Hearts and Moon Pearls you unlock from the Alfheim portal challenges.
18. Once you find four keys, you can unlock the picture book in Viola's room, giving you a playable preview of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon.

Bad Qualities

1. This game shows a few signs of being rushed:
   • During the beginning of the game at Prologue Chapter, there this large Kraken-like creature, yet it has no explanation on why its there and attacking Bayonetta. It also doesn't help that after its appearance in the Prologue Chapter, it never appears until the epilogue segment after the final boss, making its inclusion feel very shoehorned.
   • At one point in Chapter 3, you'll get to have control over Bayonetta β1, giving off the impression that later on in the game, you get to control other versions of that Bayonetta, but later Bayonettas do not get the same treatment.
   • In Chapter 7, it's revealed that Bayonetta acquired a Chaos Gear off-screen.
2. The story has tons of issues:
   • Bad first impression: The first part of the game starts off with Bayonetta (looking like how she did in the first game) being overpowered and defeated by Singularity, much to Viola's dismay.
   • Jeanne has little-to-no impact on the story, which makes things even worst as she already got put to the side-lines in the previous games.
   • There are multiple plot-holes though out the game:
     • When did Bayonetta and Luka have a thing for each other?
     • Why is Singularity killing all of the Bayonettas, and what is his big evil plan?
     • When, where and why can Luka all of a sudden transform into a werewolf?
     • What happened to all of the other Bayonettas after their worlds are restored and Singularity was defeated?
     • Where did the Bayonettas from the first and second game came from?
     • Why did Bayonetta summon Gomorrah, of all demons, to deal the final blow on Singularity, despite it trying to kill her in the previous game?
   • The plot is basically just the same over and over again, and it literally goes as follows:
     • Bayonetta enters another dimension and meets that world's version of Bayonetta.
     • There is a large Homunculus creature that Bayonetta encounters at one point in the story.
     • The version of Bayonetta exclusive to that world gets defeated by the Homunculus while it turns into a stronger form.
     • Bayonetta summons a large, powered up version of her Demon to fight the Homunculus that is empowered by a Bayonetta it defeated.
     • Bayonetta then acquires the Chaos Gear from defeating the large Homunculus.
   • Two words: the ending. Enough said.
3. There is only one save file in the game. Therefore, should players want to replay on a new game, they'll either have to delete their own file or start a file on a new account.
4. Unlike previous games, there's no way to retry a segment with out having to restart the chapter all over again. And even in mid-fight, there's no option to restart from check point to try again. This makes the process of getting a Pure Platinum rank a chore.
   • As a matter of fact, the only real way to even retry a segment and/or fight is to have Bayonetta or Viola lose a fight on purpose.
5. The bosses, while still fun to battle, have some problems:
   • Cumulonimbus (the first boss) is fought way too many times, being fought five times (seven if counting the encounters with them at the Jeanne segments) though out the game, and none of them in the later fights get any new attacks, patterns, and/or battle strategies.
   • Of the five "Big Battles" second phases that are fought, two of them (specifically Arch-Iridescent and Arch-Pyrocumulus) feel more like minigames than boss fights.
   • Strider uses the now-tired "ally is brainwashed to justify them as a boss" cliché.
6. Jeanne's levels, while decent, are rather easy and have no penalties if you get caught. On a side note, they are labeled as "Side Missions", and yet they're required to progress though the story.
7. The Demon Slave gimmick, while a great addition and gives Bayonetta's demons more character, has several problems:
   • Most of the demons move too slowly and have the same damage output. Bayonetta is also stuck in place when she summons a demon, leaving her open to cheap attacks unless she equips an accessories that lets her move.
   • There are noise issues that arise the during the summoning, making it difficult to respond to certain enemy attacks.
   • They can also make Bayonetta 3 a little too easy as well, due to their high damage out-put, you can easily spam the move without moving and can even get an accessories that prevents the Demons from turning on Bayonetta.
8. While Viola is an okay character as her gameplay concept seems like a good idea on paper, but how she's handled is flawed:
   • First of all, Viola's gameplay is similar to Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (which was also made by Platinum Games) with a dash of Vergil from the Devil May Cry series, except her gameplay is more frustrating and lacks the flowing nature of both of those characters.
   • Unlike Bayonetta, Viola does not activate Witch Time by dodging out of enemies' way, instead she has to block/parry enemy attacks with her sword (similar to Raiden's parrying mechanic), but the act of doing so is very clunky to handle as similar to Bat Within, it requires very strict timing compared to how it worked in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
   • Viola only has one weapon/gun (the katana) and one Demon though the game (Cheshire), and unlike Bayonetta, she doesn't gain new weapons, making these levels somewhat boring. While she does gain a fairy form in Chapter 7, it seems copied from Astral Chain's Legion Fusion that the protagonist gains in File 09.
   • Not only are the Viola segments bland, but they can also come at bad (and predictable) times. One such example is having to play as Viola after Chapter 9, in which at that point you have two new weapons and Demons to use, and the same goes for after Chapter 6.
     • Making this even worse is that, during these two instances, players would have just played though a Jeanne segment, so there are TWO incidents of playing as different characters before they can finally play as Bayonetta.
9. There are no outfits or alternative costumes based on media from Nintendo this time. Instead, it's shirts in the case with Viola, color swaps for Bayonetta, and customs of the alternate versions of Bayonetta, Jeanne, and Rosa that have appeared in the story.
10. Despite it being the sequel to Bayonetta 2, there are no call-backs to any of the previous games. Loki and Balder (two of the characters from the previous game) don't even make an appearance, or even get so much as a mention, thus making this entry feel more-or-less like a stand-alone game.
11. Very poor camera during battles, some of which can cause enemies to easily hit Bayonetta or Viola off-screen, making the posses of getting the "No Damage" bonus a chore and even unfair.
12. Because you have two player characters (unlike the previous games), you have to manually spend either a Witch Heart and/or a Moon Pearl on Bayonetta and/or Viola when getting both haves of Witch Hearts and Moon Pearls, and even doing it in a more balance gameplay, neither Bayonetta or Viola will have even amounts of states.
13. Angel Attack, a minigame from the first game, is still absent in this installment. It wasn't even included in the game's predecessor, either.
14. The Naïve Angel Mode, which censors certain parts of the game including strategically covered nudity, cleavage, and other things such as Rodin's cigar, is completely unnecessary and appears to be an obvious afterthought, as it doesn't add anything to gameplay other than replacing objects in some cutscenes with out of context ones.

Reception

Bayonetta 3 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics and users, according to review aggregator Metacritic (scoring 86/100 and 7.7/10, respectively).

The combat received widespread praise from reviewers. Mitchell Saltzman, writing for IGN, described it as, "one of the best combat systems in gaming". GameSpot's Jessica Howard described the gameplay as being "lightning-fast and smooth yet accommodates for different playstyles and skill levels". Chris Carter of Destructoid added how "seamless" the combat was and highlighted the game's wealth of content. The game's levels were also noted by Nintendo Life as being larger than prior games in the series, and that the game had greater replayability through challenges, collectibles, and unlockable modes.

Some reviewers criticized the game's performance and technical issues, such as an inconsistent framerate, long loading times, and occasional low-quality textures. Negative opinions were also directed at the game's camera, being labelled as "frustrating" and "annoying". The story and characterization of its titular protagonist in comparison to the game's predecessors drew some criticism.

Overall, because of this game's poor story and some odd design choices, Bayonetta 3 is widely considered as the weakest game in the Bayonetta series, despite being well-received by critics and many users.

Sales

Bayonetta 3 sold 41,285 physical copies within its first week of release in Japan, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country. In the United Kingdom, Bayonetta 3 was the third best-selling game in its release week behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and FIFA 23. According to NPD in the United States, Bayonetta 3 was the second best-selling Nintendo Switch title in October 2022 under Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, as well as the ninth overall across all game platforms. In February 2023, Nintendo reported that Bayonetta 3 had sold over one million copies worldwide.

Sequel

In November 21, 2022, series creator Kamiya says that a sequel is being created and is on the way.

Trivia

• Hellena Taylor, the original voice actress of Bayonetta in the first and second game, was replaced with Jennifer Hale due to "various overlapping issues". She took it to Twitter (now known as X as of 2024) to lead a failed PR stunt about being paid $4,000 for the role, which later stated it was $15,000. After being offered a cameo, she turned down the role stating that she was "done" with the character.

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