Just about everyone knows aboutBayonetta, seeing as it is one of the most popular hack n slash games in the history of Nintendo. It’s front lined by one of the most incredible witches in all of gaming. Bayonetta sparked a huge following, and the games are beloved by hordes of fans. However, our heroine wasn’t always the demon-killing master of combat that we’ve known her as.
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There was always an unexplored background, and that’s the main theme forBayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. This storybook aesthetic game is very different from regular Bayonetta, and some elements could use enhancements. Here are some changes that make Bayonetta Origins go from good to great!
5More Complexity in the Puzzles
Bayonetta Origins does indeed feature a lot of puzzle platforming elements throughout its gameplay. However, during our time, we noticed that these puzzle sections are particularly lacking in complexity. The puzzle platforming bits in Bayonetta Origins has been streamlined compared to other games because the focus in Bayonetta Origins seems to be more on the narrative and action aspects rather than the puzzles. The puzzles themselves are relatively straightforward, so they don’t require much critical thinking or problem-solving skills.
The main challenge of these puzzles is that you must control two characters at the same time, Cereza and her incredibly overpowered cat named Cheshire. However, once you get the hang of it, this challenge becomes more of a routine task rather than a real obstacle. It becomes even easier once you master the characters’ different abilities and movement styles.
4More Dynamic Combat
Bayonetta Origins features a decent variety of enemies with different attack patterns, movement styles, and elemental weaknesses. There is one caveat here, though, after a while of playing around with Cheshire’s elemental powers, the combat can become a bit stale. That might be a problem with many modern games, but it’s just as evident here. The game doesn’t introduce enough new enemy types as players progress through the game. You see, having a wider range of enemy types with different elemental resistances and weaknesses would encourage players to experiment more with Cheshire’s powers and Cereza’s abilities. This would help make combat more dynamic, forcing us to adapt to different enemy types and strategize accordingly.
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The game’s overall design prioritizes a more accessible and easier experience rather than a more challenging one. The only way to increase the game’s difficulty is by adjusting the difficulty setting, mainly affecting enemy damage and player damage output. Cereza doesn’t have much to do in these fights, so a more dynamic approach would help her fit into the combat system more instead of just being a supporter running around while Cheshire is dealing most of the damage.
3Cereza Basic Attack
Continuing from the previous point, Cereza’s role in the game isn’t much in terms of combat. You can customize Cereza’s outfits, make her do spells, and a lot of supporting things, but she literally does not have a basic attack. In the early bits of the game, around 35 to 40 minutes in, it feels as though Cereza is about to run into her first combat encounter. However, Cheshire jumps in during a cutscene and prevents it from happening whatsoever. It’s that exact dichotomy that we see in the rest of the game as well, where Cheshire is mainly the damage-dealing character we control, whereas Cereza is there more as a supporter. You heal Cheshire and yourself if you take too much damage, and you’re there to blind enemies, stun them and lock them in place with roots/vines.
It’s a fun little system that the game has built up, but it takes quite a lot of opportunities away from gameplay variety. Cereza and Cheshire battling enemies could have led to some phenomenal animations. We could’ve had a much more inexperienced version of Cereza getting tougher as the game progressed. Cereza having a basic attack, albeit one that doesn’t deal too much damage but is enough to fend off minor enemies, while Cheshire focuses on the bigger brutes andsome of the more difficult bosseswould add a lot to the gameplay variety.
2More Polished Story
Bayonetta Origins features a beautifully told story about growing up, mainly through the lens of a disillusioned child. The beautiful fairytale aesthetic, fantastic voice acting,brilliantly designed game world, and the phenomenal way the game integrates the story into its gameplay make it even more enjoyable to watch it unfold. However, as I approached the end of the game, the story’s focus tended to become a bit shaky, and certain elements did not quite add up.
While I don’t want to spoil anything, it’s worth mentioning that some of the character motivations and plot points for side characters,Jeanne for example, could use a bit more polishing up. Additionally, the main antagonist doesn’t receive as much exploration as you would have hoped for from the beginning of the game. This can make the game’s ending feel a bit rushed, with certain conflicts feeling like they got resolved too quickly to be fully convincing. Nevertheless, the story is still pretty great. Just a bit more exploration of some of the characters’ motivations could indeed help it fully flourish.
1Better Story Pacing
The biggest and most obvious issue with Bayonetta Origins has to be its pacing. This is something that a lot of developers are struggling with, especially since they need to provide a longer game to make up for that AAA price tag. The chapters here feel very weirdly designed in terms of length; some of them go on for too long, while others feel like they were cut short. As a result, the game can feel dragged out at times, and certain sections could have been streamlined to create a more cohesive experience that felt more focused.
An issue with the pacing is the frequent moments of walking around and fighting smaller mobs of enemies or doing extremely simple puzzles. While these moments can be fun and satisfying in moderation, they can become repetitive quickly. This is one issue I felt the most, and if addressed, it would solve a lot of the tedium that comes with playing more narrative-driven action games in the modern gaming market.
