Bayonetta 3

Bayonetta 3
Developer	PlatinumGames
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	Hack and slash
Game modes	Single player
ESRB	Mature 17+
Platform	Nintendo Switch
Media	Game Card, digital distribution
Website	https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/bayonetta-3-switch/
Release Dates
JP Date Released	October 28, 2022
US Date Released	October 28, 2022
UK Date Released	October 28, 2022
AUS Date Released	October 28, 2022

Bayonetta 3 (ベヨネッタ3) is an action video game in development by PlatinumGames, and published by Nintendo, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third entry in the Bayonetta series, following Bayonetta 2 in 2014 and was released on October 28, 2022.

Plot

Mysterious life forms appearing to be neither angel nor demon attack amid the ravaged streets of the Shibuya area of Tokyo, where Bayonetta then makes a graceful appearance. Why is she in Tokyo? And how far-reaching is the invasion of this new enemy? ― Plot synopsis

In another world's Manhattan, an alternate version of Bayonetta is engaged in life-and-death combat with a mysterious entity that demonstrates the power to warp reality. Despite her best efforts, she is soundly defeated and encased within a mass of rubble by her enemy. A young woman watching the encounter tries to help her, but is held back by a soldier, who entrusts her with a mysterious relic and their last "world bridge". The alternate Bayonetta imparts the last of her magic to the young woman as she dies, and her comrade is slain shortly afterward. The woman, referred to as Viola, is just barely able to escape herself.

Meanwhile in the Manhattan of the Main Universe, Enzo is complaining about how he just lost out on making it to the opening day of a baseball game because Bayonetta needed him to be her chauffeur to meet "someone". She has Enzo drop her off at a cruise ship where she believes that the person she has to meet will be present, and not long after she leaves an unconscious Viola falls out of the sky into his car. She stirs just long enough to demand that Enzo bring her to Bayonetta.

Almost immediately after that, the sky fills with dark clouds, a tsunami rises from the water, and the ship is attacked by strange creatures that Bayonetta fights off with the help of Rodin's newest weapons. Another larger monster appears and Bayonetta summons Gomorrah to finish it off, but it proves to be strangely uninterested in doing so; Rodin remarks that since the creature is not from Paradiso, Gomorrah will not attack it. Before it can turn on Bayonetta, she uses the Demon Slave technique to reassert her control over the demon and kill the monster. As all of this is occurring, an army of the mysterious invaders descends to ravage the city.

Bayonetta meets up with Jeanne, and the two witches are attacked by Kraken. They drive off the demon and regroup at The Gates of Hell. Rodin explains that the beings they fought were neither angels nor demons- they were human, at least in part. Viola introduces herself and explains that the creatures are manmade bioweapons called Homunculi that have destroyed countless worlds throughout the multiverse at the command of their master Singularity. Both Umbra Witches are suspicious of how Viola knows who they are and her ability to use Witch Time, forcing her to explain that she knew the Bayonetta and Jeanne of her world, which was one of the worlds destroyed by the Homunculi. Rodin interjects to explain that the human world is composed of multiple divergent universes, and that if the Homunculi are able to collapse the multiverse into a single world they would possess enough power to annihilate the entire Trinity of Realities. Viola asks Bayonetta to help her find four more of the relics, which she calls Chaos Gears, and requests that Jeanne track down Sigurd, the only person who knows how to use them to open a path to Singularity's home universe, the "Alphaverse".

Bayonetta and Viola make their way to Thule, a secret island once used by the Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages to study the worlds of the multiverse; upon their arrival, Bayonetta briefly glimpses Luka and wonders to herself how he got to Thule. Upon finding and activating a portal, Bayonetta finds herself traveling through the interstitial realm of Ginnungagap and emerges in the Tokyo of a parallel world as it is besieged by the Homunculi. In that parallel world she is being followed by an Iridescent and summons Gomorrah to follow it. As Bayonetta uses Demon Slave with Gomorrah under her control, Gomorrah is able to blast Iridescent multiple times and try to attack it. Iridescent then temporarily kills Gomorrah causing Bayonetta to flee for now and fight lower ranking Homunculi. She then interacts with a flashback of a Jeanne Variant getting killed by an Asperatus and her Bayonetta avenging her. Moments later, Phantasmaranae appears and confronts Bayonetta, but is reminded of her Master. Bayonetta is temporarily able to use Phantasmaranae and travel with her while still being followed by Iridescent. Along the chase, large rubble almost crushes Bayonetta but Phantasmaranae holds the rubble up until she is called by her master. After being attacked by multiple Homunculi, our witch of Genesis comes across Strider, a wolf-like Faerie (later confirmed to be Luka). They fight and Bayonetta seemingly has the upper hand until a full moon rises and Strider's powers strengthen. They fight inside a building and Bayonetta overpowers him, causing him to run away for now. Bayonetta hears Viola having a fight and is glad to know someone's having an easier time. Bayonetta looks in the distance to see Phantasmaranae and her master, a Bayonetta variant, being chased by the same Iridescent. However, This Cereza dodges an attack but Phantasmaranae is caught in Iridescent's jaws. With her being temporarily gone, The Variant uses her Ignis Aranae Yo-Yo to use her Demon Masquerade to fuse with Phantasmaranae. The Variant chases the Iridescent until she breaks into the Iridescent body. There, she destroys a homunculus Organ, destroying Iridescent's shield making her able to travel inside of the Iridescent. There, she comes across the Iridescent Core and angrily tells it that it'll pay dearly for the murder of her Jeanne. After a long fight inside the Iridescent, The street smart witch summons Phantasmaranae to hurl the Iridescent core out of the Iridescent body and blast it with a large ball of fire. Afterwards she is surrounded by three Uncinus and is at the brink of death when Bayonetta runs to the rescue, but is too late. The street smart witch then throws one of her Ignis Aranae Yoyos and then dies, leaving Bayonetta by herself to avenge her. Afterwards, Singularity proxies the Iridescent's corpse, then turning it into an Arch-Iridescent. Bayonetta summons Gomorrah, then using the Deadly Sin, turning him into sin Gomorrah. Sin Gomorrah blasts Arch Iridescent, killing it and causing the Infernal hands to drag it to Inferno. Moments later, Bayonetta is transported back to Thule.

Development

Prior to the game's official announcement in 2017, in July 2013, a fan asked Hideki Kamiya on Twitter in that in the event that Bayonetta 2 is a success, if there would be a third game. Kamiya responded by saying "I hope so." Yusuke Hashimoto, director of Bayonetta 2, was asked during a brief interview by magazine GamesMaster what game sequels he'd like to work on, saying it would be Bayonetta 3, mentioning that he already had "all kinds of ideas" in mind for "even more" sequels and a spin-off title. When asked by another fan about what other hairstyles Jeanne would look good in, Kamiya responded with "The answer will be in Bayo 3."

Bayonetta 3 was officially announced by Nintendo during The Game Awards 2017 presentation on December 7, 2017 with a teaser trailer, along with Nintendo Switch ports of the first two Bayonetta games.

In April 2018, PlatinumGames studio head Atsushi Inaba told Eurogamer at Reboot Develop 2018 that the game would represent a "turning point" for the company, and mentioned that the game would be a "linear core progression action game" as its predecessors.

During the Nintendo Direct that aired February 13, 2019, a new game developed by PlatinumGames exclusive to Nintendo Switch, Astral Chain, was revealed. After the reveal trailer, Yoshiaki Koizumi, general producer of Nintendo Switch hardware, gave a small update on the development of Bayonetta 3, saying the developers are "hard at work" on the title.

Inaba was interviewed by Video Games Chronicle in May 2019 and remarked that with the game, PlatinumGames is trying to move from an "orthodox development process", hinting that the process changes would be noticed by players during gameplay, saying "Maybe the players will recognize this as well. And that's all the hints you get!" Inaba told the publication in June 2019 during the E3 show, that the game's development was "going quite well."

The first official trailer for Bayonetta 3 was revealed during the Nintendo Direct broadcast on 23rd Sept, 2021, where the game was confirmed to be releasing in 2022.

On October 28th 2022, almost five years after the showing of the teaser trailer during E3 and just over eight years since the release of Bayonetta 2, the game was released to the public on the Nintendo Switch.

Trailers

Teaser Trailer

Bayonetta 3 Official Teaser Trailer - The Game Awards 2017

The trailer begins with a shot of the moon before a wash of blood red changes the colour. One of Bayonetta's ribbons floats through the air towards the screen before it rips itself into two. The scene then changes to show Bayonetta β0, looking identical to the main Bayonetta from the original Bayonetta, struggling to defend against an attack by an unseen force. As she is knocked back, she retaliates and fires a barrage of bullets at her enemy, but the shots are frozen in mid-air and diced apart by a strange electrical energy before they can reach their target. A glowing silhouette of a figure appears in the distance, rushes forward, and appears to split in two.

Bayonetta β0 lands on her feet in a sea of bullet casings, the figure materializing in front of her before fading away on the wind. Bayonetta's legs then appear to fall in different directions, implying she has been bisected, and her guns bounce off the ground to form the Umbran seal which then cracks to form the number "3".

First Trailer

First Look at Bayonetta 3 Gameplay – Nintendo Switch

The trailer begins in the middle of the Shibuya area of Tokyo, where Japanese soldiers arrive to confront a mysterious gigantic enemy that is attacking the city. The soldiers quickly realise that their weapons have no effect, just as another of the monsters manifests behind them. Before it can attack, the monster is suddenly peppered with bullets from behind. As it turns around, Lappy of Astral Chain fame appears to have been the source of the shots and the monster goes to attack it. However, before the strike can hit, Witch Time is suddenly triggered at which point Bayonetta arrives to beat the creature down.

The rest of the trailer shows a first look at gameplay, confirming the return of familiar elements such as Witch Time, Torture Attacks and Wicked Weaves, including the ability inflict multiple Torture Attacks at once on multiple enemies. The trailer also shows the first glimpse of the Demon Masquerade ability, where, Bayonetta is able to temporarily assume the form of Madama Butterfly in order to punch one of the larger creatures into a wall.

When Bayonetta is confronted with a towering giant enemy, she summons Gomorrah and appears to be in direct control of the demon's movements as it battles the enemy, an ability known as Demon Slave. She is also shown doing the same to Malphas and Phantsmaranae. The trailer concludes with Gomorrah rampaging through collapsing buildings and coming to blows with an even bigger monster before the release window of 2022 is shown. The date is then slashed in two by a sword wielding character draped in shadow.

Second Trailer

Bayonetta 3 - Release Date Revealed - Nintendo Switch

The trailer begins in New York City, where Bayonetta is surrounded by the new foes first shown in the original trailer. As she fends them off with a set of standard handguns, she is then gifted her set of new guns, Colour My World. As Bayonetta remarks that she doesn't recognise her foes, Rodin appears and explains that they have not come from Paradiso or Inferno, instead seeming to be part human.

After a brief look confirming Enzo and Luka's return, Bayonetta uses Demon Masquerade to fuse with Madama Butterfly and Gommorrah in turn to continue fighting. Rodin speculates that the new foes and someone is wiping out other universes and that they may gain enough power to destroy the Trinity. This is followed by Bayonetta using Demon Slave to take control of Phantasmaranae and Madama Butterfly. The scene changes to Bayonetta being helped onto some sort of summoned flying train, controlled by someone who looks like an alternate version of herself dressed in Chinese-style armour. The other Bayonetta remarks that she protects "this" world as they are pursued by one of the giant enemies.

At the Gates of Hell, the mysterious sword wielder from the first trailer explains the new enemies are called Homunculi and that they are man-made bioweapons. She explains that they will destroy reality unless they are stopped and asks Bayonetta to look for a scientist called Sigurd who may be able to help them. The sword wielder is then shown to be a playable character, using her katana to attack enemies, use Witch Time, and summon a demonic familiar that appears very similar to the Cheshire doll that was carried by Cereza in the original game. Jeanne arrives at some sort of research facility to speak to Sigurd where the scientist claims that he knows she was sent to him to find a way to the "Alphaverse". Luka also encounters the sword wielder and appears to recognise her in some way. When Bayonetta tries to advise her not to be careless with a nickname of "kitty", the young woman proclaims her name is Viola.

The trailer ends with Bayonetta being attacked by a large enemy on the side of a building using Witch Walk and the release date of October 28th 2022 is revealed. At the very end, a mysterious female voice speaks in Enochian to Bayonetta before the witch is shown pulling out her own heart to conjure an enormous summoning circle and an even bigger demon as a result. In the short ends, Viola and Cheshire are falling to the ground as Bayonetta sighs.

Third Trailer

Bayonetta 3 - Bayonettas Everywhere?! - Nintendo Switch

This section of the article is a stub. You can help the Bayonetta Wiki by expanding it.

Gallery

For more pictures and screenshots of Bayonetta 3, click here.

Trivia

• The Bayonetta 3 logo features a purple color scheme, contrasting the original Bayonetta logo's red hues and the blue hues of the Bayonetta 2.
  • Behind it is the symbol of the triple goddess, a tri-unity lunar deity that represent the cycle of death and rebirth. This references the game being the third in the series and the conclusion of Bayonetta's story.
• Bayonetta's new look is strikingly similar to her child self, Cereza, particularly with the double-braided hairstyle and larger frames for her glasses. Cereza is referenced again with the Cheshire doll attached to the hilt of Viola's sword.
  • In keeping with the logo's color scheme, Bayonetta's guns and inside of her gloves are now purple. Interestingly, this is the color the gloves from Bayonetta 2 were originally going to be, based on the development trailer for Bayonetta 2.
• Bayonetta 3 introduces multiple changes and departures from those of its predecessors:
  • This is the first game to introduce enemies that are neither angel nor demon, and the first one where the primary enemies are not angels, although they still appear.
  • This is the first game where demons are not heard speaking Enochian, but the language of the game's localized version.
  • This is the first game in the series that doesn't feature Bayonetta calling someone a "Little one" or focus on the Eyes of the World.
  • This is the first game where Balder doesn't appear.
• In the Gates of Hell, Rodin is shown to have the Bayonetta doll from the first game and Loki's cards from the second game, both of which Bayonetta briefly picks up.