Bayonetta Review

"Season of the Witch"

Campaign

February 29, 2020 at 6:28pm
By Jason Stettner

This was my first time embracing the twisted weird world that is Bayonetta. I’ve heard many, many things about this series over the years so it was great to playthrough it for this anniversary release. This is a rather strange series, it follows a witch that’s trying to remember her past as she battles various heavenly enemies.

It carries a rather bizarre, and definitely predictable narrative that was still largely engaging. What’s really neat about this game aside from its stellar campaign in terms of length and quality is that they’re constantly presenting new things. At times you’re racing on a motorcycle, at other points you’re flying on a rocket or even fighting massive monsters in entirely unique boss battles. It’s very engaging, and always mixes things up. I loved how the cutscenes were handled with varying design elements with some of them being film-like whereas others were regular cinematics.

It was neat, and I liked how they played around with the mechanics and in how the narrative was presented. The lead character is definitely overly sexualized, and that works here as every aspect of this game is ever so strange. Again, it works and this was fun to play through though towards the end I was getting slightly fatigued as it went on a bit longer than when it perhaps should have winded down.

Gameplay

This is hyper fast insane action. Playing as Bayonetta you pull off sick combos using guns and regular melee strikes. Mix in some magic elements, and intense torture finishers for one wacky time. Its slick, looks rather insane and is very thrilling to see in motion. I did have some issues with the normal difficulty, it wasn’t frustrating but I didn’t have the time to sit there at the moment as I’d probably die a number of times.

On the flip side, the easy mode was insanely light as it basically combos for you. It’s an odd balance, but just be aware that there’s no shame in dialing it down to just enjoy the adrenaline of this adventure. You’re getting scored in every level, and every segment which is an aspect of gameplay I care little for. There’s a neat shop where you can gather upgrades, and after every level you play a little arcade shooter for bonuses.

There’s also a really neat loading design to practice combos, but you never get to use it as loading is so fast which is hilarious quite honestly. This does look visually impressive, its Xbox One X enhanced at 1440p 60fps. I wish they would have pushed that further, but it does look really good. Some of the smaller details didn’t age too well, but for a game of its time the scale and length is impressive for sure.

The Conclusion

Bayonetta definitely delivers a compelling and rather insane experience that’s still a great time even today. It has a lengthy narrative, a good challenge to it and some slick moves as you battle a wide array of crazy monsters.

This is very linear, but it gives a great sense of scale with some intensely bizarre boss battles along the way. I did find the story to be very predictable, catching what would happen with characters almost immediately after seeing them. It certainly went more cosmic than I would have ever guessed and honestly it’s best to go in fresh on this one. That opening cutscene really set the stage for how over the top this one can be.

There’s lot of action, extra replay value if that’s your sort of thing and a great campaign. There are no additional modes however, but certain aspects unlock if you work at it multiple times which is neat to discover. It’s a very well done title, and one that I’d like to see more of as it’s ever so unique.

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Bayonetta Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by SEGA

Rating Overall: 8.2