Action game fans have been waiting patiently for Bayonetta 3 to finally release. The first two Bayonetta titles are considered essential games in the action genre. Developed by Platinum Games and published by Nintendo, Bayonetta 3 was first revealed by Reggie Fils-Aime at The Game Awards in 2017.
Bayonetta 3 took nearly five years to come out, but now it's finally in your hands. Before jumping into the long-awaited third entry, however, there are quite a few details to keep in mind. For fans of the previous two games, Nintendo fans, or general action game lovers, there are aspects important to know beforehand.
8 Long Introduction
In the first two Bayonettas, the introduction and prologue sections were relatively quick. It usually started with a few fantastic opening scenes, and the prologue chapter only lasted about 20 minutes. This isn't the case in Bayonetta 3.
The third game begins with action gameplay like the previous ones, but after the tutorial portion, it goes on for much longer. It can feel a bit off since, normally, chapter one is the first real level. However, Bayonetta 3's prologue is a lengthy section and lasts about twice as long as the ones from past games.
7 Same Length As The First Two Games
Despite the prologue being much longer, the overall game length is in line with Bayonetta 1 and 2. The first two games had 16 to 17 main chapters, and while Bayonetta 3 has fewer, they do feel longer. A lot of these chapters will take you around an hour to finish.
If you were concerned about the game being shorter than its predecessors, there's no need to worry. There are also no short missions involving only one boss fight, like Devil May Cry 5, for example.
6 Mostly Uses Real-Time Cutscenes
A common quirk in the first two games was that often instead of real-time cutscenes, they would do these weird slide-show animations that just felt off. It was more common in Bayonetta 2 than in the first game, but they just felt cheap and immersion-breaking in both. However, in Bayonetta 3, almost every cutscene is in real-time.
There's only a handful of these slide-show cutscenes in the game, and they're rare to come across. This makes the cutscenes and overall story experience far more enjoyable and consistent than the first two. If you didn't like those slide-show cutscenes in the previous games, they're almost entirely absent in the third entry.
5 Some Towers Are Impossible To Climb To The Top
Exploration is a big part of all three Bayonettas. In the third game, you'll often be exploring when not in combat. However, the game has an issue with several high towers. While many of them have goodies on the top, for some, odd things will happen when you reach a certain height.
First, the camera will freak out a bit. And if you're too high up, the game will respawn you somewhere else. If you're climbing a tower and the camera gets weirdly locked and no longer follows you, simply fall back down, as that tower is not meant to be climbed all the way.
4 Viola Is Not In The Game As Much As You May Think
Bayonetta 3 introduces a new playable character, Viola. Based on the game's marketing material, she appears to be the primary, secondary character of the game. You may think you'll play as Viola for a decent chunk of it, which is simply not the case.
In fact, you'll only get to play as Viola for the entirety of a mission in only three levels. The core gameplay is still with Bayonetta since she has the most available tools and options. Playing with Viola can be a bit awkward to get used to since she has a different witch-time system, so you may not mind her being unplayable for most of the game.
3 Frame Rate Isn't An Issue In Combat
The Nintendo Switch is a pretty old system at this point and could definitely use some sort of upgrade. You might be concerned that the game will run poorly, but thankfully the frame rate isn't an issue in combat. You can see the faults in performance and graphical quality during exploration, especially during cutscenes. Combat, however, is completely fine.
While it isn't a locked 60 frames per second, you shouldn't have an issue still getting your pure platinum medals if you're an experienced action gamer. Combat is still enjoyable and rewarding, and the frame rate by no means hamper the combat experience.
2 Switching Weapons Is Still A Pain
When Bayonetta 2 first came out on the Wii U, a common criticism by action game enthusiasts was how long it took to switch out weapons. You had to leave the screen, enter the menu, and manually pick your new loadout. This process was so painful that many of you chose not to try your new weapons and just stuck to what you knew worked.
At that point, several action games had figured out better and more convenient ways for you to switch weapons. Unfortunately, eight years later, weapon switching is the exact same hassle and, in fact, slightly worse. You could pick four weapons simultaneously for each limb in Bayonetta 2, but Bayo 3 only allows two. This could be a dealbreaker if you're a hardcore action game fan.
1 No Nintendo Costumes
Throughout most of Nintendo's third-party games, there tended to be cool unlockable Nintendo outfits. In all three mainline Fatal Frame games published by Nintendo, there were some cool costumes like Zero Suit Samus, Zelda, and both Mario and Luigi.
In Bayonetta 2 and the rerelease of the first game, there were plenty of wacky Nintendo costumes, including Princess Peach, Link, Star Fox, and even more. But this time around, there are no Nintendo costumes. If you were looking forward to what cool and wacky Nintendo costumes would appear this time, you're going to be disappointed.