Man, what a letdown. I beat Bayonetta 2 on Christmas Eve so naturally didn't have the time to write a review. But I thought it was an improvement on the original in basically every way. I loved it. So naturally I was really excited for this one even with all the dumb drama surrounding its release. Now that I've finally got to it... all I really feel is disappointment.

Before I start being too negative I'll say a few things I like about it. First of all I love how colorful this game is. My biggest complaint with the first game was how damn dreary it looked, and to see 2 and 3 be a lot more vibrant is pleasing. Plus the location variety is fun and helps keep things interesting (desperately needed). I also think there's a really fun selection of weapons to use, Tartarus and the yo-yo being my favorite. And! This game has a lot of dancing. I love dancing. I love Bayonetta dancing. But if this game thinks I'll forgive it for throwing a lot of dancing at the end after mostly boring me for 12 hours then its kinda wrong!

God this game was such a slog to get through for so much of it. The combat may be flashy and the weapons may be cool but it didn't feel fun. The new enemies are almost all just boring. And it feels entirely too reliant on the summoning which besides giving more dancing just makes the combat feel slow and sluggish. Then there is playing as Viola which is a whole other can of worms. You only play as her in three chapters and an epilogue but everything about her moveset is so basic that those three chapters end up feeling like some of the longest in the game. Besides the normal combat the game does switch things up a bit often. I do really like when games get funky with their genres so its appreciated here but even some things like the kaiju fights are just so helplessly boring. There is also Jeanne's side chapters (you don't get to call them Side Chapters and make them mandatory, fuck you) that shake things a bit too but its just.. I really don't know how else to put it. Its not fun.

All of this translates into the cutscenes too. I love the over the top cutscenes in the first two games and DMC but its just way too much here. Its almost all action with very little substance and they drag on and on. Multiple times I just found myself completely zoning out. It all felt mindless. So much creativity with so little love put into it. The story of course suffers from this. Theres very little plot but this game still has the most cutscenes in the series. The first games story was barely decipherable but still fun. 2's was quite enjoyable but still nothing amazing. But here in Bayo 3 its both hard to follow and not enjoyable. The whole multiverse thing is great potential that's handled spectacularly uninterestingly. Only does it really do cool things with it at the very end where its already too late. I actually didn't really mind the whole Viola-Bayo-Luka thing going on but the ending is just kinda bad. Viola is basically female Enzo and I don't hate him but we really did not need more of that. There are dozens of attempts at humor with her and they did not land for me a single time. And now with the game really heavily pushing that they want to continue the story with her as the new main character in Bayo 4? Yeah. My interest in this turning into a saga has almost entirely diminished.

Despite huge missteps with story and pacing, I didn't hate Bayonetta 3. It has cool colors and lots of dancing and Bayonetta is still one of my favorite video game characters. But, I just can't help but feel really disappointed having completed it. I was sure this could be an easy 4.5 for me but Im struggling to find enough reasons for why it deserves a 3/5. Its mostly just the dancing.

man :/

A few more things I wanted to add but didn't know where to fit in to the review. Jennifer Hale my queen does great as the new actress for Bayo. Having one voice line for being idle is annoying. New soundtrack is cool but Tomorrow is Mine still clears. The Switch needs a sequel desperately.

Thanks for reading <3

Nancymeter - 64/100
Game Completion #18 of April
Game Completion #88 of 2023

Bayonetta 3 is a classic hack and slash game developed exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. As the title suggests, it's a sequel to two other games.

Regarding the gameplay, there's not much to say. It's a hack and slash game with combat mechanics reminiscent of the old games from the God of War franchise, for example. In my opinion, there's almost no significant improvement when compared to the other two Bayonetta games, especially the second one.

I would consider it a step back when it comes to the story. The first two Bayonetta games had better plots. While the third episode of this franchise isn't a huge problem, it's not as good as what we've seen before, making it somewhat forgettable. In my opinion, this game relies heavily on the charisma of its characters for its storyline.

As for performance, I can say it's almost the best that Nintendo Switch can offer at this point in the generation. I haven't noticed any significant FPS drops during my gameplay, which is crucial for a hack and slash game. The graphics may not reach their full potential on this hardware, but they are acceptable.

Bayonetta 3 was a highly anticipated game that, in my opinion, didn't fully meet expectations. It's definitely not a bad game, but it lacks the same impact as the previous two. It's an enjoyable game, but whether it's worth the $60 price tag is debatable.

Bayonetta is a franchise that's always meant a lot to me. The drama surrounding the release of this has been absolutely disheartening. I lost a lot of respect for what I considered to be one of my favorite voice actresses and the way it was handled by Kamiya especially was very awful. This had quickly gone from my most anticipated game of the year (or perhaps ever really) to something I felt sick thinking about it. I wasn't sure what to do. Seeing the way Taylor muddied the waters of an important topic for personal gain, throw the new voice actress under the bus and then for the cherry on top asks people to donate to an anti-choice organization just fucking blew my mind. And then finally the previews and reviews started rolling in. Reading and hearing people talk about the game made me feel like I could finally get excited again. I was able to get it a day early and just the experience of completely ignoring the internet until I finished it was such a relief. The gameplay is refined from what I already thought was perfect for me to basically just the next level perfect. I'm a fan of all the changes and everything they keep the same. The story wasn't necessarily the direction I was anticipating but in the same vein I enjoyed it a lot more than I would of thought. Even if you're not a fan of it the gameplay alone is more than enough to keep you engaged. Genuinely such a blast to play and experience. For a franchise I once thought would be dead forever to get an entire trilogy and shine even through unfortunate controversy is not what obliviously gay thirteen year old me sitting and playing this christmas morning would of ever expected. I'm glad to of gotten to play these each at a pretty pivotol moment in my life. I wholeheartedly loved this and even as I'm writing this review I am starting up a second playthrough to explore the mechanics more thoroughly.

Jennifer Hale is a great Bayonetta.

Enjoyable if wildly unfocused mechanics, paired with situations that permit expression without exactly inspiring much strategy: as cursed as it sounds, Bayonetta 3 has big Action RPG energy in how it lets you choose a setup and run that exact flowchart for the entire game. It's cool that these massive enemies aren't limited to formulaic set-pieces, instead roaming each arena relatively freely, but individual actions seem to not carry much weight when 90% of your button presses amount to screen-filling unga bunga shit. Enemies either stagger in a roughly similar, sort-of simplistic way or are still weirdly inconsistent (Grace & Glory parry in mid-air now, which wasn't the case even in Bayonetta 2; unique health thresholds for when enemies can be launched in a game with this many foes leads to an awkward amount of memorization for an intentionally-minded player; leg sweeps sort of exist but only work on a particular set of enemies and don’t actually result in a proper “downed” state, etc.)

This is obviously disappointing when compared to the original's roster of challenging enemies that allow for a wide variety of meaningful soft-counters, set against devilishly varied level design: Grace & Glory with their distance-blocks and fast movement, encouraging attacks with strong hit-stun, knockdown effects or wide hitboxes, Fairness with their anti-air grabs, disincentivizing (but not strictly prohibiting) jumps, Route 666 allowing for risky insta-kills or how you’re asked to maintain a combo during chase sequences — nothing really like that here in the regular mid-level verses from what I’ve played.

So, rather than Bayonetta’s happy medium, 3 ends up opposite to 2 on the “BRUHHHHHHHHHH”-end of the expression vs challenge spectrum: as a pure technical action game, the experience feels about as inconsistent and littered with holes (still no item penalty, totally broken strats like Phantom’s self-destruct, density of mini-games only an insane person would want to master, etc.) but the fact it’s so much less prescriptive appeals way more to my sensibilities. Demon Slave feels like a different take on Umbran Climax that is much more flexible and inviting to experimentation: you get to use it more regularly for longer spans of time (meaning you feel less rushed and encouraged to mash,) but the attack speed and range of your demons is now focused enough that it’s difficult to just stagger the entire screen by mashing X (despite my prior hyperbole in the opening paragraph.) Not only are you allowed to instantly switch between demons mid-combo (either adopting the previous demon’s position or summoning it right next to Bayonetta, granting even more flexibility,) it’s even possible to queue up commands and then take back control of Bayonetta while your demon executes them. It is genuinely clever that the queue can only hold up to two commands (rather than having a larger queue you can fill up for longer just by mashing,) meaning you’ll have to regularly tag between the two actors and coordinate between them positionally to get the most out of the system (specifically, you have to tag back to your demon before the second command has been executed to prevent them from leaving the play space.) The scoring system (while flawed) even takes this into account by having each actor contribute differently to point acquisition (Bayonetta raises points, demons raise the multiplier.)

Like I said, whatever strategy you pick kinda linearly works for the whole game — but at least there’s a lot of stuff to play around with! It almost doesn’t matter that I don’t actually click with a lot of the weapons and demons here when playing through the entire game mostly with Scarborough Fair (meaning “as sub-optimally as possible”) somehow doesn’t turn it into an active chore. I’m not fond of demons where control feels indirect and disconnected (Umbran Clock Tower, Dead End Express) or how weapons in general take control away from Bayonetta for too long (Yo-Yos, Color My World charged Heel Stomp, etc.) and don’t seem to follow intuitive/useful patterns in their dial combos and hold properties, but if anything that actually speaks to the variety on offer and just how many swings Platinum took with the player’s arsenal here. Unique Shot or Umbran Spear variations per weapon don’t even strike me as great inclusions (having Shot as a consistent action was helpful in the previous games to cancel out of certain states or target enemies, and a lot of this stuff just feels linearly better/worse,) but I’m honestly not sure any action game up to this point matches Bayonetta 3 as far as the pure AMOUNT of shit in it. That, and how much freedom you’re naturally given over the enemy’s position as you're toying with them, makes it an absolute buffet for combo fiends, and I can respect that.

I suppose if I had to sum it up, I would say that Bayonetta 3 is packed with interesting and sometimes even very thoughtfully implemented mechanics that spark a lot of intrinsic enjoyment, but the game Platinum have built around them doesn’t immediately inspire me to want to get truly serious about it. You spend a lot of time dicking around and exploring, with movement mechanics that are surprisingly versatile but still feel weirdly kneecapped in some ways (again lacking Bayonetta 1’s satisfying momentum) and are used in platforming challenges that are mostly just kinda quaint and insubstantial. Even rushing through all that, you’re stuck playing through what are probably the shallowest mini-games Platinum have put into code yet (Rock-Paper-Scissors, literally just moving an aiming cursor across the screen — the P**** shmup section was cool though.) But like I said going in, the biggest offender for me so far still is the seeming lack of meaningful encounter variety — at least the Alfheims with all their weird stipulations are a massive step up from Bayonetta 2, but based on what I’ve hard, I’m skeptical that mid-level verses will reveal more sauce on Infinite Climax difficulty.

TLDR: I recommend it! Expectations about met! Incredibly scuffed around the edges but I’ll take that over Bayonetta 2 any day.

I was dooming extremely hard when my long-range Wicked Weaves didn’t hit despite lock-on in the intro mission though. Come on guys.

Discussion stream I did with more practical examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxop2B5b4rQ

Going into the Bayonetta 3 later than most people, I didn't have high expectations with all the backlash this game was getting from the fans.
After now beating the game, I see where this backlash is coming from. However, at it's core Bayonetta 3 is still a very good game with some major flaws that held this from being the best in the trilogy.
Being one of the most ambitious Platinum games, it contains some of the highest highs in the franchise, while also bearing some of the lowest lows, with the lows here being bad enough to drag down it's "Great" status that both Bayo 1 and 2 hold.

To start with the good, playing as Bayonetta is as good as ever. She has the largest and most diverse arsenal ever and I enjoyed all the weapons offered. I had an abosulte blast with every second as Bayo and really wanted more.
The scale of the bossfights are the biggest and (arguably) the best. The only comparison I can make here is that each big bossfight feels like something Final Fantasy 16 did with it's huge bossfights where it would mesh the great standard gameplay, with amazing cinematics and fun minigames in between making something absolutley grand and satisfying.
The multiverse scenario also brings foward some of the best and most diverse settings in a Bayonetta game. Playing to find out where I would end up next was a great treat.
While the demon slave system did have some problems which I will go into detail with, I still appreciated the inclusion of it and how it made you truly feel like the demon witch Bayonetta has always been, with the abiity to summon your favorite hair demon and mog anything both big an small.

With those positives, Bayo 3 would have easily been my favorite in the trilogy, but this is where I bring in the issues that severely brought it down.
I will start with the complaint that most people have with this game and it's with the new character Viola.
Viola as a character herself is not nearly as endearing as Bayo, or Jeanne, or even Luca. All I can really say about her character is that she's just a typical clumsy teenager.
Now her gameplay was the worst part. I could not really enjoy her gameplay as she played like a watered down Vergil from DMC. All the diverse weapons, combos and fun that Bayo has in her gameplay is sucked dry with Viloa. She has one Summon too which makes the gameplay even worse as you can't control it, and while summoned Viloas combat becomes even worse with the loss of her katana. She takes about 1/3rd of the game, a 1/3rd that could have easily gone to more Bayo gameplay. This alone soured the game for me and brought the hype I had from the beginning right down.

Previously I also praised the Demon slave system, and while I do like the inclusion of it, it is simply too overpowered and takes away a lot of Bayo's fantastic gameplay. Most of the time you are expected to use it as the game now presents you with a lot of gigantic enemies that you are expected to deal with by summoning the demons. I simply would have enjoyed fighting these giant enemies playing as Bayo alone, but if you try to do that you deal chip damage which takes a much longer time than just using your summons. To fix it, all they had to do was nerf the magic bar. As the magic bar just auto regenerates really quickly, you basically have unlimited summoning time. Repeneshing the magic bar should have not been automatic and should have only been filled up by using items or raking up combos (or any other way to reward good gameplay).

In short, you barely get to have some good time with Bayo's combat, because you're forced to play as a shitty character 1/3rd of the time and with the inclusion of demon slaves, there is even less opportunity to combo your foes as Bayo.

The story was one of the biggest complaints from the fans. Personally, as this is a Bayo game I don't really care for the story as long as it sets up a cool premise for the gameplay. In the case of the Multiverse story, I liked that it gave you an excuse to fight in vastly different areas and meet cool unique alternate versions of Bayonetta. Even all the stuff in the ending, I did not really mind.

I hope the future of this franchise does not take the "Viloa is now the main character" route as that would simply kill any hype and uniqueness the character of Bayonetta brought to action games. But with all the feedback Bayo 3 did recieve, one could simply hope Platinum will listen and bring back what people really like about this franchise.

Man, this game really doesn't play fair..

This review will likely be structured as a multi-layer shit sandwich, which honestly is kind of appropriate for my feelings toward the game. For every few good things, there is at least one.. not good.. Kinda.. Let me explain.

The first thing I took note of when playing for the first time was a much needed and welcome change from the previous 2 games, in the form of the upgraded Menus and UIs, particularly the former. The menus in Bayo 1/2 weren't all that much to look at and in 1 especially felt kinda awkward to use, 3's aren't the most user-friendly thing in the world either to be fair but they're a step up and more importantly they look much better. I actually used the skill trees and crafted items, and the Gates of Hell store page was so much more interesting than the previous games simply for having idle animations of characters on screen. It's the little things sometimes.

The second thing I noticed were the changes to combat. I'm hardly a combo expert and I suck at these games, but Bayonetta's moveset and combos are changed quite a lot which was an exciting surprise. Furthermore, when using her default weapons, if you stop a combo midway (or just attack once) Bayonetta does a little dance-transition from her position following the attack, back to her fighting stance. There's no reason for this to happen but I love it so much letsgo! There are a decent number of weapons that can be acquired during the game (most through the story - no more missing the fun ones!) and these all have their own combos as well. They're a little hit or miss, but when they hit they feel amazing. (And when they miss it's most likely bc they just don't fit my playstyle, which is okay :p)

Finally the usage of demons in combat is mostly pretty awesome, at times you feel a bit dependent on them maybe and some of them are a bitch to use, but I liked the mechanic a lot overall.
Honestly I think my biggest letdown with Bayonetta's combat is that the torture attacks have been downscaled, and now just sort of happen on their own. I'm all for cutting down on QTEs and button mashing, but the game still has plenty of the latter and the torture attacks are simply less fun when they're not close-up with my direct engagement -- perhaps an option to toggle this on/off or even trigger it or not depending on the prompt would've been nice, oh well.

To sprinkle just a tiny bit more shit in here real quick, the repeated voicelines gripe I had with 2 is back, and while it's not as bad bc the combos and stuff are more varied, there is quite literally 1 spoken line for when you check your objective marker, and she says it every single time you check it. There's also only a single line spoken when you're idle for more than a minute or so, which is a real shame bc the first time I was like "oh hey nice I like when games remind me I'm playing them" but by the fourth time I was like "omg I just took a sip of my tea stfu" (it's not that bad but I'm easily distracted and I talk online while playing a lot lol)

Bringing this back to the positives, one of the other new things that I was pleased with is that traversal has been given a bit of love and now varies depending on your equipped weapons. Off the back of this, while I still prefer Bayo 2's hairstyle, the customisation options in 3 (while fairly limited and don't look phenomenal) were a nice touch.

Okay I'm rambling too much already so I'm gunna run through my thoughts on the story pretty swiftly: I personally enjoyed it. It's not what I expected from this entry and it's not necessarily what I would've wanted either, but it was easy to follow for the most part and by the end I was left with minimal questions so I really can't complain. It's not like 2's story was exactly the next best-seller either, but this is an action series :p
That said, the new enemy types and their designs got old pretty fast, kinda disappointed by the lack of variety there, in the colour palette more than anything.

[FYI, this section is about mechanics/sections that are new for this title]
One of the most conflicting things for me in this game were the parts that happened partway through the levels, normally near the end, and were really cool to watch or on paper, but simply were not very fun to play in my opinion. The Kaiju fights varied from each other in more cases which really helped for this point not to pull my opinion down further, but my god some of them just do not land for me. As someone who flies through the game with fast combat and agile evades, slowing down to a crawl and throwing heavy punches just killed the pacing and really took me out of it. Not to mention some of them are kinda like platforming but the controls are either a little stiff or not really explained bc you're thrown right into it... Idk I like the idea of them but I kinda wish they were just cutscenes honestly.

On the flip side, the Jeanne side missions were nowhere near as bad as they could've been. I daresay I enjoyed them even. I've played games in that style before and I think if it was longer it'd definitely need work, but for what it is I liked it. Jeanne is neat and I was never disappointed to see one of those levels appear.

Now, with that said... It's time to address the most divisive parts of this game.

Viola. I'm sorry folks I tried so damn hard to like her and I just don't. I don't dislike her, she just doesn't resonate with me at all idk. Punk is very much not for me and her whole vibe sorta comes across as like, DmC Dante mixed with Enzo or some shit lol. I get what they were trying and at times it's endearing but more often for me I just wanted her parts to be over. It really didn't help that her combat style is a huge step down from Bayo's imo. DMCV showed us that you can have 3 totally split MCs with their own styles that are all fun in their own way, and it feels like Bayonetta 3 took a leaf out of that book, but dropped it on their way home. V's summoned demons fighting for him is an interesting approach and I'm not even sure how but it kinda works, most likely because you still control the attacks themselves. Viola's fighting style is just, not that idk. It felt like every fight went better if I just held ZL or whatever and kept back as best I could. A real shame tbh.

[Minor Spoilers ahead re: interpersonal relationships, nothing game-ruining I promise, this controversy is so fucking dumb]

Bayonetta, Jeanne, A Man. Ohhh my God Bayonetta fans need to calm their tits so hard. I have now played all 3 games in the series within a couple of months, all with the distinct impression that Bayo and Jeanne were a canon couple bc the fanbase treats it that way. Not once did I ever get the impression they were fucking! They're literally just two hot girl bosses who care for each other deeply. It never came across as romantic to me I'm sorry. Abso-fucking-lutely they're both bisexual, perhaps even pansexual, who knows, but they never once shared a moment that made me believe they were interested in each other romantically.

The internet shit it's ass out so hard when they so much as heard fourth-hand that Bayonetta and a male character might be 'involved' in this game. "B-but Jeanne!!", "Stop straight-washing bi icons" -- It was utterly ridiculous. For starters, people with sexualities befitting of both their own and other genders are allowed to be in "straight" relationships, they're not betraying the cause and treating it as such is an insult. There's a reason it isn't black and white so why is there a stigma around those in the middle taking "the wrong side"? Ridiculous. Anyway. The reveals between Bayo and this male character didn't feel all that shocking to me, if anything they were closer to cliche. Which yeah I get is why everyone's fuming because they got a "generic standard" romance rather than an explicitly LGBTQIA+ one, but my god it genuinely sounded to me before playing that Bayo 2 was full of lesbian sex and Bayo/Jeanne got married and lived together swapping spit for 10 years, only for Bayo 3 to then pluck her up like a claw machine and put her next to a man instead. Honestly it's so annoying I'm wasting half my review ranting about it. I understand being upset that your ship wasn't fulfilled, but if I'm being blunt the ship felt kinda forced anyway. Idk man, the fanbase really ran away with that one and then threw a tantrum when they were told they'd gone the wrong way. I would've loved a lesbian girlboss couple as well, but what we got still worked and y'all are doing the game a disservice by clouding those scenes with a thick layer of hate.

Ultimately, I can say with confidence that Bayonetta 3 is a fantastic action game. Sure it breaks the pattern and starts pretty slow, some of it's level designs are a bit lacking, and not all of the playable sections are that fun- but when it goes, it goes hard, and it feels great.
Also the climax is badass and there is so much dancing omg I am physically incapable of knocking points off oops so sad (It's the 2nd best of the 3 imo)

As per this was much longer than intended, thanks to those who read it all - I'd be Interested to know how much of this I'm in the minority for tbh.
If anyone has a good reason that something I didn't like is actually great please tell me, I wanna love it more :)

Wow. We have officially reached peak character action, and I'm not sure if it will ever be matched.

I'd been waiting for Bayonetta 3, like zillions of others for years upon years, starving for anything more than the short teaser trailer they showed what felt like eons ago. When we finally got the Project GG fakeout trailer, I jumped for joy, screamed, did a jig, and kept waiting. To say that there had been expectations for the Umbral Witch's third entry would be an excessive understatement, as the first two beloved entries delivered something so right to gaming that was foreign to the medium. Bayonetta is an unapologetically raunchy and sexy character with a sense of humor derived straight from her Devil May Cry DNA, with an arsenal of moves that would put a Joestar to shame.

Now to the game itself. I expected to have a good time, playing through a campaign and getting on to the next game, hopefully satiated with my favorite femme fatale. What I didn't expect was to have an experience where I'd smile from ear to ear the entire time, laugh out loud to the point where it hurt, and tear up upon the games conclusion. Bayonetta to me was always a "fun" series in games 1 and 2, and even the anime, but it dawned on me with 3 that it was more than a game, but a memory to hold and take with me. What Platinum never fails to do with their character action games (MG: Revengance, Nier: Automata, Astral Chain) is keep the gameplay loop fresh, evolving from entry to entry with something new yet familiar so fans of the companies attention to making action fun feel rewarded and continiously interested in what is yet to come. In Bayonetta 1 you become familiar with Witch Time and ultra tight dodging and 1 on 1 combat with humanoids and massive angels alike. Bayonetta 2 begins to think bigger with its addition of the demonic elements into your routine arsenal. Bayonetta 3 takes the series' formula and supersizes it, giving the titular witch an entire arsenal of Kaiju-demons and weapons to bring with her in battle. I LOVED this, as it gives FULL agency to the player in making Bayonetta the game THEY want while keeping the game in its base alive. I played with Bayonetta's legendary pistol as my main weapon and toyed around with secondaries. Going from the G-Pillar (which is an awesome name) associated with Gomorrah, and the massive trainsaw associated with totally not DoomTrain from FFVIII. Being able to summon Doom Train, Gomorrah, and Madame Butterfly in combat whenever my meter was high made fights feel epic and grandiose, as they should with the series. Having the ability to jump between my fast combo and a heavy hitting G-Pillar or Trainsaw (I forgot the actually name but its a chainsaw made out of a train so I'm running with it) felt great because I could weave in and out of combat and do big damage when I wanted. With each area you visit, you gain a new demon to summon and weapon to use, meaning that your experience will vary from location to location and you'll have the time and availability to try out each set. Platinum's been phenomenal with player agency ever since Kamiya began his journey on the DMC series, bringing with him total player control at each step of his character action expertise (and even outside of it, like with Wonderful 101.) In all, Bayonetta 3's combat feels like a player sandbox, throwing enemies at you and letting the player decide on the best route to take to remedy opposition. This made the entire experience a delight, as I didn't feel hamfisted into playing a certain way.

Many games have experimented with adding new playable characters to series with a beloved protagonist to varying success. Metal Gear Solid 2 had the infamous Big Shell fakeout where players discover they're going to play the majority of the game as the freshly minted Raiden instead of the heroic Solid Snake. Yakuza 4 which I recently played has the player split between four characters, the last of which you play being the Dragon of Dojima. Devil May Cry 4 drops the hot headed and bragadocious Nero on the player, a cringe, young, unfamiliar blonde with an attitude and a whole lot to say. Speaking of cringe, young, blonde, and hot headed... Bayonetta 3 introduces a new playable character: Viola. Viola is cringe, there's no way to go around that, but remember Luka in Bayonetta 1? In 2? He's as cringe as they come, but with Bayonetta's self aware satire and humour, it fits like a glove. She's annoying... but it's alright in the scope of the game at hand. Tasked with saving the multiverse, she is mostly inexperienced and unready for the objective at large, which is perfectly contrasted with the aged Bayonetta in her third attempt at righting the ship. I didn't love her playstyle at first, but the totally not Nero stand-in, grew on me as I played and eventually graced into the game's last chapter. She uses a katana, with one of her special combo's being practically Vergil's judgement cut, coupled with the familiar (if you've played Bayonetta 1&2) Cheshire summon who can aid her in combat. With no built in witch time mechanic it was very tough to understand how to play her at first, as you're more or less implored to take a Metal Gear Rising approach to fighting. Making use of perfect parry's allows for witch time with Viola, which admittably was rather tough to master because her block button is the same (when double tapped) as her gap closer, meaning that players must use dilligent timing and patience to master the art of not taking damage. While I ultimately enjoyed Bayonetta's gameplay WAY more than I did Viola's, I applaud Platinum for the risk they took in making a bold and brash character like Viola with a completely different moveset.

Difficulty is an interesting concept with Bayonetta and Platinum at large. The concept of an action game being hard is largely subjective, as reflexes and attention span vary from person to person. I found Bloodborne for example to be, generally speaking, quite easy, which is the opposite of what many others will say. Now, I'm not alone in that quip but it is just a sign of how the opinion of a reviewer in stating a game's difficulty should always be called into question in regards to the reader's own experience. What is easy for me, may be hard for you. Now I've played many Platinum Games' games at this point... starting with Bayonetta (and going even further into all the DMC games if you take in Kamiya's repertoire) into Rising, Automata, Astral Chain, Bayonetta 2, into Bayonetta 3 so I'm quite familiar with the way these games are meant to be played and the requirements for dodge timings and damage windows. I found Bayonetta 3 to be quite easy, not necessarily because of the difficulty of combat in and of itself, but the tools Platinum gives players to just up and complete the game. Gone is the increasing cost of restorative items that grew out of DMC and in is the ability to purchase healing/power items ad nauseum. I LOVED how I had a safety net of healing and damage items in case I ran into difficult enemies. Did it make the game easier? Sure, but did it make it "less fun" because I didn't have to spend as much time grinding in enemy encounters so I understood each and every witch time moment? No.

The story is light, but who really cares? It's serviceable enough in the nearly 14 hours it took me to complete and gives moments of comedy and sorrow to each of the series' mainstays. Enzo, Rodin, Jeanne, Luka, and Bayonetta all return with a new look but retain their unique brands of exposition. Jeanne is beautiful once again, Bayonetta is even beautifulist (that is a word I will only use in regards to Bayonetta,) and Viola was quite astonishing as well. You'll travel from location to location and meet some very intricate characters that all will repeat familiar stories and moments, with their tragic downfalls becoming a trend to the game's climax. I don't want to spoil anything but damn, if I didn't say that the Chinese location had one of the most eye-candy characters in gaming history I would be lying. Also, riding a train on the Great Wall of totally not China will shooting cannons at a Kaiju before summoning a massive Demon to have a bubblebath fight is an absolutely unforgettable and unbeatable moment in gaming history.

Music has only improved in each Bayonetta entry with 3 being the complete peak of the series thus far. Bayonetta's theme is incredible, and Viola's totally not Paramore combat theme is going to be a popular listen for me in the weeks to come. The motifs/themes in each level and at familiar moments of the games are excellently laid as is usual with Platinum, adding even more to the basically flawless game at large.

I know there was a lot of controversy about it, and I did really love Hellena Taylor as Bayonetta but man... Jennifer Hale is gonna do what Jennifer Hale is gonna do. She does a PHENOMENAL job voicing Bayonetta, even as an Canadian-American. She crushed it, and I'm really happy she's who Platinum was able to get.

I knew this game would make me happy, but I didn't know how much. I didn't know this game would make me cry at the ending. I didn't know how much Bayonetta as a franchise meant to me. I didn't know this would make me reflect on my experience with Platinum and Kamiya to this degree. Bayonetta 3 knocked every single expectation I had for the Umbral Witch out of the park to never be seen again. Bayonetta 3 is peak, peak gaming, peak action, peak Bayonetta. This is a MUST play to fans of the franchise, and of character action games. Platinum went all that and then some to make this feel like the ultimate experience.

The Best Bayonetta Game, with a very big asterisk next to that statement
An Updated Review after a Pure Platinum Run
I already reviewed my experience with Bayonetta 3 shortly after the initial launch of the game, and I think that was the honeymoon phase. Now, we are more than three months post release and I think I wanted to do better justice to give my full detailed thoughts on this game without recency bias and know that people won't care to read it haha. So here's a very general statement to describe the game since I can already tell this will be a long ass review:
The Best Bayonetta Game, with a very big asterisk next to that statement.
Following the games release, the game was cemented with praise for the combat of Bayonetta and music, but met serious criticism for its story, and let me tell you. Those criticisms are very right. Spoilers will follow in this review.
I'll start with the story, next characters, then gameplay, presentation and music, then conclude my thoughts. Each section will have a TL;DR on my thoughts. But really, this is just a ramble for me to get my thoughts out moreso than a proper review.

THE STORY
Being completely honest, Bayonetta's stories have really been a bunch of nonsense that provide reason for the characters to do anything. Hell, Bayonetta 1 forgets the original reason the game begins like halfway through, but granted, the premise it follows instead is more interesting than what Enzo originally tells the player what they are out to do. Even then, so much logic goes out the window and is just ridiculous nonsense to allow the player to do fun things.
In Bayonetta 2, the story gets a bit more easy to follow, but I personally think it suffers from trying to juggle two different plot points that are so completely different and sidelines the main reason for Bayonetta to be doing her thing in that game, which would be to rescue Jeanne. And not to mention Bayonetta's conversation with Loki implying she's been awake for 500 years which throws a wrench in continuity and then there's the whole Bayonetta 2 creating Bayonetta 1's events. Which is just, not fun to follow.
However, I never considered these extremely goofy, albeit good character driven, plots detriments to the games, and contrary to other fans, I apply that logic to Bayonetta 3.
In Bayonetta 3, we follow the young Cereza that Bayonetta looked after in Bayonetta 1 in an alternate universe. Here, a rogue AI named Singularity has gone rogue and is seeking to homogenize the entire multiverse, killing alternate Bayonetta's for powers to do so. Singularity accomplishes this with his army of Homunculi, which are the main antagonist of Bayonetta 3. In this process, Viola, a young Umbra Witch from another universe like Bayonetta 3's, arrives after being sent out to avoid destruction and stop the Singularity. After an invasion of Homunculi against the universe of Bayonetta 3, Viola recruits Bayonetta and Jeanne to retrieve Doctor Sigurd, a scientist who knows about the multiverse, and Chaos Gears, to open the portal to the Alphaverse, home of the Singularity, and stop him. Along the way, Bayonetta will encounter differing versions of herself in alternate universes that took differing life paths, who are also stopping the Homunculi invasion.
Is this a fine set-up? Yeah, I think so. Personally, a lot of people wanted Bayonetta to follow another plot with the angels and demons being enemies, but I really do enjoy a shakeup. One of my gripes with Bayonetta 2 is that it does feel extremely like Bayonetta 1, so new directions are always appreciated.
A lot of the problem with the story only shows in the second half of the final chapter. Could I complain about Bayonetta not being as on her feet in comparison to Bayonetta 1 and Bayonetta 2, in reference to not being able to save the alternate Bayonetta's she meets along the way? That's fair, and there could have been better ways to keep these Bayonetta's alive and still allow for their weapons to be used and whatnot. However, I really don't care for the story of these games, I play to see these characters interact with the world around them and the gameplay.
What I do care about is how bad the ending is though, it is ROUGH. The idea is fine, because the story of Bayonetta 3 brings Bayonetta's subtle theme of motherhood to a logical conclusion. Viola, the young Umbra Witch, is the daughter of another universe's Bayonetta and Luka. It also gives Bayonetta the logical character growth she's been building up for. In Bayonetta 1, she is a selfish witch who fights for herself due to her not having any memories, and thus, no connection to others. But throughout the course of Bayonetta 1, she regains those, and learns to come around and care for the people around her. This theme is expanded upon in Bayonetta 2, where she cares and fights for the people she's close to, which is what I wish the game focused on more but it also had the Loki/Aesir plot which was whatever. Bayonetta 3 brings that to the next logical step, one who fights for the world, and with her now, technically, a mother, she fights for family, ending in a sacrifice to finish off a world ending threat.
But Bayonetta 3 tries to insert these themes very rapidly, and as a result, it stumbles on the ending. Jeanne is killed very anti-climatically, which, fine, I guess. When Singularity kills these alternate Bayonetta's and now Jeanne, he does have control over outcomes of reality, but it still feels a bit bad seeing how these characters get treated.
Then, Bayonetta leaves the decoy Alphaverse to fight Singularity in, admittedly, probably the best mechanical final boss fight has had which isn't really a high bar (My personal favorite is still Jubileus). However, she still cannot win by herself. In space, you see the return of the Alternate Bayonetta's and Jeanne to help her fight, but they vanish, presumably back to their universes since technically they were freed from the Singularity, but it's never elaborated on. Back on Earth for the final leg of the fight, Bayonetta and Viola struggle, and Bayonetta is on the verge of death. Enter the Bayonetta's of Bayonetta 1 and Bayonetta 2. It's a cool fanservice moment, but it does leave some questions. Were these Bayonetta's always separate? Have we never played as the same character?
I care to say, we have, but they can still be separate entities. In the lore books in-game and by the introduction sequence of the game, it's revealed Bayonetta 1, Bayonetta 2 and Bayonetta 3 Bayonetta's have all had similar stories leading up to the events of the Homunculi invasions. So, I believe there is an "OG Bayonetta", but a Bayonetta 1 and Bayonetta 2 can be plucked from the multiverse because, it's a multiverse that's endless.
Back on track, even THEN with the help of the original Bayonetta's the fight is not over, and they just peace out, again, presumably to their original worlds but it's never elaborated on [2].
Viola gets one striking blow, and Luka, who has an entire can of worms with the faeiry shit, helps Bayonetta end the fight and kill the Singularity. This however, uses all of Bayonetta's energy and basically leaves her to die, which Luka and Bayonetta share a kiss as they are dragged to Inferno. and Viola inherits the title of Bayonetta.
I always knew straight people go to Hell.
It's certainly an ending! I went from super confused to finding it disappointing to know just finding the entire situation just really fucking funny.
I think the main problem is how much is not ever completely elaborated to the player. Luka seemingly survives, based on dialogue from Rodin and the picture in the chapter select screen, but there's never context given to how the multiverse was restored, what happened to the alternate Bayonetta's and Jeanne's, or much else. There is so many questions, and it doesn't help that Kamiya insists on Bayonetta (Cereza, not new Bayonetta Viola) is alive after the events of the game. It's so weird, but even in such a laughable ending, I don't think my enjoyment is hurt by it. I cannot speak for others though, and it's completely okay for other people to write this game off based off the story alone.
TL;DR: Bayonetta plots have never mattered to me. In Bayonetta 3, where the story is a fine set-up with a not so great payoff, I still cannot find myself in any way hurt by the plot or ending, and while that may be the case for me, it's not objective and if people find their enjoyment ruined by the story, that's completely okay.

THE CHARACTERS
I'll focus on the three main playable characters separately and then the side cast. First off, the leading lady herself.
Bayonetta - Charming and witty as ever, Cereza makes her return after eight years the same as we remembered. She dances, she laughs, she's fun to follow and makes once again for one of the best protagonists in a video game. One critique I do have though, she gets a bit quiet in some sections, but that's kind of understandable. These sections being the death of alternate counterparts of characters such as Rosa, Jeanne and even four versions of herself. I would be traumatized too, but still, a bit more dialogue could have helped. But Cereza still has those campy sequences we all expect in a Bayonetta game, so I can say, for me, she's back with a homerun. Oh, I guess I am obligated to mention her new voice actor, Jennifer Hale. Hale killed the role in my opinion, and she is now my Bayonetta because Hellena Taylor is a KILLJOY.
Jeanne - The second character we take control of is surprisingly not Viola, but Bayonetta's best friend, Jeanne. The "super-serious", bitchy, but secretly a big nerd and superhero wannabe, has her own story to follow in this game. Tasked by Viola to find this universe's Doctor Sigurd, she infiltrates a secret lab stealth-spy style. And oh my god, it works so well for her character. I think this section of Bayonetta 3 made me appreciate Jeanne so much more because seeing her embrace the total geek side with "QT-J" or her bits of dialogue is so fun.
Viola - The controversial character, the young Umbra Witch and daughter of an alternate Bayonetta, is the final playable character we take control of. However, she is a stark contrast compared to Bayonetta or Jeanne. She isn't confident, she is clumsy, she makes mistakes, and is pretty goofy. And some people will find her annoying or should be removed from the game. I, disagree with that. I ended up really loving Viola, she's refreshing in a cast full of all powerful and confident figures. Her sections are also very charming in comedy, and a lot of that can be contributed to her dynamic with her demon, Cheshire. I said it in my original review, but I love Cheshire. A dumb, goofy, oversized cat that has a friendship with Viola over a pact and provides just enough to Viola's sections to be a real joy to watch him interact with Viola. I must also shoutout her voice actor, Anna Brisbin. She really brought energy to the character in a goofy and entertaining way, and did an entire trans-positive charity stream, that's based.
Side Cast: Uh, lightning round. Enzo the goat, loved the new focus on showing how much he loves his family even if it's miniscule in a game full of characters. Rodin is still badass, and the penguin getup is so cute. Luka is, uh, weaker than his appearance in Bayonetta 1, but somewhat better than Bayonetta 2. He also is Strider, the "rival" figure of this game and I genuinely have no idea how to feel about the faeiry shit he's wrapped in, I think the best word is "conflicted".
Demons: The demons really stole the show, like wow. Madama, Baal, and Phantom my goats.
TL;DR: The characters in comparison to the story are so much better.

THE GAMEPLAY
The meat and potatoes of Bayonetta, it's gameplay loop. While it deviates away from the really self-focused gameplay of Bayonetta 1, it goes crazy with scale focusing on the new central mechanic, Demon Slave.
An idea carried over from the death of Scalebound, Bayonetta 3 goes big with the introduction of your Demon's no longer being quick time finishers. This time, they are part of your arsenal. For me, this is the refresh Bayonetta's combat loop needed. Each demon is fun to control and have different properties that allow for new approaches to combat. My personal favorites being the Umbran Clock Tower, Rodin, Phantasmaraneae, Alraune, Labolas and Madama Butterfly.
For core combat, it also got a refresh. In previous games, Bayonetta equipped different weapons to her hands and feet. I liked this system a lot, but in Bayonetta 3, you now just one to a set, and bam, it has a full moveset at the ready. The weapons in this game are the most creative ideas they have had yet, and up there in some of the best in any game.
Colour My World is the best guns Bayonetta has had all series. Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo's are fluid, fast, and probably have my favorite combos in the game to pull off. Abracadabra is a unique weapon in the series focusing on creating space with a magic staff, and I love magician shit so this appeals to my dumb brain. Other highlights include the god damn Dead End Express, Tartarus, and Cruel Altea. Also, returning weapons such as Rodin and Alruna are treats. Even the weapons I find just alright or haven't completely mastered are cool too, especially G-Pillar and Simoon, very awesome concepts.
Also new in this game is the replacement of the Wicked Weaves and Beast Within form systems with Demon Masquerade. Each Demon you can control with Demon Slave is tied to a weapon. For example, Colour My World is tied to Madama Butterfly, and when finishing a combo or traversing, Bayonetta fuses with Madama Butterfly to obtain a new form. I really like this mechanic over the Wicked Weave system, it allows for more unique animations and variety with each weapon, truly fleshing them out. Best reason for this is Dead End Express Demon Masquerade letting you just become a train, that's TRUE camp.
All of that I just talked about only applies to Bayonetta, or Jeanne in alternate missions. Viola and Jeanne in their main missions work differently.
Viola still has that core gameplay but is limited to one weapon and one demon which she cannot control, which is the already mentioned Cheshire. At launch, Viola was fine but really needed fine tuning. Her combos are fun but it’s her Witch Time that is different fucked with players. She has to block with the right shoulder button to activate Witch Time and not dodge. And that block was unreliable to say the least. However, recently Bayonetta 3 got a patch and Viola has gotten a lot of small changes that make her so much more fun to play. So, while I do believe Viola is inferior in gameplay variety to Bayonetta, she still has a very solid loop focused on raw power that is still fun to play with in her chapters. Wonder if I should use her against Rodin.
Jeanne's Side Chapters are different from the main core combat loop. She goes full spy in a 2D Action Side Scroller, and while her fighting mechanics are a tad clunky, I find those sections a nice breather from the main combat. They are never long enough that they overstay their welcome, and they highlight the geek side of Jeanne so well. These missions also bring the canon appearance of "QT-J" to life and it's glorious. Think Mario's Super Star but just, way cooler. And we DIDN'T get Jeanne as an echo in Smash Ultimate. For shame, Sakurai.
One last main part of combat I'll mention is another shakeup. In each universe, Bayonetta will fight against a main boss in the last chapter of said universe. For this, she'll summon one of her demons and with a heart ritual, unleash their full powe with Sin Demon forms. I think I like these because each is a very neat spectacle. Madama just taking a bubble bath in the clouds is so in character for her sassiness. The Phantom summon is probably the best and well-made boss section of the four mechanically. Sin Gommorrah is a cool homage to old school kaiju fights that really bring the scale of the game to a whole new level. But truly, the most camp and beautiful Sin Demon summon is Baal. Baal becomes the siren Baal Zebul and brings an entire fucking opera concert to Paris. It's just, beautiful, and unbelievably incredible how much it fits Bayonetta and nothing else.
In terms of Pure Platinum, some of the Nifilhem missions are a bit lackluster. A couple are rather frustrating, like the train puzzles. The Sin Demon fights were pretty easy for Pure Platinum, EXCEPT, for my favorite one, Baal Zebul. When I say Baal Zebul Pure Platinum might be the single hardest thing, I've done for a video game except for maybe fighting Malenia or Orphan of Kos for the first time, I would say that with a straight face. It took 10 whole hours to finally have the minigame embedded in my brain to truly ace it. I hated it but at the same time the song is SO good so 10/10.
Core combat in terms of Pure Platinum is also very good, allows for so much experimentation.
TL;DR: Core combat is at its best in Bayonetta 3 bar none. Some mechanics for Pure Platinum can be frustrating but my experience was very rewarding and I have no regrets or second guesses about it.

THE PRESENTATION AND MUSIC
Music first, because so much love. The Beginning of the End is immaculate, and beautifully sets the stakes of the Records of Time. I cannot get enough of that song. There is also the Battle Themes, and they did not fuck around with these. I desperately wished for Moonlight Serenade to get a Climax Remix for Bayonetta 3, and I got my wish. My favorite Moon song the series has done, and I couldn't have asked for a better remix. Al Fine is also good, but I think I vastly prefer it listening to it in game, rather than on its own, which is really weird, same problem with Bayonetta 2's Tomorrow is Mine. Viola's Battle Theme, GH()ST, is so 2000's punk, and Yours Truly nailed capturing the punk aesthetic of Viola it's insane. However, the best song Bayonetta 3 has made is the end credits song, We Are As One. A 7 Minute epic, full of emotion and paying respect to Bayonetta in the best of ways. I cried listening to it in the credits in my first playthrough, it's gorgeous. Bayonetta 3 has also made some fantastic remixes and other new tracks, so I'll list a few here: Fertile Rondo, The Infinite One, All Singularity Themes but love Chaos, Aureole Assault, Sovereigns of Souls, The Gates of Hell Remixes, It Might As Well Be Routine, Get to the Climax, Red Moon, Sneaking Mission, Threat of the Invader, Night Shadows Dancing, Battle for the Umbran Throne Remix, and of course, Let's Dance Boys Remix.
If I had to point out the weakest point of Bayonetta 3, it's the presentation. To compensate for aging hardware and new developing technologies, and trying to maintain a stable framerate, cuts were made to the graphics. Character Models look really good, but some of the environments can be rather dull, especially Tokyo. Thankfully, the other environments are much better but still, they aren't as full of detail as they could be. Performance is also pretty inconsistent, I've noticed some frame drops but even then my main experience is still enjoyable.
TL;DR: Music is top tier as always for Bayonetta, but some technical aspects weigh the game down.

CONCLUSION
I'll keep my conclusion short. Bayonetta 3 is my favorite Bayonetta game, but as a franchise I really do love the games equally. I understand this game is a divisive title, and I just happen to fall on the side of loving this game past its flaws. But I can objectively realize, it is not a 10, moreso an 8.5. But dammit, in the time I've played this game, it's been a joyride I cannot get enough out of from this series, and for the long wait, it has been worth it for me. Bayonetta 3 makes missteps but embraces the parts of the series that truly makes Bayonetta, Bayonetta.

Like a Dante or a Sonic, Bayonetta exemplifies the hallmarks from which all the greatest videogame characters are built from, with a characterization and raison d'etre easily expressed and inferred from the moment you pick up the controller. Bayonetta is a constant controllable blitz of unwavering and cathartic violence presented with all the female bravado and sexuality that the character is able to exude, which made Bayonetta 3's relentless propensity to rob the world of what defines the character so disappointing.

While I understand the divide it created within the fanbase, Bayo 2 was never the sore spot to me as it is with some. The indulgence in game breaking overpowered moves and gimmicky boss battle setpieces diminished much of the combat complexity expected of the series, but it was still an engaging exploration of action that still pertained to the pillars that defined the first game and the bombastic and boastful personality of its heroine. Bayo 3 taking 2's route would have been an acceptable compromise in my book, had its central shitck of devil summons not been so half-baked into it.

Bayo 3 fills most of the experience and screen with sluggish summons that disarm the player of their surroundings and control, rewarding button mashing that feels disconnected and completely at odds with the core fast paced Bayonetta gameplay, and while providing some of the most memorable and exhilirating moments of the series, be it riding demon artillery trains, fighting giant kaijus Godzilla style or witnessing the Baal Zebul recital, the inconsistent game language these setpieces demand never fail to feel like the game is being put on hold while the critters have their fun and Bayoneta stands in a corner.

Expecting Bayo 3's story to compensate this shift in protagonism spotlight, it was disheartening to follow along a nonsensical plot devoid of much of the over the top personality and cheeky endeavours Bayonetta had accustomed us to. I'm not gonna pretend that the previous two Bayonettas were bold masterpieces of storytelling, but they managed to cohesively escalate the stakes with the right dosage of stylized larger than life action and portentious melodrama, permeated by a thematically and aesthetically rich set of enemy encounters and environments that would build into a crescendo of satisfying wickedness.

Meanwhile, Bayo 3's underutilized metaverse motif has you world travelling to bland, visually disconnected civilizations meeting alternate versions of Bayonetta that absolutely fail to build any kind of fun, riveting and exciting chemistry with our protagonist, all leading up to a deflating and awkward finale that misses the mark so hard, you have to wonder how it has the Platinum name attached to it. Bayonetta is so absent from the narrative, not even the new fun hairstyle prevents her from being as boring as she was in the previous game (eat it, Bayo 2 hair nerds).

This is the part where we talk about Viola. It doesn't take long before you start to draw parallels between Viola and Nero from DMC, but while that character benefited from being the emotional core that ended up tying the whole series together through the course of 2 full games, Viola is an uncharismatic, tonally deaf, and forced protagonist that Bayo 3 expects us to receive with open arms and without earning her place, and I take personal offense that Platinum would entertain the idea that a character so irrelevant to the narrative of the series would be the one carrying the torch, and not just let it be another weapon in Bayonetta's arsenal.

My bitterness towards Bayonetta 3 stems not from thinking it's a bad game, which I don't. At its lowest, Bayonetta still represents some of the most engaging action you will ever experience, and in the few glimpses the game allows us, the umbra witch shines all the spotlights on her. It's just a shame that what should have been a celebration of one of videogame's greatest instead feel like nails in the coffin of the character and the series. And if you want a clearer indication that the people behind this project didn't understand Bayonetta at all, consider that the traditional credits verses happens during the classy old tune pole dancing and not during the "Let's Dance Boys!" musical act. That's one massive L.

Wow. This is for sure the best Bayonetta game. Characters are charming and fun, like always. But the real highlight is the addition of Demon Slave and Demon Masquerade. Those additions gave Bayonetta 3 enough new spice to make it feel unique while also building off what Bayonetta 1 and Bayonetta 2 accomplished.
Newcomer Viola I ended up actually liking, and her summon, Cheshire, might be the best part of the game I love that goofy oversized cat. However, her block can be a little awkward at times and I felt my ass get handed to me because of it.
But the core gameplay is amazing, and this game really has a new, huge sense of scale the previous two did not have that I absolutely adore. The weapons and demons they give you are each sublime and a joy to use.
One complaint I do have is that Bayonetta 3 is consistently enjoyable right up until the ending, where it does not make a completely perfect landing. It is a bit confusing and that moment is certainly got a "why" from me, however, I still cried so that gets bonus points I guess, I'm emotionally attached to this series.
Overall, this was worth that five year wait between reveal and release, and the eight year wait between 2 and 3. This is the best Bayonetta game, and my new second favorite game of all time. It could have topped Bloodborne, but the ending created a slight enough fumble to not get it all the way there. But this is still worth giving a play, it is a joy start to end.

I'm torn. This has some of the moment to moment funnest gameplay in the series. It also has flatout the worst story. It also has a million setpieces of mixed quality.

You can tell Kaimya & Co. took a lot of stuff from Scalebound to use here and I think that stuff works great! The various Demon Slaves are really fun (with a few exceptions), and the Masquerade system also opens a lot of neat opportunities.

Viola the newcomer is fun but very limited. Her skill tree can be maxed really quickly & the game's insistence on giving every weapon a traversal option with a universal input of R x2 or Fwd+R while putting her main mechanic of parrying on the same button is madness. Her variation on the Demon Slave system felt worse overall as well.

The many setpieces are mixed - the first arc in Japan with like 5 goddamn chase setpieces was awful but later ones like the Queen Butterfly or the Paris shmup sequence were great. I just wish there were maybe....15% less of em.

The multiple AU Bayonettas all have pretty cool looks (that you can unlock ofc). I will say the Chinese Warlord costume was the worst. Far too busy.

The Jeanne chapters were... a thing. I didn't hate them. I didn't like them. I still don't understand, like, a lot of the gimmicks.

I won't get into specifics of the story but my main complaints could be summarized as "one of the most nothing villains possibly ever" and "the mechanics the entire story are based on have almost zero explanation". I also have qualms with it wanting me to be emotionally invested in certain things I had no reason to be.

In conclusion I'm glad we're now 3 for 3 on Bayonetta games being super fun but wildly inconsistent in terms of weird things that hurt the experience.

After 5 years of waiting, Bayonetta 3 is the exemplification of everything I love and hate about Platinum Games, combined with possibly the worst ending of any major video game release since Mass Effect 3.

Even the smallest QOL change of being able to select specific chunks of a chapter that, upon completion, will permenantly overwrite your score with your highest, is as much a blessing to the game as an even heavier overemphasis on setpieces are a curse. For as good as Bayonetta's core combat is, offering her even more weapons to use, and a demon summoning mechanic that's at least better than the second game's Infernal Climax, new character Viola feels half finished and like she was made from Bayonetta's usual katana moveset, with the most annoying parry in gaming history, and Jeanne's stealth sections feeling like a DS game from 2006 that'd be sitting on a Metacritic average of 27. For every fun boss fight with a great cutscene afterwards, there's another that's spent playing as a lumbering demon as the story limps towards a miserable conclusion that can best be described as "Devil May Cry 5 at home".

My disappointment is immense, and my faith in Platinum in a post Babylon's Fall world is forever shaken.

I have never been more conflicted on a game than Bayonetta 3. This is the series' best combat, and a very welcome evolution from the last two games. However, the story in this is one of the biggest pieces of dogshit ever penned. It feels like platinum games have 50 points to spend when they make each Bayonetta game, and each time they put more and more into gameplay and less and less into story.

I really like playing as Bayonetta here, and if this was the gameplay for a game with a story on par with Bayo 1 this would be a masterpiece, but it isn't.

Haven't even started talking about Viola. Actually 0/5 character. If they make the next game about her I won't play it. She has this awful out of touch punk thing going on that is just horrible. Every time she opens her mouth I want to die, she is so fucking annoying. And, worst of all, playing as her is the most miserable thing ever. She has 1 weapon, 1 demon (Who you can't even control), and you have to do a lame ass parry to use witch time, so you just get to use witch time less and its more risky??? So fucking dumb. No one ever would prefer to play as Viola. Who made this shit man. Fuck Viola.

Minha foto de perfil aqui quase sempre foi de Bayonetta, acho que é evidente que tenho um carinho grande pela franquia, seja por sua estética, ótima gameplay, e belíssima trilha sonora, ou seja também por não terem medo de entupir a história de bullshit em favor do estilo e da ação. Não vou mentir aqui, dos três esse foi o que mais me diverti jogando. É claro que isso não implica que considero este o melhor Bayonetta, cada um possui seus problemas mas analisando tecnicamente acredito que o 1 seja o mais sólido, por possuir a melhor história, onde consegue melhor nos apresentar e se aprofundar nesse mundo, e acima de tudo consegue desenvolver muito bem os seus personagens, e isso tudo mesmo com toda a loucura característica da franquia. O segundo já tem a melhor trilha sonora dos três e uma gameplay infinitamente superior ao seu antecessor, eleva ação a outro nível em sacrifício dessa vez de uma boa narrativa, onde é tudo uma desculpa para as coisas acontecerem, sim, isso era algo que ocorria de certa forma no primeiro game, mas que aqui é SÓ isso, não apresenta personagens interessantes, e sequer se aprofunda nos já existentes, mas comecei a ignorar esse fator e passar pano visto que suas qualidades se sobressaem e acaba sendo uma experiência divertidíssima. Agora sim, passando para o terceiro, se é pra fazer uma história que não tem pé nem cabeça em privilégio da ação, que tal fazermos isso ao extremo? Kkkkk Pois é exatamente isso que ele faz, é a história mais maluca possível, com direito à viagem pelo Multiverso. E nesse sentido eu acho plausível ver alguns fãs ficarem irritados e ver várias críticas com relação à sua história e novamente não vou mentir que gostaria que fosse algo tão bom quanto o primeiro, MAS que pessoalmente já não estava dando a mínima depois do segundo, se fosse igualmente divertido e seguisse o padrão de qualidade de seus antecessores. E meus amigos... que jogasso Bayonetta 3 foi pra mim.

KKKKK Ler ao som de: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlDx2LjdPfc

Pra começar a falar da minha opinião sobre esse jogo acho mais interessante focar nos pontos menos positivos e denotar que estes não são tão ruins como vi muita galerinha da Fanbase demonizando. E nesse sentido a história é o que mais se destaca nessa discussão, e que me deixa muito confuso ao ver que boa parte dessa galera elogia pra caralho o segundo jogo, que por sinal tem uma história bem pior, e que este aqui pelo menos chega a apresentar uma personagem carismática e no MÍNIMO tenta desenvolver alguma coisa com relação à Cereza e suas convicções, por mais ruim que seja. Mas novamente eu entendo que muitas das decisões de roteiro aqui podem sim acabar deixando alguns fãs irritados, só não me entra na cabeça o quanto que vi pessoas falando como se neste quesito fosse muito inferior em comparação aos jogos anteriores, que vamos concordar que não são muito diferentes. E percebem que eu citei a apresentação de uma nova personagem? Me refiro à Viola, esta que é uma nova personagem jogável e é importantíssima pra todo o Universo de Bayonetta daqui em diante, e também mais um ponto de divergência na Fanbase, há aqueles que simpatizam com ela e há também aqueles que não aceitaram bem a grande mudança que ela trás nessa franquia. Fato é que eu estou no meio termo dessa discussão, pois a considero muito carismática e que foi uma boa adição na série, só não sei se ela tem peso suficiente pra carregar o fardo que foi posto sobre seus ombros e que esta foi uma decisão arriscadíssima por parte dos desenvolvedores, mas que só podemos botar em prova a partir do próximo Bayonetta. Percebem que estou tentando omitir qual a importância real da personagem por que é um grande Spoiler, mas imagino que os mais espertos já tenham se ligado do que trata 👀

Ok, vamos falar mais da gameplay, que é outra coisa que vi muita gente falando algo que a princípio achei um absurdo e essas pessoas nunca chegam a se aprofundar muito para eu entender o que eles querem dizer com: "O combate é inferior com relação ao segundo". Vamos lá, há dois pontos que trazem alguma base pra essa afirmação, O 1° é que nos anteriores, você podia misturar suas armas para obter diferentes movesets e combos ou até adquirir temporariamente a arma de um inimigo, e aqui isso não existe, mas eu acho que a questão é que eles removeram isto em favor de uma maior variedade e qualidade de armas como um todo, e digo isso pois além de te entregar mais armas em sua primeira gameplay, cada uma me parece mais diversificada e criativa. E meio que é sobre isso que o design de criação de Bayonetta 3 gira em torno, algumas coisas foram removidas em favor de outros pontos e que isso não necessariamente o torna inferior, mas sim que fica pra você se te agrada ou não estas mudanças. E este mesmo argumento vale para o 2° ponto, que é os personagens parecerem mais fracos/nerfados, e isto fica evidente que é em favor da principal nova mecânica introduzida que são os Demon Slaves, onde você fucking controla os demônios invocados pela Bayonetta no meio da luta. É algo que faz sentido você não curtir tanto, mas porra cara, pessoalmente é uma parada que desde o primeiro eu via a Cereza invocando esses demônios FODAS e me vinha na cabeça "Quão louco seria se desse pra eu controlar ativamente eles durante a batalha?" E tipo tem sim uns problemas com a câmera, mas não tem jeito, a execução é MUITO satisfatória e é tão foda quanto pensei, principalmente em comparação ao Umbran Climax (A Muié Borboleta é a mais foda de todas, por que diferente dos outros ela deita na porrada os inimigos com chutes e socos, e convenhamos, É UMA BELA DAMA GIGANTE). E quando disse que este foi o que mais gostei, dou este mérito à maior variedade de gameplay que é muito bem dosada ao decorrer do jogo, onde você consegue encontrar de fases side-scrollers, sequências de tiro e até um jogo de ritmo no meio de uma das fases. E essa diversidade vem também pelo fato de você ter 3 personagens jogáveis, A bayonetta de sempre, com seus diversos demônios invocáveis e uma grande variedade de armas; Viola, usa uma katana que na verdade é um demônio, e ao lança-la você consegue atacar com os punhos simultaneamente ao seu parceiro, e por última, Jeanne que tem fases completamente diferentes e side-scrolling.

Agora partindo pra pontos que não tenho muito oque dizer por que é unânime e evidente que seguem os mesmos padrões de qualidade de seus predecessores, a belíssima e divertida trilha sonora, que por sinal DEVERIA TER CONCORRIDO NO TGA, mas tudo bem. E que o jogo TÁ LINDO e isso se aplica até aos menus, que antes eram confusos e feios, e agora são muito mais organizados e com maior apelo visual. No geral, oque vemos aqui é um espetáculo visual, com designs estupidamente bonitos e estilosos e uma ótima direção de arte, e pra falar sobre isso acho que imagens dizem mais que mil palavras então aqui vai várias prints tiradas do Modo Foto(que foi mais uma ótima adição) e mesmo eu tendo jogado em um emulador, vale lembrar que isso daqui são gráficos de Switch :
https://i.imgur.com/XszJoxj.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/5lvwZ91.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/XuZ7BPx.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/yLZ9UMD.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/JitG2vY.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/ysDZBNU.jpeg

Bem, o veredito é que Bayonetta 3 pode não ser o melhor da franquia, pode muito bem não te agradar nem um pouco, mas que pra mim foi o mais divertido, mas me deixou ansioso e ao mesmo tempo preocupado com relação ao futuro desta série.

A game that desperately wants to evoke Spider-Man: No Way Home but more readily brings to mind Spider-Man 2 - specifically, the moment where the community comes together to protect the identity and reputation of a hero in the aftermath of an excessive strain beyond their means. A testament to the character of Bayonetta is what’s singularly heartening about this: in your thirties it’s rare that all your friends will participate in a simultaneous video game zeitgiest, and only a character with her generational gravity can bring us all together at once, once more, to wilfully overlook myriad flaws with presentation, performance, coherence and competence, united in our defence of something that so so often does not deserve the slightest of kind words. A game that no one - not even the developers - expected to exist; a game that generates such powerful gratitude to the gods of gaming that we can all overlook a bereft of almost everything that made the original a bulletproof classic, appreciating instead the offering made in lieu to us, a fucked up little frankenstinian Marvel vs Capcom 2 equivalent in the CAG set, incoherent character action that’s so broken by virtue of its gilded broken pieces that you can’t help but be glad they were able to stitch together something, anything at all, from bloated shit-pressed platinum non-fungible giblets found floating in the latrines behind the headquarters of Microsoft and Square Enix. I didn’t start enjoying this until it was over forever.

Of all the different realities in the multiverse, there's not one in which Bayonetta 3 turning out the way it has isn’t the best possible outcome, both for its identity as an individual game and for its series at large. Any number of its decisions are already controversial, but it’d have been disappointing if it wasn’t so substantially different from its predecessors after being on ice for so long. Not everybody’ll be onboard with the direction it goes in, but if you are, it’ll scratch an itch in a way that few other action games can.

Demon Slave especially is in the eye of the beholder, but I personally think it’s probably Platinum’s best crack at simultaneously controlling multiple characters thus far. The new wink attack finishers take after Astral Chain’s sync attacks quite heavily, down to being signalled by a lens flare, but they have some tweaks which make them a noticeable improvement upon that base. One key difference is that wink attacks universally have slight invincibility frames, lending them an element of defensive use if done with proper timing and avoiding previous frustrations of your Legion being just dandy while Howard gets smacked across the room – I might’ve died to the bombs at the end of this sequence if it weren’t for this addition. There’s also less ambiguity as to when Bayonetta’s able to do a wink attack, since she always transforms into her demon masquerade form beforehand, hearkening back to the clearer audiovisual language of Bayo 1 where specific grunts of hers always preceded certain attacks. The demons themselves are a great help in encounters with multiple enemies too; when you’re being ganged up on and need some room to breathe, their special directional attacks come in very handy for creating some space. It’s attack, defence, spacing, comboing, traversal and more all in one, and I think the layers it adds to these aspects of Bayo’s combat system is enough to mark it as a firm net positive despite the scoring system arguably overrelying on it to an extent come Infinite Climax.

On a more unambiguous note, the weapons in Bayo 3 are unreal. Not being able mix and match hand/feet equipment sounded suspect pre-release, but it’s a worthwhile exchange for everything else offered in return here. Each of them having a fully fleshed out moveset of both punches and kicks makes me constantly rotate between them all, whereas in the previous games I actively avoided options like 2’s Kafka which couldn’t help but feel relatively limited. Part of what helps them largely circumvent the homogeneity this could’ve introduced is their new Demon Masquerade forms and the movement options that coincide with them. Simoon’s flying ability controls like a dream to the point where I occasionally drop combos because I forget to switch out of it, and the spider form’s swinging/wall climbing or the train’s multidirectional choo choo charge are similarly versatile highlights, but the beauty of Bayo 3’s arsenal is that the rest are also so varied you could ask someone what their favourite is and get a different answer each time. Between the aforementioned, their starkly different charge functions and how equipping different demons can alter the effects of the same combo(s), it’s hard to decide between just two. By the way, press PPP with the yo-yos and don’t cancel the animation that plays afterwards. Thank me later.

I mentioned the spider form’s wall climbing specifically because, for all the talk of Bayo 3’s gimmick sections, it doesn’t seem like it’s getting enough credit for taking gimmicks from its predecessors and incorporating them into standard gameplay. Wall climbing is essentially Witch Walking whenever you want, wherever you want, and the extra manoeuvrability afforded by this (plus the other Demon Masquerade forms) allows the level design to be more creative in terms of hidden verses, collectibles, Umbran Tears, etc. with no real instances of arbitrary backtracking. Remember that bit in Bayo 2 where you’re in a mech suit? Past a certain point of 3, you can summon it on demand too. I’m tempted to argue that 3’s actual gimmick segments are by far the least obnoxious ones Platinum have ever done, but there’s not much point, since its revamped checkpoint system means it can theoretically be enjoyed purely for its normal combat encounters anyhow. It’d have been nicer if it went as far as something like Uncharted 4’s system and let you replay any individual verse in the game, but even being not so fine-tuned and debatably too generous, it’s nonetheless immensely preferable to the days of jumping in and out of the main menu.

Speaking of things Bayo 3 doesn’t get enough credit for: visuals. Compare any of the returning enemies to their original incarnations from 1 or 2 in the model viewer and the upgrade in quality’s immediately apparent. The sole area in which the homunculi fall short of their divine and devilish counterparts is that becoming progressively cracked as they take damage probably isn’t as clear an indicator of their current health as previous games’ custom of armour falling apart to reveal grotesque musculature underneath. Had Singularity’s fractured, digital aesthetic (complemented wonderfully by the distorted choir in his battle theme) been extended to his underlings, I think people would be more charitable to them, because creatively speaking they’re absolutely up to par even if you don't dig into their light Buddhist theming. I wish we could somehow peer into the minds of whichever artist came up with the idea of the giant flowers made of molten humans that litter Virga’s back, or whoever pitched the scenario of fighting a self-cloning, peacock-shaped Sun Wukong in the sky using clouds as a bubble bath. If Bayo 3 might be compared to DMC5 in any regard, it’s that its art direction seems doomed to be drastically undersold.

Viola seems like an obvious point of comparison in this respect, but that’s at least a little bit reductive. I’d bet several halos that most players won’t learn she has her own equivalent of dodge offset until after beating the game for the first time, which begs the question of how many other less obvious, unique tricks she has in her toolbox – certainly more than I feel qualified to talk about at length. To those concerned about where she and the gang end up by the finale, I say this: worry less, and read character bios more. You might say that storytelling via optional collectibles isn’t the ideal way to handle the narrative in a game like Bayonetta, but I’d equally argue that you aren’t a real fan if you can’t explain why Rodin’s pizza chain is penguin themed (and I’m only half joking).

I didn’t mean for this to be so long, but I really like Bayonetta 3. So much so that at one point I tried to make a smiley face in the level select menu. It doesn’t try to beat either of its predecessors at their own game and goes off in a totally different route, leaving in its wake a trilogy that really only ever slightly wobbles in quality and where there are legitimate reasons to revisit each. It’s been a while since I felt such a drive to want to get better at a game, accentuated in no small part by the fact that it’s draped in such a characteristically amazing soundtrack and charm. It’s crazy, it’s rare, it’s you know what.

I'm incredibly torn on where I stand with this game. On one hand the game is incredibly fun to play, in general being a significant step up from how dull 2 was, and has a ton of incredibly wacky and creative weapons to use. (My personal favorites being Dead End Express and Abracadabra) On the other hand this also has one of the worst stories I've ever seen in an action game, with a really terrible forced romance and an ending that feels like it really wants to be DMC5 but fails at putting in any real effort to make it work. I really strongly disagree with the notion of stories not mattering in action games, and this one's was horrendous to the point of essentially dooming the franchise for me moving forward.

This game is a hodgepodge of ideas and most if not all fail to stick. Playing as Bayonetta is still fun and satisfying, but having to unlock basic moves like the launcher for every weapon is an odd choice I'm not a fan of. Moves are no longer purchased at the Gates of Hell. Now you have a skill tree sub menu found by pressing the minus button, meaning you don't have to wait to find an entrance to the Gates of Hell while traversing levels like in the previous games. You can purchase moves whenever, but at the same time, this kind of renders the Gates of Hell worthless. You get new weapons by just playing normally, you no longer have to find LPs and bring them back to Rodin at the Gates of Hell. Buy the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa and maybe a costume or two, then proceed to never bother with the Gates of Hell again.

Viola is the new character in the game and first impressions are pretty good! I like her punk aesthetic and she's a big goofball, but that's pretty much all she is. She's given plenty of moments to do a cool thing but ends up flubbing it every time. A complete jobber! Well, if she's not so great story wise, then her fighting style must be good at least, right? Sadly, she's lacking there too. Bayonetta gets plenty of new weapons and demon summons to go along with them. Viola only has one weapon and demon summon. You can buy her entire toolkit early on and even then her playstyle feels completely undercooked. Her parry/witch time blows! She desperately needed at least one other playstyle. At least her battle theme is good?

Another new addition to this game are the huge kaiju battles! Seeing these in the trailers leading up to the games' release had me excited because I'm simple-minded and I love big monsters fighting and destroying shit. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy these either. The first one with the Font of Devastation: Sin Gomorrah (this name goes hard) felt weighty as it should, but then it just boils down to a game of rock paper scissors. The other kaiju battles play out differently but aren't any better, with the exception of one near the end. All I'm saying is that if No More Heroes 2 does a better kaiju battle than you, then you probably fucked up.

If you've heard anything about this game, then it's probably about how terrible the story is. I never cared about the story in the previous games, but at least there's stuff to appreciate in them, but here there's nothing! Again, just a bunch of ideas thrown in that fall flat or are there just because. I also hate to be that guy, but the game looks rather poor. Looking like a PS3 game should normally be a positive but the environments are so drab and empty. Speaking of drab, the main enemy force is also painfully boring and uninteresting. The angel and demon enemies of the previous games all had an outer shell and attacking them cracks the shell, revealing their true, usually grotesque, form underneath. In this game, the homunculi just explode into toothpaste goop.

I was completely stone-faced throughout most of the game. Even when I should have technically been popping off at hype moments I just sat there, expressionless. I had more emotions playing Dante's Inferno! If I had to describe this game with one word, it would be flaccid.

     'The shadow remains cast.'

Played with BertKnot.

Like other projects such as Final Fantasy XV (2016) or The Last Guardian (2016), Bayonetta 3's chaotic development cycle could not put the savvy player at ease. Experience has often shown that these chronic delays were the result of a real inability to narrow down the vision and realise the envisioned project. In the case of Final Fantasy XV, the eventual storyline is a twisted reflection of the original Shakespearean narrative, while The Last Guardian suffered from a poor execution, owing to the departure of many key figures from the development team. Bayonetta 3's development cycle began at least in 2017, with numerous comparable titles released in the interim – NieR:Automata (2017), Astral Chain (2019) and obviously Devil May Cry 5 (2019), to name but a few – arguably accounting for the lack of discipline and identity the game exhibits during its thirteen-hour adventure.

The player once again assumes the role of Bayonetta in a multiverse plot, which will hardly make sense whether one knows the story of the previous games or not. The title already stands out in terms of presentation with an excessively long prologue, whose dramatic overtones are out of place for a Bayonetta game. The player is often confined to a passive posture, surprisingly so, and this carries on throughout the game. Across the board, the title spends its time changing moods, unable to establish a meaningful tone: the most absurd sequences in the franchise sit alongside maudlin scenes, with mixed effect at best. It is as if Bayonetta 3 was carried by an MCU-esque cinematic inspiration: there is a succession of action scenes, jokes that often fail and unjustified pathos draped in a very grey colour scheme, but always outside the gameplay sequences.

     Disjointed gameplay, distorted references

These are always characterised by a disjointed execution. The various gameplay components are split up and fail to establish an elegant flow in battle. The Demon Slave mechanic feels very clumsy at first, as the player has to wait for their magic bar to refill, as normal attacks are just too weak. Moreover, the summoning of the various demons negates Bayonetta's ability to move, an unlucky choice for the franchise. In this respect, Astral Chain was much more elegant, pairing a joystick with Legion to maintain strong mobility. Bayonetta 3 seems to borrow ideas from different games, but fails to understand their essence. For example, Wartrain Gouon is an aberrant rehash of Cavaliere from Devil May Cry 5, while Viola feels like an empty facsimile of NieR:Automata's battle system. The combat pacing is also strangely reminiscent of Honkai Impact 3rd (2016), alternating between auto-attacks and bursts. The ultimate product is disappointing: some have considered it a compromise between the first two opuses, regarding the use of Witch Time, but the reality is mostly that it is always more enjoyable to avoid using Demons – except to weave Wink Slave moves – and try to play with the traditional gameplay. Unfortunately, Bayonetta 3 only offers two weapon sets and forces a skill tree, making the experience very gruelling, especially at the beginning of the game. A chronic lack of feedback is also noticeable, spoiling a lot of the combat adrenaline, especially when compared to Devil May Cry 5.

Some of the new features work better, like the Wink Slave, allowing the combos to remain fluid. As for some of the Kaiju Battle sequences, they sometimes succeed: the shmup section in Paris was very effective as an extension of the Demon attacks, while the rail shooter in China was satisfactory, if not completely successful. But these sequences underline the mishmash aspect of Bayonetta 3, which only manages to find harmony on a whim. The game piles up various references to please Hideki Kamiya's ego, but cannot synthesise them in a convincing way. The Side Missions with Jeanne are a hotchpotch of Elevator Action Returns (1994) with an aesthetic that overlaps with Cowboy Bebop (1998), Cutie Honey (1973), Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna (2012) and Metal Gear Solid 3 (2004). Despite their diversity, these missions fail to characterise Jeanne and blatantly lie about their content, as the fake opening presents pure infiltration gameplay. In the same spirit, the Kaiju Battles echo classic scenes from Japanese cinema, but the paucity of gameplay is prohibitive. Likewise, the China finale with Madama Butterfly takes up the Xī Yóu Jì (16th century) with a hypersexualised and unpleasant presentation.

Consistently off-topic, Bayonetta 3 stretches out its exploration phases with superfluous elements that are ill-suited to the title's gameplay. The platforming segments are obnoxious and feel like tasteless borrowings from the regular events of Genshin Impact (2020). Thule is built like a pseudo-open world, whose construction may remind of Dragon's Dogma (2012), but devoid of any substance; Ginnungagap borrows from both the disguised loading screens of God of War (2018) and the parallel dimensions of Astral Chain, albeit with a bland art direction. It is so hard not to compare the game with others, as it hides none of its inspirations and desperately tries to take mechanics that have worked elsewhere. These makeshift borrowings never hide the title's very weak technical execution, excessively reusing its level assets. Chapters 4 and 6 in China use exactly the same structure of lifts and chests to open, to the point where a disconcerting sense of déjà vu sets in.

     A fantasied and racist cultural representation

More aberrant is the cultural representation of the different worlds visited. Shinjuku is passable, but China and Egypt appear as racist parodies of the cultures depicted. The former draws on a Japanese interpretation of wuxia and offends by its lack of variety, while the latter is a medley of everything reminiscent of Middle Eastern cultures. The opening exploration of Cairo is an almost exact retread of the sequence from Uncharted 3 (2011), from the aerial drop to the desert hallucinations. Bayonetta 3 then has the ill taste to use a Western soundtrack, compounding its already despicable representation of Egypt. The temple scenes are marginally better, even though they borrow heavily from the Babylonian imagination, insofar as they mix in a rather effective Lovecraftian aesthetic. The notable exception is the depiction of Paris: one gets the impression that Kamiya has an inordinate love for France and its culture, so much so that numerous references abound in the streets. The spooky atmosphere around the Place de l'Étoile is in some ways reminiscent of the Gilets Jaunes protest movement, and the shops all have names that make sense – for example, Citron Télécom is perhaps a reference to Orange. This fondness for French culture is also supported by the Bayonetta-Arsène Lupin of this universe, very much on point, and with French dubbing for the NPCs. Nevertheless, the efforts on the Paris episode only underline the aberration of the other chapters, where not a word of Mandarin is spoken, as the mythical warriors of China all speak English.

     Bayonetta, drag queen aesthetics and heteronormative sexualisation

Certainly, this cultural representation is dependent on Kamiya's fantasised perspective, reflected in the way he describes the characters and their gender. Bayonetta 3, like many Japanese titles released in recent years, is perfectly embedded in the post-Abe philosophy, which encourages procreation in the name of saving Japan's demography. The emphasis on the nuclear family is very significant and highlights that the franchise has never been about queer representation. It has always been the product of Kamiya's thoroughly assumed fantasies. His conception of drag aesthetics fits into a patriarchal and sexist continuum. Jessica E. Tompkins et al. point out the deep connection between women depicted as strong and their sexualisation on screen, through their 'bodies as weapons'. Indeed, 'the female character's body is an object for use in voyeuristic pleasure and satisfying game combat. In a more empowering interpretation, the theme refers to depictions of women's bodies as the ultimate weapons, with an emphasis on physicality and violence as a means of overcoming obstacles' [1]. Bayonetta is always the target of Kamiya's male gaze, more or less subtly disguised, for whom drag queens are an object of desire, and which he transcribes onto a body considered 'purely female'.

Marsha A. Hewitt has rightly emphasised the importance of performativity in the behaviour of drag queens. They 'enact a "perpetual displacement" of traditional boundaries of anatomy and gender on a variety of levels, where identity is rendered fluid [...] in a continued hyperbolic and subversive process of "resignification and recontextualization", depriving "hegemonic culture and its critics of the claim to essentialist accounts of gender identity"' [2]. The fundamental problem with Bayonetta 3 is that it leaves no room for the agentivity of its female figures: all the women characters share the same fate, which is that of a false independence, one that the game takes pleasure in destroying as it proceeds. Because these characters are represented as 'real women', there is no longer any subversion of gender norms, but rather a reaffirmation of traditional patriarchal values, fiercely defended by the ending. Similarly, Bayonetta's dances are vehicles for exposing the sexualised female body, while adhering to cultural standards attributed to women. Although it is not possible to completely deny the idea of female empowerment through dance activities, it is still a tightrope on which reclaiming one's body is very difficult for female dancers [3]. I would argue that Bayonetta's dancing in the first credits provides an elegant and interesting contrast when it comes to gender representation and expression of intimacy, but that the majority of the game – and of the franchise – glosses over these issues, settling for a conventional sexualisation of women.

It is difficult to find any redeeming qualities in Bayonetta 3, because every game design decision seems to be an uncertain half-measure, as if Kamiya's desires were constant objections to the development team's creative ideas. The game seems mired in archaisms. It can only be explained by a chaotic development process, disrupted by successive releases of innovative games. Bayonetta 3 lacks both identity and direction, whilst being overly ambitious. When all is said and done, there is little left enjoyable, nor anything positive. The few functional sequences remain gimmicky and are forgotten as soon as they are over. In the meantime, the game insists on what does not work and was never the focus of the franchise. There is obviously a boldness in renewing itself and wanting to move on, but when the end result struggles to please most people, Kamiya's thinly veiled arrogance comes across mostly as hollow hubris. According to him, the franchise should continue for a long time, but one can only be dubious, considering what is proposed at the moment.

__________
[1] Jessica E. Tompkins, Teresa Lynch, Irene I. Van Driel and Niki Fritz, ‘Kawaii Killers and Femme Fatales: A Textual Analysis of Female Characters Signifying Benevolent and Hostile Sexism in Video Games’, in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 64-2, 2020, p. 7.
[2] Marsha A. Hewitt, ‘Cyborgs, drag queens, and goddesses: Emancipatory regressive paths in feminist theory’, in Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, vol. 5-1, 1993, p. 143.
[3] Lisa A. Sandlos, Shimmy, Shake or Shudder?: A Feminist Ethnographic Analysis of Sexualization and Hypersexualization in Competitive Dance, PhD thesis, York University, Toronto, 2020, pp. 73-80 and 121-125.

Backloggd phenomena report: you ever notice a discrepancy between a game's average rating and what the top reviews have to say about it? Both prior Bayonettas are pretty good examples of this. Reading through the original's reviews would have you convinced it's one of the highest rated games on the site, but it's sitting at a good-but-not-great 3.9/5. Conversely, its sequel, by all accounts, must've featured a puppy getting stiletto'd in the opening cutscene or something, but it's got a more impressive 4.1 average. Personally, I chalk this up to the casual-hardcore dichotomy. Leisurely gamers make up a larger portion of the collective unconscious, but passionate players are more likely to both write in-depth analyses and spend time voting up reviews that they agree with. I don't claim to be an expert on high-level gameplay or anything (my 'about me' on here isn't at all facetious) but I like to think of myself as someone who can see both sides of the spectrum, and I can at least anecdotally vouch for my theory being correct here. My appreciation for the first game's nuances only grows with each revisit, but, at the same time, I have several friends that consider it among their favorites who were surprised when I told them that you can continue a combo after dodging. On the other hand, I remember genuinely enjoying 2's story the first time around, but I wasn't able to finish a replay in preparation for this...

Bayonetta 3 manages to break this pattern, apparently finding common ground with its relatively low (at time of writing) 3.7 average and generally underwhelmed top reviews. Obviously, this doesn't actually mean anything, but, to me, it's representative of how so many decisions in here bafflingly appeal to neither audience. Demon Slave, the game's major new mechanic, had potential in expanding Bayonetta's moveset by giving her another avenue to creatively set up finishers, but every kaiju's overbearing nature, not to mention the fact that enemies don't seem to respond to them at all, make them feel like just another strong attack. This wouldn't have mattered as much if they at least looked cool in action, but it's usually hard to tell what they're even doing- the camera zooming in on Bayonetta even when a demon gets the encounter's final blow is a telltale sign that this wasn't thought through. They also mean that enemies lack an intimidation factor, a pitfall that could've been similarly avoided to some degree if they weren't incredibly generic visually. This extends to bosses, which primarily just feel like big enemies- at no point during a Bayonetta game should I be surprised that I got a boss bonus at the end of a verse. And there's also the smaller stuff. Retaining 1's lack of interest in an intelligible narrative without any of the energy that made its cutscenes at least watchable. The multiverse setting, which I (perhaps generously) attribute to bad timing and not any kind of trend chasing, is, at times, novel, but it lacks the showmanship of a Psychonauts or a Travis Strikes Again to really make its worlds exiting from a casual perspective. But far and away the most insulting is the implementation of the gimmick sections. A staple of high-action games that, at their best, satisfy both pros (by offering pacing reprieves and remixes of core mechanics) and casuals (by offering memorable, eye-catching spectacle) but here don't even attempt to do either. Instead, they're boring, slow-moving, time-consuming, utterly bizarre affairs that make you wonder if the minds behind them even knew what game they were working on.

But, against all odds, I ended up enjoying myself. It could just be because Bayonetta's core moveset is so great that I'll never outright dislike any of her games, but I think the alternate weapons deserve their due credit. Nearly all of them are genuinely remarkable in how outlandishly they're designed, completely distinct yet somehow perfectly in tune with how our Umbran Witch operates, and ultimately just great fun to mess around with. Maybe the true lesson to be learned here is that if you throw enough darts at the board, you're bound to get at least one bullseye. Considering she's just received her own prequel spinoff, Bayonetta is the leading lady of a capital-F franchise now, and I'd much rather see her flinging ideas about haphazardly than indulging in another round of playing it safe.

If your character action game has:

- Time Travel elements where characters from previous events are brought forward to interact with the current situation
- a villain wanting to shape the world to destroy any deviations from canon, so their universe stands as the canon timeline
- a weirdly adversarial relationship with its own fanbase

That ain't your character action game, that's the webcomic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie

Is it controversial to say this is the worst game of the year for me? Maybe not worst, but at the very least the most disappointing game of the year.

Bizarrely enough, my feelings towards the gameplay itself really took a turn. While it's still fun to combo and rip and tear through baddies, the Demon Masquerade system radically changes the combat from the other two games to an extent that the overall combat becomes real watered down and easy to wash enemies as long as you pay attention to enemy attacks when they actually attack you. Everything is big here, both levels overall and the enemies too, which makes trying to play as Bayonetta herself without using a demon a real chore. The demons aren't bad to use and some are enjoyable, but much of the complexity and charm to the combat in the previous games are lost for just more spectacle here. Doesn't help with the new skill tree system here with multiple new weapons available replacing the option to buy moves from Rodin and not having to buy them every single time with each new weapon. The diversity of the weapons available unfortunately doesn't amount to much difference in their toolkits at a real deep level. Also, the less I talk about Viola, the better because her combat is awful and underdeveloped compared to Bayo's, it reeks of leftovers from 2B's combat in Automata but even worse. Maybe Bayo 4 will make her toolkit actually interesting!

Speaking of, the story just got worse running through a second course of it. The multiverse concept was doomed from the start and becomes real redundant after the second or third time through. Significant plot events fly out of nowhere with as much of an explanation as a shrug. The vibes of the returning characters are off completely in an otherwise real "serious" story that falters hard in the execution and is desperately missing the campiness that is core and beneficial to the stories despite how messy they all are. The ending itself goes on for way too long on whether Bayo and the other characters can finally kill boring, yassified Jeff Bezos. It then concludes with very concerning plot decisions that honestly turn me off for the next entry of the series unless P* changes course drastically and that's if the studio even exists to release to hypothetical fourth entry of Bayonetta. At least Bayo 1 and 2 exist as a cool duology I guess?

I love Bayonetta as a character, as a franchise, as a bastion of the talent and creativity of Platinum games. Having completed Bayonetta 3 within this past week, my lingering thoughts and feelings about my experience have led me to the conclusion: I hate this game.

First off, the action is GREAT. Bayonetta gets more movesets and weapon combinations than I've seen any one character have in a character action game. If you didn't like Astral Chain's combat then you're really not going to like Bayonetta 3's new Slave Dance mechanic where holding down the left trigger in open environments allows you to summon a demon to fight for you while Bayonetta dances and dodges attacks like the most coked up J-pop star in existence. It feels good and mostly looks good and it's all you could really want from a game like this.

Occasionally, you'll play as newcomer Viola. I think she is fine as a character; a clumsy punk rocker who is dumb as hell, but she has her moments. My problem with her is that she gets only one moveset that doesn't lend itself well to a lot of enemies and bosses she faces. Compared to Bayonetta, Viola is a gimmick and really could have used at least a second moveset.

Jeanne is playable as well, but only for 2D side-scrolling stealth sections that are not very well put together. Her sections feel like a PSP game that would have gotten a 6/10 in 2005 and turned an otherwise cool idea to break up the action and level traversal into needless filler.

Speaking of level traversal, each level of Bayo 3 is now a pseudo open-world full of hidden fights, collectibles and objectives that require use of all your abilities to collect everything. It's tedious and boring for the most part and serves to pad the gameplay out that much further. Though collecting certain items gives you a sneak preview for a new game. It's much easier and no less rewarding to just look up the teaser on Youtube.

The level design is lacking due to the limitations of the Nintendo Switch so much so that it's becoming a major problem for every big Nintendo release. Every environment feels relatively empty and simple. Most large boss fights take place in a different dimension where there's hardly any objects or textures to save the frame rate from spiraling.

Also the new enemies and villain sucks tremendously. They are bad in a way where their motivations are dumb and they look generic and they are not all that fun to fight. In a game series that embraced weird religious imagery and sorcery you'd think Platinum could come up with something better than seafoam green AI bots that look like Twilight Princess rejects, but they didn't.

No spoilers, but the single worst thing about this game is that the ending of an already weak and far-to-serious story -- and is an ending so fucking awful that i cannot believe it's real. If you have played this game, you know what I mean. It's the special kind of bad that I cannot think of a single game that sabotages itself more. According to the credits, Hideki Kamiya himself wrote this game and he really should not have. It is devastating how much this game's plot from start to finish sucks.

The sexy, zany character action icon had a rough time here. Many highs, with just as many lows. I do not feel compelled to go back and perfect every Verse on the hardest difficulty and find every collectible because I do not find any joy in any gameplay outside of combat. It's truly a bummer and I cannot recommend this game to anyone who has played previous Bayo or Platinum games because you will most surely feel it's not up to their standard in delivering exceptional video games.

Bayonetta 3 is the textbook definition of too many cooks in the kitchen. It throws the kitchen sink at you, not realizing how badly it kills the pacing, storytelling and replay value.

So much of this game is bad. Yes, playing as Bayonetta against monsters is better than ever, but its also the Bayonetta game with the least of it. Viola and Jeanne stages are atrocious and ever frequent. It took me a year to slog through this 13 hour game because I dreaded having to play for 30-45 minutes playing a mission with a character that isnt fun. (Jeannes levels are way shorter, but they're the jankiest and ugliest to make up for it).

The less said about the story, the better. Seriously. Even if I ranted about how Platinum massacred Bayonetta as a character and sandblasted at least 80% of the original's camp comedic writing away for self-serious multiverse bullshit, it wouldn't help. The joy of Bayonetta 1 was that the ridiculously fun gameplay was matched in energy by over the top, funny cutscenes with lovable characters. Just...fuck Bayonetta 3 for doing this.

The aliasing in this game is genuinely hideous. Like, everything is shimmering and jagged and the lighting is weird and the textures are shining like a students first unreal project, its a mess. I know its not the end of the world, but I had to play on a CRT to hide how ugly this game is. (To my TVs credit, it worked wonders and made it look decent).

Most importantly of all, Bayonetta 3 keeps thinking the player hates playing Bayonetta. Every chapter has some stupid puzzle mechanic or new gimmicky demon to learn to use for 10 minutes, or a shitty boring shmup section, or bad platforming, or clunky kaiju fights that actually remove happiness from the universe statistically; Bayonetta 3 is an unfocused mess of gameplay ideas that got thrown in as a first draft. Much like this meandering review.

To wrap up my rant, the game is still a begrudging 2 stars because playing Bayonetta is still good fun. Its not as constant as I'd like, but around 40% of the total experience is good. I wouldnt buy it for 60 dollars when DMC5 launched at the same price and is also Bayonetta 3 except they nail it on every level and don't kill the franchise.

I know the reception isn't that bad, but with a dev hell stillbirth like this and the departure of Kamiya, Im not expecting a new game starring "the next generation". Fuck man, did Platinum not notice how hard Capcom had to sell the fans on Nero to make him popular? What made them think Bayo 3's ending was a good idea?

Final rant: Why is the enemy design dogshit? Remember the Joy fight? Now everything is just nickelodeon slime dinosaurs and mannequins.