Software:Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon

Short description: 2023 video game

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Developer(s)	PlatinumGames
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Abebe Tinari
Producer(s)	Koji Tanaka Makoto Okazaki Genki Yokota Toyokazu Nonaka
Designer(s)	Noriaki Nango
Programmer(s)	Hiroto Tanaka
Artist(s)	Tomoko Nishii
Writer(s)	Hideki Kamiya Maho Miyata
Composer(s)	Aoba Nakanishi Hitomi Kurokawa Masahiro Miyauchi Rina Yugi
Series	Bayonetta
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Release	March 17, 2023
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a 2023 action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. A prequel to the Bayonetta series, it tells the story of the titular protagonist as a young witch named Cereza.

Gameplay

Bayonetta Origins is an action-adventure video game. Gameplay is split between the protagonist Cereza, a fifteen-year old witch, and Cheshire, a demon bound to her stuffed toy. Both are controlled simultaneously: Cereza is controlled using the left Joy-Con while Cheshire is controlled using the right. Cheshire can be toggled between two modes. In Unleashed mode, he grows to a large size and can attack enemies or obstacles, while in Hug mode, he shrinks to toy form so that Cereza can carry him and use him for various purposes.

The player must use Cereza and Cheshire in conjunction in order to fight enemies and solve various environmental puzzles. In combat, Cereza binds enemies using spells while Cheshire attacks them. Cheshire cannot die in combat, but he may run out of magic when fighting. When this occurs, Cereza will need to pick him up in Hug form to refill his magic before he can be used in battle again. Elemental Cores throughout the game world can be broken to upgrade Cheshire's abilities, making the duo more powerful in battle and allowing them to explore previously inaccessible areas.

Plot

Six hundred years before the events of the first Bayonetta, a fifteen-year-old Cereza stays with her strict and stoic teacher Morgana, following her exile from her home due to being the result of the forbidden love of a Lumen Sage and an Umbra Witch, leading to her father's banishment and her mother's imprisonment. One night, feeling underappreciated by Morgana despite her hard work in mastering her powers, Cereza decides to venture into the forbidden Avalon Forest, being led there by a mysterious boy she saw in her dreams. Inside, she is swarmed by a group of faeries. With no other option, Cereza performs a demon-summoning ritual, successfully summoning a demon, but it attempts to attack her after possessing the body of Cereza's stuffed cat in order to survive outside Inferno, though it is unable to hurt its summoner. With the creature, who Cereza dubs Cheshire, unable to harm her, the two reluctantly decide to travel through the forest together, with the promise that Cereza can find the power she needs to save her mother, as well as send Cheshire back to Inferno.

The two continue their journey, following the tracks of a white wolf whilst conquering the dangerous creatures that lurk in the forest and destroying the four Elemental Cores hidden deep within the thicket, where Cereza gradually overcomes her timid nature, while Cheshire's stubborn attitude eventually begins to soften as he begins to care for Cereza like a true friend. Suddenly, a faerie tries to lure Cereza into its grasp by disguising itself as her mother. Realizing this, Cheshire destroys the illusion, but Cereza's grief over her mother causes her and Cheshire to argue, deciding to part ways. Later, after seeing him captured, Cereza, concerned, swallows her pride and, with the wolf's help, ventures into the faeries' castle, rescues and makes up with Cheshire, and the two work together to defeat the faeries' ruler, Púca.

Soon, the two reach the deepest part of the forest, where the boy Cereza saw in her dreams, named Lukaon, explains that, like Cereza, he was cursed for being the half-blood son of a faerie and a witch. Cereza sympathetically agrees to help him, but grows torn when Lukaon explains that he needs a demon's essence to free himself from the curse. Refusing to put her friend in harm's way, Cereza refuses to give up Cheshire, but Lukaon decides to rely on force and use Cheshire to rid himself of the curse. Luckily, Cereza manages to rescue the demon, though Lukaon steals the elemental powers Cheshire gained from the Cores. The two combine their strength and engage Lukaon in battle, take back the elemental powers, and defeat him.

However, soon after, Púca returns for payback, amassing his faerie army for cavalry. Cheshire, carrying the weakened Lukaon, and Cereza narrowly escape the forest before being saved by Morgana, who discovers the boy, but instead of saving him, she angrily turns to Cereza and Cheshire, revealing herself to be Lukaon's long-lost mother, as well as sending other failed Umbran disciples before Cereza to retrieve Lukaon from the forest, unleashing her magical power upon them to avenge her son. At first feeling doubtful of her abilities to combat her mentor, some words of encouragement from Cheshire spur Cereza to fight on, manifesting the Witch Time ability to take Morgana by surprise and defeat her, destroying her Umbran Watch and forcing her soul from her body. After tearfully bidding farewell to Lukaon, Morgana's soul is dragged down into Inferno--a fate that eventually befalls every Umbra Witch--and Cereza and Cheshire share a farewell of their own before Cheshire uses the portal made from Inferno's denizens and returns home. Cereza, after her mother wishes her luck in a dream, leaves home the next day to find her next adventure.

Development

The game was developed by Japanese studio PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo. It was released on March 17, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 81/100 Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 8/10 Famitsu 32/40 Game Informer 8.75/10 GameSpot 9/10 GamesRadar+ IGN 9/10 Nintendo Life Nintendo World Report 8.5/10 Shacknews 8/10 The Guardian

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was the sixth best-selling retail game in Japan during its first week of release, with 6,474 physical units being sold.