Bayonetta 3: 10 Things Fans Want Back From The Original Games

On December 8, 2017, Bayonetta fans the world over rejoiced. That years’ Game Awards included a tantalizing teaser trailer for a new game in the stylish action series, coming to the Nintendo Switch. The trailer showed the games’ heroine in apparently dire straits, raising a flurry of speculation as to what the nature of this far-off sequel would be.

Since then, unfortunately, there has been only silence. Although there have been assurances that the game is far from canceled, there hasn’t been much movement on when it’s is coming out, and what it will look like when it does. Still, longtime Bayonetta players have a number of clear-cut ideas about what features from the beloved first two entries must make a comeback in the bombastic witch’s new game.

10 Imposing, Memorable Enemies

The aesthetic sensibilities of the Bayonetta games are some of their most prominent selling points. The game’s art team did phenomenal work when it came to the characters, weapons, and environments that populate Bayonetta‘s world (as well as Bayonetta herself having a design iconic enough to be included in Super Smash Bros.). Where the design philosophy shines through the most, however, is in the game’s enemies.

Be they Angels or Demons, the range of creatures that Bayonetta encounters and battles in her journey is impressive, and they nearly all have an otherworldly vibe that perfectly sells their status as higher beings. In addition to looking awesome, enemies in Bayonetta react excellently to being attacked, showing progressively more damage as their life bars drop closer to zero.

9 A Detailed Rating System

The first two Bayonetta games squeeze a lot of replayability out of their relatively short single-player modes through a rating system that evaluates the player’s skill in combat from encounter to encounter, presenting them with a trophy of equivalent value at the end of each level. By evaluating things like combo damage, continues used, items consumed, and damage taken, the game motivates the player to keep trying to get better at the game.

Presenting a beginner player with an unceasing procession of bottom-tier stone trophies may seem harsh at first, but boosting the high score on each level on each difficulty is where the real meat of the game can be found, and as such is an essential feature that must return in the sequel.

8 Diverse Weapons And Playstyles

The robust and in-depth combo system from the first two Bayonetta titles was complemented perfectly by a diverse assortment of weapons that shook up the way that a player approached the game’s combat. Each weapon also benefits greatly from the game’s responsive controls and fluid animation, making trying each one out an exhilarating experience.

Experimenting with different weapons and different combos to find the playstyle that best suits you is a core part of the Bayonetta experience. Longtime fans rightly hope that Bayonetta 3 will have a weapon selection as diverse and interesting as its predecessors, and they’re certainly willing to wait as long as it takes for the new game to come out so long as it satisfies this requirement.

7 Unexpected Vehicle Sequences

The player thinks they’ve seen everything in Bayonetta — monstrous Angels, insane attacks, and unbelievable characters. That is until, seemingly for no reason, Bayonetta hops on a motorbike, starts it by jamming her middle finger into the ignition, and sets in motion a vehicle sequence that sees her racing down the highway.

This kind of willingness to throw audience expectations to the wind for the sake of keeping the absurdity factor high is a big part of the reason why Bayonetta works so well in tone and in aesthetics. Perhaps Bayonetta 3 doesn’t need vehicle sequence in the literal sense, but it does need a level that similarly subverts the gameplay experience.

6 Alfheim

In addition to the regular route through a level, the player in Bayonetta could discover a number of hidden challenge arenas called Alfheim (to be replaced with Muspelheim in the sequel) that forced the player to step out of their gameplay comfort zone in exchange for some tantalizing reward.

Alfheim typically required the player to defeat certain enemies within a time limit, to complete an encounter without taking damage, to only use certain attacks, and other restrictions of that nature. In addition to being an excellent reward for exploration, Alfheim were a great way to force the player to approach the game in new ways, meaning that they should definitely make a comeback in Bayonetta 3.

5 Complex And Flashy Combos

The main draw to any Bayonetta title is, of course, the combat. The fluid, flashy animation imbues the action with a sense of grace and weight, and the myriad opponents that Bayonetta faces are uniformly fun to beat up as well. This style is characteristic of Platinum Games, which has worked on similar titles like Nier Automata. The real meat of the action comes from the game’s combo system, however, where the game’s simple controls are stretched to their very limits to execute some increasingly outrageous attack strings.

The complexity, and above all the variety of earlier combo systems in Bayonetta absolutely must make a comeback in the third game, because it simply wouldn’t be a proper sequel if players couldn’t juggle their enemies to death in the most stylish way possible.

4 Cooperative Play

An interesting inclusion for Bayonetta 2 was a co-op mode where players could take on evil angelic beings with a friend. The mode wasn’t quite as robust as the single-player campaign, of course, but it was a nice addition that allowed players to experience Bayonetta 2 in an entirely new way.

While it shouldn’t come at the expense of a rightful focus on the single-player mode, a more robust cooperative play feature in the third game would be an exciting way to differentiate it from its predecessors and take the series in a new direction. This was one of Bayonetta 2‘s many exciting additions, so it shouldn’t be forgotten in the sequel.

3 Even More Outrageous Torture Attacks

One of the most satisfying elements of Bayonetta‘s combat are the so-called “torture attacks”, powerful finishers that see Bayonetta summoning any number of medieval torture devices from the underworld to bring the hurt on her foes. Best used to finish off enemies after softening them up with a flurry of attacks; these flashy finishers perfectly encapsulate the grim humor of Bayonetta‘s setting.

Outside of being satisfying from a gameplay perspective, these attacks work brilliantly in their presentation. Who doesn’t want to summon a guillotine from Hell to destroy their monstrous foes? It’s very likely that these attacks will make a comeback in Bayonetta 3, so fans will want to see them be more inventive and audacious than ever.

2 Loading Screen Combo Practice

Combo-heavy action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry have lofty skill ceilings — the enemies aren’t pushovers and the rating systems encourage the player to dispatch their opponents in the most stylish, technical way possible. That’s one of the best things about games like Devil May Cry, but also among the most challenging, meaning the SSStylish action veterans can pull off can seem a distant goal for beginners.

Bayonetta helps the newbie on their way through the brilliant inclusion of a training mode built into the game’s loading screens. Solving two problems at once, this feature allows the player to get in some additional combo practice between lives and levels, and ensures that a player won’t be bored by simply staring at a blank screen waiting for their game to load. It’s a must-have for Bayonetta 3.

1 A Release Date

In all honesty, the feature that fans want the most for Bayonetta 3 is a release date, and ultimately a game to play. Despite assurances that the game is still in development, and will eventually see the light of day, fans have gone quite a while without receiving any new information on the long-awaited sequel, which has produced much anguish and memes among fans.

With more than three years passed since the original announcement and as many notable absences from gaming expos like E3 and TGS, the atmosphere in Bayonetta fan spaces is becoming restless. Luckily, these games have a lot of replayability to them, so fans itching to get their hands on 3 can simply go back and complete outrageously difficult combo challenges in 1 and 2 to pass the time.

About The Author