Meeting versions of Bayonetta from other parts of the multiverse didn’t make much sense, but it did prove to be entertaining as hell. These missions also provided a nice break for my hand muscles, given the combat-heavy nature of the rest of the game. I prefer pummeling my enemies rather than sneaking up on them (Jeanne does have the ability to take down her foes the old-fashioned way), but I also found it surprisingly fun to attempt some patient sneaking. Then there’s Jeanne, who’s playable in a series of 2D stealth missions that feel unlike anything else in the game - almost like Mark of the Ninja or Invisible, Inc., albeit much simpler. I loved her slapstick comedy bits and her tendency to lightly slap herself in the face when willing herself to concentrate. I never felt quite as comfortable or powerful when playing as Viola as I did Bayonetta, but that seemed on brand for the witch in training who lacks the confidence and power of her foremothers Bayonetta and Jeanne. (Don’t miss the skill trees for these demons and the themed weapons that come with each one the leveling-up process is buried in submenus.)īayonetta 3 also occasionally puts you in the shoes of Viola, who wields a katana and shares Bayonetta’s Witch Time slo-mo ability, although Viola triggers it through parries rather than dodges. Bayonetta 3 introduces a whole new facet to combat that makes it significantly easier and more varied: Bayonetta can now summon a host of massive demonic entities to smack around her enemies. The game’s strongest element is the lightning precision of its combo-heavy combat, bolstered by power-ups and healing lollipops from the in-game shop. Jennifer Hale’s take on the character, controversial as it may be, struck my ears as a perfectly serviceable echo of Hellena Taylor’s initial two performances. Luckily, I found plenty to enjoy before the game’s closing cinematic twisted a knife in my heart. Perhaps Bayonetta was simply too complicated, too sexual, too brazen. Meanwhile, Viola - who’s dressed in a far less feminine outfit and who doesn’t get ogled by the game’s camera during cutscenes - serves as a more PR-friendly Strong Female Character to slap on a video game box. Unfortunately, Bayonetta 3 ensures that one of the few female characters in a mainstream game who owns her sexuality must pay some sort of tax for the privilege. In any case, the Bayonetta I know and love doesn’t tie herself down to a man, and she certainly wouldn’t need to be rescued by one. I always liked the idea of Bayonetta as eternally single, although my runner-up choice for her one true love would be Jeanne - plus, official game art and social media posts from the games’ creators have suggested that Bayonetta and Jeanne are in a queer relationship. In the first two games, Bayonetta has no romantic arc or relationship, and since she’s presented as a dominatrix, the extent of her sexual expression is oriented around self-pleasure. Since the review embargo prevents me from going into detail, I’ll instead describe what I loved about Bayonetta in the first two games, in hopes that a clever reader will understand what may or may not happen in Bayonetta 3. How Bayonetta the witch cast a spell on LGBTQ+ fans That’s because this game has entirely new confusing lore. Guess what? None of that lore is relevant to Bayonetta 3. But - what if some other version of me, on a distant world, was searching for all possibilities? And what if, when all the possibilities were overlaid, the path that stood out the clearest was the real truth?”Īt this point, if you’re brand new to all things Bayonetta, you might be worried that Viola’s monologue is referring to the prior two games, which have deeply confusing lore. When Viola was a kid, her dad told her about the multiverse, leaving her with this haunting thought: “I’d always believed there was only one truth. This story may appear to be about women, since you only play as Bayonetta, Viola, and (briefly) Jeanne, but this opening monologue is all about Viola’s father - an important piece of foreshadowing, because the patriarchy ends up playing a significant role this time around. Instead, the first voice we hear is a brand-new character named Viola she’s a teenage, punk rock witch in training who serves as the secondary protagonist. PlatinumGames’ newest entry in the Bayonetta story opens with a monologue, but it’s not from Bayonetta. Unfortunately, that is the exact situation I face in reviewing Bayonetta 3. It’s also hard to review a video game when it’s the third entry in a series of which you’re a super fan, to the point that it feels almost like a personal insult when the ending doesn’t line up with where you wanted the series to go. It’s hard to review a video game where you hated the ending, because of course, you can’t cover that in the review.
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