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The Umbra Witch is back this Friday, but not in the way you might expect. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a prequel to PlatinumGames’ hit high-octane action series, but this prequel stars the young witch long before she becomes Bayonetta.
Reviews dropped today and they’re pretty positive for the top-down action-adventure game. The gorgeous storybook graphics and the puzzles have received praise across the board, as have the music and atmosphere. But where do reviews diverge?
We’re definitely on the lower end of the scale here at Nintendo Life — we gave Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon a solid 7/10, calling it a “delightfully stylish origin tale”, but we wanted a bit more from its combat, puzzles, and wished the controls were a tad more refined.
Let’s move on to what other critics thought, then.
First up is GameSpot, who scored the prequel a 9/10. While they agreed with us on the controls, they had a huge amount of praise for the writing and story, particularly Cereza:
“Cereza is every bit as charismatic as the older version of herself in this game. Her lines are delivered with sincerity, youthful joy, and emotion, and her moral compass and strength make her easy to love.”
Matching GameSpot’s praise is IGN, who also awarded PlatinumGames’ newest title with 9/10. The outlet loved the charm, look, and feel of the entire game:
“From its impressive, fantastical story moments full of childlike charm to its clever platforming puzzles and satisfying battles, this is a superb action-adventure where every piece comes together to create a wondrous playable storybook.”
Destructoid acknowledged the game’s lower-key compared to the main series, but still gave Bayonetta Origins an 8/10 despite some minor gripes.
“…when I was playing through it, I was reminded of a few ’90s classics like The Lost Vikings and the quirkiness of the Gobliiins series. It’s a really breezy game to play if you’re enamored by the storybook look and feel, which does some of the heavy lifting.”
COGConnected scored the game a 72/100, stating that they wanted to love the game, and sort of do, but it loses its way with repetition and easier challenges:
“Everything is fed through this fairytale lens, one that cranks up the charm and wonder. The writing is whimsical, the art design is impeccable, and the mechanics are terribly clever. But the game loses something in its execution. Repetitive design and breezy challenges kept me curious, but not compelled.”
Lastly, VGC‘s thoughts were a bit more mixed — they gave the game 3/5 stars, saying it packs “just enough Platinum punch”, but they were less sure about the dual pairing and the exploration:
“…mopping up character upgrades and hidden wisps feels like an exercise in trying every dead end until you get lucky, rather than an empowered romp over old ground. It’s a shame, as the world itself is a triumph of art design, its dreamy watercolours clashing impressively with the jagged glass shards of the fairy domain.”
Of course, this is just a handful of opinions, but overall, this definitely seems like a good pick for Bayonetta fans. Where the series goes from here, we don’t quite know, but we’re always glad for more Bayonetta — even if we didn’t come out of it as positively as many other outlets.
Have you tried the Bayonetta Origins demo? Will you be picking the game up on Friday? Let us know.
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