WARNING: This article will have major spoilers for Bayonetta 3
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon has been announced just after the release of Bayonetta 3, in which fans were all but promised a fourth installment to the franchise with the ending they got. While Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon seems as though it won't be answering any questions about what happens next, what fans know so far hints at more background on the beloved Umbra Witch.
When the franchise last saw the Umbra Witch, she and her newly appointed paramour Luka had been dragged to Inferno, leaving behind their child from an alternate reality, Viola, to take up the mantle in her mother's place. Putting aside the frustration many fans felt with this ending for Bayonetta, many are still eager to know what will be next for her. While Bayonetta 4 has yet to be officially announced, players recently got word that they would be reunited with the character sooner than they had expected.
Bayonetta from a Different Age
The new game, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, takes the franchise back to when the witch was a little girl who went by Cereza, before the events of Bayonetta 1. With the third game of the franchise having established a multiverse, Bayonetta's fans have begun to wonder where exactly Cereza fits in. Bayonetta's child self seems to be the same regardless of which universe players see her in, with her father still using her as a tool to trick her adult counterpart into the events seen in Bayonetta 1. However, a multiverse means that at some point, the story fans know diverges into something else. Between the time when she was Cereza and the first game, something took the character down a different path than what we see in the first installment, leading many to believe that Cereza's game will be the start of a series of spin-offs.
Not much is yet known about the game, except that it features Cereza summoning the demon Cheshire. Given that Viola is later seen working with the same demon, that could mean that the young Bayonetta seen in the new game will be the one who goes on to be her mother. What is intriguing about the Bayonetta prequel is its file size, which is considerably smaller than the previous games. What this could mean for the franchise is smaller wait times between installments as games get smaller, meaning fans could get more time with the different versions of the character without the long wait, which in turn means more opportunities to flesh out her personal history.
So much new information was given to players of the games in the most recent installment that many are left wondering what will happen to the Umbra Witch in Bayonetta 4. The confirmation of Bayonetta and Luka's romance, the introduction of Viola, and the heroine getting dragged to hell bring about a lot of possibilities about what could come next, especially in a confirmed multiverse. But in the meantime, the potential for a smaller series of games for the character could give fans answers to their questions sooner rather than later.
Whatever name she goes by, the Umbra Witch has always left those following her story wanting more. Bayonetta Origins could be exactly what the franchise needs to pull players even further into the world of Bayonetta, give them insight into her history, and grant them ideas about where the series is going next.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon will launch on March 17, 2023 for Nintendo Switch
