Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon Hands-On Impressions — A Puzzling Picture Book

wccftech.com:

Bayonetta isn’t one for sticking to conventions, and PlatinumGames’ follow-up to the excellent Bayonetta 3 is definitely a major departure. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is an isometric action-adventure that weaves a downright wholesome storybook tale while focusing more on unique mechanics, exploration, and puzzle solving than the franchise’s usual high-intensity action.

So, does Bayonetta make a graceful leap to a new genre? Or is this odd concoction best returned to the cauldron? I’ve had the opportunity to play through the first five chapters of Bayonetta Origins (amounting to around six hours of gameplay in total), allowing me to get a solid feel for most of the game’s mechanics. Scroll on for the first impressions.

Bayonetta Origins casts players as a young witch named Cereza, who presumably becomes the gun-heels-wielding badass we’re more familiar with. Cereza is the product of a Lumen Sage father and Umbra Witch mother, a pairing that’s frowned upon by the powers that be. As a result, Cereza’s father is exiled and her mother is imprisoned. Cereza attempts to rescue her mother but fails, and thus takes up training with an outcast Umbra Witch named Morgana in order to increase her power.

Everything changes when an ethereal boy comes to Cereza in a dream and says that if she follows a mysterious white wolf into the heart of the Avalon Forest, she’ll gain the power to save her mother. Ah, but the Avalon Forest is full of tricksy faeries and Cereza soon finds herself lost and in peril. Thankfully, she encounters a demon that possesses her stuffed cat, Cheshire. Together the two set off to track down the white wolf and escape Avalon Forest.

Bayonetta Origins’ story is a fairly stark departure from previous