To anyone watching on, a Bayonetta scuffle must look like a bewildering throng of noise and colour but, for those playing, the audio-visual feedback gives you tremendous control and pulls you deep into its zone. This is reflected in the game’s scoreboards and medal-hunting, demanding that your combat is as much about style as it is survival.
In this context, adding further complexity to the combat feels almost reckless. But that is what developer Platinum has done for Bayonetta 3 and somehow made it work. Now the demons that Bayonetta has control over in pivotal moments and boss battles can come out to play on the regular, with up to three companions at any one time available for summon. These range from the giant Madama Butterfly who can dish out supercharged punches and kicks, to growling, skittering fire-spider Phantasmaraneae and, later on, even a giant clocktower that sprouts from the ground and thumps ghouls with mechanical arms and turrets. You can blend demons in with combos, briefly summoning them for a final strike, or you can take control and let them loose for as long as your magic holds out, battering grunts and giving you a fighting chance against the screen-filling bosses.
The demons’ diversity, inventiveness and pure weirdness makes for a lot of fun. And this extends to Bayonetta’s own weaponry which is broad and constantly bolstered. From classic hand (and ankle) guns, to spinning, whipping yoyos, to magician wands that spark and crackle with starlight. Each weapon and demon is collected from each multiverse’s own Bayonetta, with each also giving you a new form of magic traversal across the game’s sporadic platform sections, transforming you into an eagle, swinging spiderwoman and – sure, why not?– a runaway train.
