Games worth discovering

This spin-off is even better than Bayonetta 3 - Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon Review

9K View2023-03-23

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a masterpiece of a game that manages to be even better than Bayonetta 3, the excellent game it spins off from.

Unlike all the other Bayonetta games, Bayonetta Origins isn’t about the extravagant title character. Instead, it shines a light on Cereza, a younger version of Bayonetta, and explores the ups and downs of her childhood.

Cereza is a shy and clumsy girl who wishes to free her mother from prison. To that end, she’s mentored and taught the dark arts by Morgana, an exiled witch who lives near a dark forest. As I started my journey with Cereza, she was just about to enter the forest to track down a mysterious boy who promises her the power to finally set her mother free.

Cereza is joined on this adventure by Cheshire, a demon possessing her favorite toy cat. While the main characters may come across as pretty fantastic, the story actually deals with a lot of complex emotions—loneliness, anxiety, and self-improvement are primary themes—that made it feel relatable and grounded. The superbly well-written and similarly well voice-acted narrative is told through storybook-inspired cutscenes that can be enjoyed even if you have no prior experience with the Bayonetta series.

Story isn’t the only thing to enjoy in Bayonetta Origins, of course. I also loved exploring areas and beating up faeries. Almost every area in the game looks unique and features some form of environmental mechanic, such as bouncy mushrooms or floating plants that can be used to traverse uncharted territories. I spent a good portion of my fifteen hours in the game just checking out every one of the game’s countless nooks and crannies, searching for treasure chests and resources.

Of course, all that exploring meant encountering many different types of faeries, the primary enemy in Bayonetta Origins. Some faeries were tanky and defensive faeries, while others attacked Cereza from afar or tunneled underground to close the distance. Taking them on meant learning how Cereza and Cheshire could work as a duo, with Cheshire fighting on the frontlines and Cereza backing him up with a bevy of spells.

Bayonetta Origins’s combat provided plenty of thrills and challenges. I had to utilize Cereza’s spells to bind enemies and then follow up with Cheshire’s barrage of ferocious, slashing attacks to topple them down. Leveling up different skills added new combos to my options, and Cheshire can be swapped into different elemental forms mid-battle to pull off some pretty sick moves. Those elemental forms are also used to solve traversal puzzles, like getting past frozen roots or leaping between floating structures.

The interplay between Bayonetta Origins’s two protagonists is the heart and soul of the game, but it also provides one of its biggest hurdles to overcome: the dual control structure. I spent early hours of the game trying to get used to controlling two characters at once using both joysticks, but with enough practice, I was able to waltz through battlefields with ease.

In fact, maybe too much ease. Bayonetta Origins felt too easy for most of the game and only really challenged me towards the end. That said, because I was continuously introduced to new mechanics, areas, and monsters, combat rarely felt boring or tiresome.

Lack of difficulty aside, Bayonetta Origins pleasantly balances a lot of different elements to create something special. Intriguing storytelling propelled the action forward with suspense and mystery. Banter between Cereza and Chesire helped me grow to love these two characters. And a surprisingly deep, skilled handling of real-world issues like overcoming self-hatred brought it all together, crafting a relatable and empowering experience.

In the end, I got so much out of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon that finishing the game left me feeling bittersweet. It’s pretty rare that a game moves me this much, and I can only hope I get more of these characters, this world, and this style of gameplay in a sequel one day. Until then, though, Bayonetta Origins has earned a spot as one of the best action-adventure games I’ve ever played.

SCORE: 5 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• The Bayonetta franchise. If you’ve played any of the games from the Bayonetta franchise, you’ll most likely love Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. I personally found the game much better than Bayonetta 3, and that’s saying a lot, as I also enjoyed that title a lot when it was released last year.

• The Legend of Zelda. If you enjoy the sense of exploration and uncovering mysteries in a compelling world that Zelda games offer, you’ll likely love Bayonetta Origins for the same thing. Although the world is much smaller, it’s still filled with plenty to discover.

💬 Will you play Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon or are you going to pass on it? Tell us down below in the comments!

Mentioned games