Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon - Review

Platinum´s modern hidden gem.

Console: Nintendo Switch

With the reveal of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, developer Platinum Games took the Bayonetta series in an unexpected direction. Known for its stylish presentation and salacious titular character, Bayonetta is one of the few mature-rated Nintendo series. No one expected that after the long and troubled development of Bayonetta 3, another title would follow so quickly. Yet, here we are with a spin-off that does away with nearly everything I just mentioned.

This spin-off features a young Bayonetta, AKA Cereza, in a puzzle game presented like a picture book. It's an unusual swerve, but Platinum Games is a talented developer regardless of the genre. The title looked good and quite unique in the trailers and that secret bonus 'level' in Bayonetta 3 makes a whole lot of sense now: it was a tease for this game. 

Now, well over a year later, it’s apparent that this odd gamble didn’t work out as they had hoped. Nintendo never mentioned this title in its financial reports, a big indication that it didn’t perform as expected. A shame really since I can easily see it becoming a hidden gem in the Switch’s library in the future.

Let’s talk about it.

Once upon a time, there lived an Umbran Witch of Darkness and a Lumen Sage of Light. Their forbidden love bloomed in secrecy until the arrival of a beautiful baby girl brought their affair to light. Doomed by the cruel hand of fate, the Witch was imprisoned, the Sage banished, and the child exiled. Yet, fortune smiled upon the young Cereza, as the enigmatic Witch Morgana took her under her wing to teach her the ways of magic.

One fateful day, feeling sad after a lesson gone awry, Cereza finds herself lured into Avalon Forest by a strange dream. Lost amidst the ancient, whispering trees, she is set upon by the forest’s mischievous inhabitants, the Faeries. In her moment of desperation, she summons the Demon Cheshire from Inferno, inadvertently binding it to her little stuffed cat. Trapped in the forest's depths, the two reluctant companions set out to find their way home amidst its many dangers.

What makes Bayonetta Origins stand out is the presentation. The entire game is designed as a picture book—a fairy tale picture book, to be precise. That’s why I did my best to match the stereotypical fairy tale writing style in my setup! 

This presentation will no doubt be the first thing that catches your eye. The art style really does look like those painted images you’d find in books like Peter Rabbit. Everything, especially the 2D backgrounds, looks like it was drawn/painted like such picture books. 

The cutscenes, meanwhile, are presented as multiple pieces of art that follow each other with each scene switch done by the flipping of a page. This effect is also present in the menus, and there are more tricks that play up the picture book aesthetic in a way you can do in a video game. This includes a narrator with the voice of an old woman reading a bedtime story, and the colors fading in like ink.

An example of the very picture book-esque cutscenes.

So yeah, while the game doesn't match the picture book style perfectly—looking back at the many screenshots I made, the brush/pencil strokes aren’t as clear for example—the intent is clear, and the result is beautiful and brilliantly makes use of the medium. 

Speaking of the narrator, she chronicles Cereza's entire journey, from waking up in Morgana's garden all the way up to the credits. She also does the voices of most characters, except for Cereza herself. Morgana and the mysterious boy get their own voices, but Cheshire, who’s with you the entire game, doesn’t. A rather random choice if you ask me.

When looking at the narrative, I’m not going to say it’s as thought-provoking as Ghost of Tsushima, to name a recent example. But, after a slow first half, the story picks up when Cereza starts coming out of her shell. Cereza is a very endearing character, and you can clearly see her growing from a shy, doubtful, and frightful girl to a confident and brave little Witch. I very much enjoyed seeing this growth.

Slowly uncovering the story of Avalon Forest and the mysterious boy is well done and fun to follow, but for me, it didn’t hit as strongly as Cereza's character growth. When she starts to make finger guns evoking the guns of her adult self, as someone who played Bayonetta 1 & 2, it wasn’t only a cool moment but felt earned.

Since I’ve already broken my usual review format, I might as well talk about the soundtrack and sound design before tackling the gameplay. It’s all very pleasant. It’s very piano-focused, which perfectly underscores the whimsical tone of the game. It’s a quite relaxing soundtrack too, well suited for both calm and emotional moments, but that doesn’t mean it can’t spice things up for more action-packed sequences.

There’s one moment in particular when the music started playing and my hair stood on end. As someone who played Bayonetta 1 & 2, I immediately knew what that music entailed and couldn’t help getting giddy about what was surely coming. It was quite a good boss battle made even better by how the music built it up.

Speaking of which: it’s finally time to talk about the gameplay. It’s quite unique, which starts right with the controls. You control both Cereza and Cheshire at once - Cereza is mapped to the left Joy-Con/side of the controller while Cheshire calls the right Joy-Con/side his own. It’s a different but also awkward control scheme that the entire gameplay experience is built around. From exploration to combat.

Nintendo themselves list Bayonetta Origins as an action-puzzle-adventure game, with an emphasis on 'puzzle' and 'adventure' if you ask me. Avalon Forest is one big maze of winding paths, dead-ends, lakes, and circuses (yes, you read that right). Navigating this beautiful but hostile environment requires Cereza and Cheshire to work together, whether it’s creating a bridge over a ravine or surviving a Faerie ambush.

Your tasks range from positioning Cereza and Cheshire on separate pressure plates to opening a door to more elaborate situations. One such example can be found in one of the game’s dungeons: the Tír na nÓg. Cereza and Cheshire are put on two different paths with a ‘one-hit-kill’ laser nipping at their heels. Not only do you have to simultaneously navigate them through the obstacles on their paths, but you also have to use each character’s special abilities—Cereza’s binding vines and Cheshire’s crushing claws—to clear obstacles for the other. With the pressure of that big laser, the challenge was on, in a good way.

These Tír na nÓg sections are really fun. They are like shrines from Breath of the Wild in execution, accessed through space distortions. They are small-to-medium-sized challenges ranging from puzzles to all combat situations. I’m not a big fan of the latter, but the former were always a blast. We have that ‘big laser’ one I just talked about, but there was also one where Cereza and Cheshire worked their way up vertically, like climbing a big tower full of booby traps, that I also particularly enjoyed. 

A look at the Tír na nÓg's space distortion effect.

Each Tír na nÓg neatly rewards you with goodies like flower petals to increase Cereza’s health. Nice, but not truly needed. Bayonetta Origins might just be the first game where I never died, save for some puzzle-related resets. Challenging this game isn’t, but if you or your kid(s) have some trouble, there are potions you can brew to help you out from all the resources you gather, from restoring health to increasing your damage output. 

There are also plenty of settings you can change to make your time with the game easier. You can, for instance, turn off the little rhythm mini-game you need to do whenever you use Cereza’s magic to interact with something in the world. Accessibility options: always a good thing to have! 

Controlling two characters at once is quite unique and lends itself well to some creative puzzle work, or at least ones I’ve never experienced before in a game, but it’s also rather clunky. The ‘left Joy-Con for Cereza’ and ‘right Joy-Con for Cheshire’ limits how the buttons are set up and what you can input. Controlling both characters can be quite difficult to manage. The ‘you can’t truly multitask’ issue plus I often had trouble seeing where they are when the screen zooms out or when lots of enemies and effects are on screen are real. I learned, but I can’t say I ever truly got the hang of it all.

Don't fret though. You're not constantly forced into this control scheme. Cheshire, befitting his status as a demon inhabiting a doll, can switch between his big 'unleashed' demon form and a doll form, which Cereza carries. This way, you only have to control one character. That's a lot more convenient and is also another gameplay mechanic. 

In doll form, Cheshire can pull Cereza along large gaps or be thrown over obstacles. You know, to solve puzzles and whatnot. It's also the form Cheshire takes when he has suffered too much damage in battle, the only real penalty Cheshire gets from getting hurt. A quick recharge in Cereza´s arms will patch him right up! 

Right, combat. Haven't touched on that yet so let's get into it. It's very simple, really. Cheshire is the one doing all the damage. He can swipe at enemies with his big claws and later, when you open up his skill tree, use that magic meter of his to pull off combos and switch between different elemental charges. Leaf Chesire, for example, can use his tongue to grab things from far away and pull them towards him, small enemies included.

Cereza, meanwhile, is your support piece. She uses her thorn bind to stun them so Cheshire can attack them without trouble. When you compare that to what I just wrote about Cheshire, you see there's a great disparity in text length. And that's where I have my problems with the battle system: I feel that Cereza doesn't get much to do. She can really only bind enemies and I often find myself fighting with Cheshire while Cereza sits off to the side.  

Battles are basically all the same as well. Bind and practically button mash. Even the different elemental modes of Cheshire all boil down to the same thing: switch to them to break specific enemy shields. The are slight changes in how Cheshire swipes his claws in each mode but those effects are negligible, I find. 

A perfect example of Cereza tying an enemy down so that Cheshire can swipe at them with is might claws. 

One aspect of the game's performance worth mentioning is its 30fps cap. Not because of any issues here, but because of Paper Mario and The Thousand-Year Door. That Switch remake's 30fps caused quite a row online. In response, the director of Bayonetta Origins, Abebe Tinari, supported the Paper Mario developers the director of Bayonetta Origins, Abebe Tinari, supported the Paper Mario developers with the reason for this title's 30fps cap.

They tried to make Bayonetta Origins run at a smooth 60fps and succeeded in the Tír na nÓg stages but couldn’t get it stable in the forest. The game’s visuals may not look complex, but there’s a lot of post-processing, from colours fading like ink to the world curving to allow a broader view. This came at a cost, and the decision was made to prioritize the picture book aesthetic over 60fps. Keep this in mind the next time a game runs at 30fps.

Conclusion

I find Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Last Demon to be quite an endearing title. The game's artistic direction, its picture book presentation, alongside its whimsical soundtrack and the rather touching journey of Cereza and Cheshire all hit home. Yes, the unique dual-character gameplay can be clunky and the combat is too basic but the puzzle-solving in the 'Tír na nÓg's' and the exploration in the winding paths of Avalon Forrest means the gameplay is still fun and engaging. 

Yes, I fully agree that Bayonetta Origins can easily be considered a hidden gem. One that has become my favourite Bayonetta game, in large part because I'm actually good at it and I find 'endearing Cereza' better than 'sexy Bayonetta'. This is a game I hope will be enjoyed by many more people in the time to come.