Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon - Review

It has been 14 years since the original Bayonetta released and in that time we have been blessed with three decent action games, one fighting series appearance and some additional content to help flesh out the story. All of that story though, told of the adventures post her initial debut and players were left wondering about her life before her 500 year long slumber. Now we have that tale, but is it one that was worth waiting on?

This particular story for Bayonetta is an interesting one, as it is set long before we originally met her, which means the canvas was ripe for something fun and inventive. Instead we got a tween Bayonetta who ignores the advice of her mentor and wanders in the forest known for taking kids. Ok, perhaps that simplifies a lot, so let me backtrack just a little bit. The story actually begins before Bayonetta is born, where two clans of magic users are fighting each other. Her father is a Luminary Sage and her mother is an Umbral Witch and they meet together in secret to keep their love alive and eventually Cereza is born. Shunned for falling for someone from the rival group, her father is sent away and her mother is locked in prison, with Cereza eventually being taken in by Morgana. While Cereza often snuck into the prison to see her mother, she soon learns that her mother will be moved to a much deeper and harder to reach cell. Visited in a dream, she is given the instructions of finding the White Wolf in Avalon Forest, in order to gain power to free her.

Before she can venture into the forest though, she must first complete her chores around the house she lives in with Morgana. This acts a tutorial of sorts, but also gives us a reason as to why she can summon demons, something which she does fail to do at first. When she does successfully summon a demon, it finds itself sucked into the stuff doll that she often carries around with her and due to the contract, is unable to injure Cereza or leave her side for too long, well that latter point gets tested at times. As you venture further and further into the forest, more unique enemies and locations appear, giving you a sense that things may not just be a matter of following the path ahead, more so given that someone seems to be following behind you.

The story isn’t exactly my favourite thing about the game, because as with all origin events, there is no danger to the character, there are no stakes that we know they won’t get out of. Yes, we know that at some point, Cereza gets trapped underwater and loses 500 years, but she is an adult when that happens. So having tween Cereza running through a dangerous forest, complete with all the warnings about what might happen if she does, all seems to be pointless, given we know she survives. If Bayonetta had some massive scars and this explained that, it might be interesting to see how it all happened, but it just comes down to a story that plays out how you might expect it to.

Story aside, the biggest change in this game to the mainline entries is that of the gameplay, now instead of you kicking an enemy into the air and shooting them with four guns, before summoning a demon to use them like a glow stick, you get nothing like that. Combat is basic, in fact most everything is, but combat feels especially so given the other games. Where the hook comes in, is that you control Cereza with one stick and Cheshire, her summoned demon with the other. In combat, Cereza can only really lock enemies in place with the thorns she can summon and depending on the enemy strength, the duration of the thorns can be quite small. While Cereza has enemies trapped, Cheshire can run in and use their claws and teeth to deal out damage and together, they do work well enough. The main issue comes in trying to watch out for all the enemies and their projectiles, as well as controlling both characters and attacking, all feels too complex for the game.

Outside of combat, the same control scheme applies, at least when Cheshire is out, if he is in hug mode then the right stick acts as a means of extending him. For the most part, the game is fairly linear, you just follow the path laid out ahead of you, following the trail. Once you start to obtain some additional powers for Cheshire, there are other paths that open, often creating branching pathways from existing ones. You will often see little nooks and such as you make your way forward and while they will have gems you can use for upgrades; they don’t really offer much else to do. Some of the special dimensions you enter have some serious puzzles to work out, but most are just a series of rooms for fighting in. Beyond all that, outside of some collectables around the place, there really isn’t much else to do in the world, which isn’t that dissimilar from the mainline games, but just feels like a missed chance to do something more.

One of the easiest ways to see that the game is different is from its stunning art style, which feels like a water colour painting inside of an art book. The book aesthetic is actually carried across into the cutscenes, with page turns and everything and while I can appreciate what they were going for, as someone who reads faster, the slowness of those hurts me. Moving on from slow page turns, Cereza sports an interesting design, they clearly had a challenge with it, as not only did it need to still look like the Bayonetta we know, but it had to be something different. The end result is one that blends them fairly well and while there are times when she acts like a real child, you can often see the hints of the Bayonetta to come underneath. Enemy design was for me, a real delight, as it mixed in the classic style that we have seen before, so a basic look that gets modified, but now it mixed in Arthurian legend and other old emerald isle creatures.

The sound design is not quite as strong as the visuals, while the soundtrack is fine, it does sound fairly similar throughout the length of the game. That is not an issue that impacts things, but there just doesn’t feel like there is any major changes helped by it, which is a shame. Of course, we can’t talk about sound and not discuss the voice work, you are either going to be fine with it or you are going to hate it and I fall close to the second over the first. The actress voicing Cereza is fine, but when you are playing a tween character, there is a limit on what can be done. Where things fail for me is with the narrator, the main work is fine, but it’s the ‘acting’ out other voices that does my head in. Each time it happened, I felt like I was watching some sort of ABC for Kids program and it just took me away from the game.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is an okay game, it had a hard battle in trying to live up to the legacy of the mainline games, whilst also coming up with its own elements. The games unique control scheme is interesting, but it doesn’t feel fully realised and even upgrading some attacks and such don’t help it. Without a sense of exploration, the world feels like it is there to funnel you to the next story beat and the story doesn’t have any impact, something countless origins stories also suffer from. If you are a real Bayonetta fan, you might enjoy the game, but if you are a fair-weather fan, you might want to pass on this one.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

+The game sports an incredible visual design that is quite unlike anything else around it

+A twin stick combat system that has you controlling two distinct characters is unique…

The Cons

-… but at times is more hassle than its worth, even outside of combat

-As an origin story, there is no reason to be worried about the character, which diminishes the impact of events