Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a wonderful take on a franchise that's more known for its visceral combat and flashy visuals. While the identity of the series is still very much present, Bayonetta Origins leans heavily into its fairy tale inspirations, from its picture book aesthetic to its coming-of-age story, complete with ill-advised wandering into a forest. It's not quite the same quality as a Bayonetta game proper - the lack of nail-biting action and larger-than-life bosses is really felt as the story continues to progress - but Origins is a great Nintendo Switch game all the same.
The story of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon follows a young Bayonetta as Cereza, the outcast child of a witch and a sage. It's a simple start for what eventually becomes an engrossing narrative for those familiar with the series proper, though it likely won't be impactful enough for new players to merit recommending Bayonetta Origins for its story alone. Accompanied by her stuffed animal-turned-demon host Cheshire, Cereza embarks on a journey to become powerful enough to save her imprisoned mother from the cruelty of a society that doesn't understand their feelings.
The actual gameplay of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is starkly different from any other game in the franchise. Players control Cereza and Cheshire as they explore the maps in the game, which are top-down, storybook-inspired renderings that feature sketches and dog-eared pages at the edges of them. Cereza and Cheshire both have different abilities that makes exploration a tandem effort, and while the puzzles never go beyond basic, the act of journeying through different areas and unlocking new abilities or story beats is a compelling loop. That the game knows what it wants to do and does it well means its progression remains smooth throughout.
As a relatively quick jaunt through Bayonetta history, Cereza and the Lost Demon never overstays its welcome. There are enough innovations made throughout the narrative that advancing the story feels like more than just checking off a list of enemies defeated and puzzles solved; there's meat on the bones of the mechanics that, without spoiling anything, definitely pays off investment and continues to shake up how Bayonetta Origins moves into its final acts.
That said, there's also a knock against Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon - the dual-stick exploration of Cereza and Cheshire can be tiresome at best and detrimental at worst. It never feels like much more than a gimmick, and one that has been done similarly in games prior - Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons comes to mind. It just doesn't pay off the same way that its slick integration of combat skills or storytelling does. Despite the many bonuses that come with the approach taken to Bayonetta Origins' design, it feels like the trade-off removing the series' trademark action comes at too high a cost.
Ultimately, however, these shortcomings don't make for a bad game. In fact, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is quite good - great, even, when it's firing on all cylinders. It's definitely one to check out for fans of the franchise even with the dramatic shift in gameplay style, and those unfamiliar may still find something to love in its storybook presentation and deft attention to slick detail.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon releases for Nintendo Switch on March 17, 2023. Screen Rant was provided with a digital Switch code for the purpose of this review.
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Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
- Franchise:
- Bayonetta
- Platform:
- Nintendo Switch
- Released:
- 2023-03-17
- Developer:
- PlatinumGames
- Publisher:
- Nintendo
- Genre:
- Action-Adventure
- Engine:
- Platinum Proprietary Engine
- ESRB:
- T
- Summary:
- Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a prequel to the entirety of the Bayonetta franchise. In Origins, players will play as young Cereza (aka Bayonetta) as she travels into a forbidden and dangerous place known as Avalon Forest, to find the power to save her mother. Armed with her early magic and her demon friend Cheshire, who acts as her stuffed toy, the two will battle against faeries and other forest-dwelling foes and solve puzzles to survive the adventure. Bayonetta Origins releases exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 17 2023.
- Sequel:
- Bayonetta
- Mode:
- Single-player
