Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is an imaginative spinoff to PlatinumGames' series that no one saw coming. The art style is straight out of a picture book and looks fantastic. It’s such a big contrast to the more realistic models in the main trilogy.
Cereza is also not the badass femme fatale Bayonetta that fans are familiar with. She’s a bit of a scaredy-cat but is still determined to rescue her “Mummy” from prison no matter what. There’s a lot to praise in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, but the game could use a few tweaks here and there.
6 Turn Off Subtitles
There are two types of cutscenes in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. Most of the main content is told like a storybook, which makes sense given that is the game’s overall aesthetic. The visuals have a wonderful illustrated cel-shaded type of design.
Outside the book cutscenes, Cereza and other characters will speak as players explore the world. It helps engage players more when characters speak like this, but the problem is that there are subtitles. There is no way currently to turn them off either, which should be an option added in the next patch.
5 Add Multiplayer
One of the most revolutionary indie games in the past decade was 2013's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The interesting concept behind that game was that players could control two characters separately using different sides of the controller.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon controls this way as well with Cereza being set up on the left side of the controller while Cheshire is situated on the right side. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons eventually added a co-op feature via the Switch port which changed the game dramatically. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon should get a co-op option as well.
4 Add A Run
Players should get ready for how slow Cereza moves in the game. At first, it seems like this is because Cereza is in training before the full adventure starts. Unfortunately, her pace remains the same throughout Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. Cheshire does not move any faster, although it is more forgivable in its case since Cheshire is a large beast.
Not having a run button in an action game like this feels odd. Now, there is an upgrade in the skill that will allow Cereza to run while she is in Hug Mode. This is a necessary skill worth buying ASAP, but the developers should add a better run for each character overall. Cheshire in his beast form, for example, is slower than molasses which is not good for outside or inside combat.
3 Add More Save Points
The save points can sometimes be far and few between in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. There are plenty of checkpoints, though, as the game is always saving. That said, sme players prefer to stop their progress at save points in most action games as it is more comforting to know that they made a manual save.
Without many save points in the campaign, players may start to get antsy especially if they want or need to quit. Adding more save points would be great, or the developers could add a suspend feature that could save player progress right there on the spot. Another issue is that not all sanctuaries are created equally. Some let players upgrade Cereza and Cheshire and some just have a save point. Every save point following the unlocking of the skill tree should get the upgrade feature.
2 Remove Book Pages
The art style is one of the best things about the game. It’s a shame that part of it is covered up by the storybook aesthetic. Removing the aforementioned subtitles is one way for players to capture the beauty of Bayonetta Origins through screenshots. The developers could also allow players to remove the book bindings during cutscenes to show what the images look like fully.
Maybe the game doesn’t show everything because there is nothing else there. If that’s the case then this game could add an art gallery instead based on some behind-the-scenes artwork. There is a section of the menu already that highlights characters and enemies, so PlatinumGames could expand this section further to showcase the art. A photo mode would be cool too.
1 Add Costumes
The Bayonetta series is known for having various cosmetic costume choices, especially once the series became a Nintendo exclusive. For example, the first two games got costumes that paid homage to Samus from the Metroid series as well as Fox from the Starfox franchise. Now, there are costumes in Bayonetta Origins, but they cannot be unlocked until a good way into the campaign. Costumes will then begin to unlock for both Cereza and Cheshire.
While it is cool to see these costumes pay homage to the series, PlatinumGames could have done more. It would be entertaining if Cereza could dress up as some iconic Nintendo characters. The cel-shaded art style would look great if Cereza could dress up as Link from The Legend of Zelda, for example. Even the haunted woods in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is similar to the Lost Woods in Hyrule.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was released on March 17, 2023 and is available on Switch.