Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a beautiful marraige of Platinum Games' darling franchise and fairytale storytelling that I did not see being as enjoyable as it was. Through this short journey you play as a young Cereza with her (Bayonetta players are familiar) treasured stuffed kitty Cheshire, and waltz your way through one of the most delightfully crafted worlds to grace gaming in the past decade. The environments you find yourself in are gorgeous, invoking Hideki Kamiya's previous work in Okami but with a more whimsical, western fairytale oriented design. The dialogue in cutscenes is told as if it were in a storybook, which admittably had me a little tired sometimes, reminding me of the bygone days of a parent cracking open an old hard cover before bedtime. These two elements together made for a very special playthrough, this game just feels so magical and to its credit, there is quite a bit of magic! I loved controlling Bayonetta with her stuffed animal clutched close to her navigating a frightening unknown as it hit just like the tales we were told growing up.

Traversing the world was simple, as the movement between story segments was only ever interupted by light puzzling or combat sequences, with a mechanic included that points the player toward the next story segments. Outside of traversal, the other major element of gameplay is the combat and use of Cereza's witch powers. In the world you'll utilize her binding thorns to open pathways that require her to do the famous dancing she employs while summoning demons in the Bayonetta titles. When fighting, she uses this technique to bind enemies in place while controlling Cheshire to do the physical damage. This gameplay can be a little confusing at times as its hard to mentally lock on and control two moving parts that execute different movesets at the same time, but can be rewarding when used well.

My two complaints about the game are ultimately what remove it from being a higher rating, despite my large enjoyment of the game. The first is that Cereza and the Lost Demon unfortunately does suffer from what I call the "Scarlet Nexus Syndrome," albeit to a lesser degree. Throughout the game as you control Cheshire you gain access to moves based on elemental ability (Wind, Water, Earth, Fire.) Just like Scarlet Nexus, a lot of these enemies force you to use a respective element to break their armor or defeat them. It's not the end of the world but it did feel a little annoying as the game went on. Speaking of the combat, while not difficult in the slightest, it does become rather monotonous and boring. The second issue I had with this game, is that (and sort of par for the course with Bayonetta) is that the story wasn't exactly impressive. I'm not expecting a Red Dead Redemption 2 out of Bayonetta and I never will, but there was a lot in the story that I didn't care for.

Fans of Bayonetta and those looking for a neat little fairytale endeavour should absolutely pick up Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. I'd recommend this to any who are looking for a short and sweet journey with one of gaming's best heroines.

A fun, charming, and cosy adventure with a beautiful storybook aesthetic.
The game has a fairly unique control scheme where all Cereza's actions are mapped to the left side of the controller and all of Cheshire's actions are handled by the right side. It's something I found really fun, controlling two characters at the same time, solving puzzles and keeping Cereza safe while Cheshire handled combat. I can appreciate that keeping track of and controlling two characters at the same time can be a difficult thing to do but with this being on Switch, you could do a co-operative playthrough with each player using one joy-con to make things more manageable if the controls are something you're struggling with.

The adventure itself is very fun, like a mix of Zelda and Metroid in a way, where you explore this forest and gain new abilities to access areas you couldn't reach before. Each ability allows new puzzles to be solved whether it's pulling plants out the way or bouncing on giant mushrooms. I wouldn't say it's challenging, more cosy, something you can relax with and enjoy as you figure things out.

Combat is simple compared to the main series. You can still dodge and attack, but the focus is more on figuring out how to expose the enemies weak spots rather than flashy combos. There's some Bayonetta/Platinum esque action towards the end with some bosses but otherwise the focus here is more on being a charming adventure than high octane action.

Overall I really enjoyed this one a lot. I love that the team were allowed to experiment and make something unique. You can tell they put a lot of love into this and wanted to explore a different aspect of the Bayonetta world and that's something I can respect and appreciate a lot

-''I should have left you to rot in that dirty shelf for all of eternity.''

-''...but you didn't!''

I do not enjoy talking about bad games... well, that's a bit of a lie, I do find some temporal enjoyment in ripping apart a work of art that's just plain bad, but that feeling of partial satisfaction only lasts as long as I'm writing about said game, and after that, the only thing left is a bad taste in my mouth.

Turns out, videogames are really fucking hard to make, a lot of factors come into it, from coordination, design, communication and the possible interference of upper management. The fact that we have as many masterpieces as we have today is a true miracle, but sometimes, the problems just pile up, and as such the result is a mediocre or bad game. In this case, the result was Paper Mario: Sticker Star

This has to be the only game to which I had such a toxic relationship; I've tried so many times picking it and playing it till the end, after all it was a gift and the first Paper Mario game I played, so at the very least I wanted to reach the end, but I just couldn't.

The game does have pretty visuals, creative gameplay that can amount to something interesting and some funny jokes, but the pacing, the lack of creativity compared to other Mario RPG's, and especially the fact this is BARELY an RPG as the combat doesn't amount to ANYTHING: so, you are telling me, I don't get any experience from battles, only money, and every time I battle, I have to use stickers... which are one use only, and as such I have to buy them back, so it's just better to not battle and save the stickers for the boss-battle- WHO THE HELL MADE THIS GAMEPLAY LOOP?

The game's puzzles are just too simple, villains are as simple as a light powered by a potato, Bowser doesn't talk in this one which should be considered illegal... it's just... sad. It's just wasted potential, 'cause yes, the game, even as it is, HAD potential, it could have been a fun little adventure with some very charming moments, but... it just didn't end up being that.

It hurts, specially knowing what happened behind the scenes: Nintendo wanted Intelligent Systems to simplify everything, and the result was a boring, barebones experience.

Despite everything, I hate the fact that I have to hate this game, this experience equivalent to biting a wet sock. It's boring, and it's frustrating, and that just lets feeling a profound sense of sadness, but it be like that sometimes...

I heard Origami King was fun, so I might try that in the future, but for now, I'm once again reminded of a game that they just didn't let reach its full potential. The only other good thing I can say about it's that, even if it is a fading star, at least makes the others look much brighter.