Prologue: The Vestibule is the prologue of the first Bayonetta game.
Graveyard[]
Tutorial - Part 1[]
You start the game in a graveyard, and will first be going through some tutorials. The first one is for punching, the second one is for kicking (then it will show you a list of various possible combos), the third one will teach you how to Evade/Dodge, and the final one will show you how to activate Witch Time by dodging. These are the very basic skills that you will continuously use throughout the game.
Verse 1[]
Once you have finished the Tutorial, you will return to the graveyard and face a group of Affinities. In this game, Angels are your enemies, and the Affinity is the lowest class of angel. As you defeat them, you'll be given information about the halos, gold rings that are used to buy skills, items, accessories, and weapons much later in the game.
Tutorial - Part 2[]
After defeating a few waves of Affinities, you will meet the second type of angels, called Decorations. These are childlike faces with wings; they don't get a proper introduction until later into the game. Once you see them, you'll go through a second tutorial. It will teach you how to shoot your guns (if this is the first playthrough you will have Handguns), and how to do a Bullet Climax.
Verse 1 cont.[]
After the tutorial, you will return to the graveyard to face more Decorations. After defeating a few of them, you will be facing a combination of Affinities and Decorations (on Hard/Non-Stop Infinite Climax, Grace & Glory will follow). Most of the battles in the game will involve a mix of enemies: they won't all be low-class angels, but they also won't always be all of the same types.
Once you've dealt with these angels, a brief cutscene will show Enzo being carried away by another angel that busts through a piece of the surrounding fence. Another tutorial will then teach you how to do a Double Jump. Use this skill to jump through the gap in the fence, and then jump off the edge. A cutscene will show Bayonetta landing right on Enzo's car and wrecking it. When the cutscene ends, you will be in a new area, an extension of the graveyard, where you will face a group of Affinities plus the large angel that carried off Enzo. This angel is actually called Applaud, but won't be introduced until the next chapter (on Hard/Non-Stop Infinite Climax, Fairness will follow).
Note: It is possible to already get some achievements during this first Verse, notably You Want To Touch Me? and Nice Try, if you dodge and successfully activate Witch Time 10 times (for the second one, you have to do it 10 times in a row). You will then be introduced to the collectible item Umbran Tears of Blood. There are 101 of those. One is rewarded for each achievement you earn, and the others take the form of Crows that must be caught during the different chapters of the game, on Normal, Hard, and Non-Stop Infinite Climax difficulties.
Highway Wreckage[]
Verse 2[]
After an introduction with a Mysterious Woman, you will be given a time limit of 5 minutes to perform 3 Torture Attacks. If you let the time run out (which should not be a problem on Normal difficulty), the plane you are on will crash, and you will die.
Notice that you now have a health bar and small circles underneath, those are your Magic Gauges. The Gauges tell you how much magic you have: the more orbs are filled the more magic. When a Magic Gauge is full and you are close to an enemy, you will be prompted to perform a Torture Attack. This will deplete your Magic Gauge, and summon some torture device (e.g. an Iron Maiden or a Guillotine). An animation will show Bayonetta using it on the enemy, which will suffer major damage. Low-class angels like Affinities will be killed in one hit. Starting from the next chapter, an enemy killed by a Torture Attack will also drop its weapon, which can then be picked up and used by you.
At the beginning of the verse, you are in permanent Witch Time, so the Affinities will be moving slowly (on Hard/Infinite Climax, you will face a pair of Glory). Fill up your Magic Gauge by performing regular attacks and combos, and execute the Torture Attack as soon as you can.
After the second Torture Attack (probably around the 2:30 mark), you will exit Witch Time. Now that your basic torture training is complete, performing the last one should not pose any difficulty. The chapter will then end with two cutscenes. You will receive your primary weapons, the Scarborough Fair, and be sent on your way to the main action of the game.
Video Walkthrough[]
Normal:[]
Hard/Non-Stop Infinite Climax:[]