Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bayonetta 3.
The Bayonetta franchise is in an awkward place right now. Past the prequel game Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon releasing later this year, Bayonetta's future is uncertain. Feedback for Bayonetta 3 has been mixed, as the core gameplay was well-received while the story attracted criticism. The characters and writing provoked a frenzied response, as many players felt like the plot was both more meandering than past Bayonetta games and actively disrespectful towards its characters.
Some other issues were raised, but Bayonetta 3's story and where it ended was by far fans' biggest concern. It felt like the Bayonetta universe was fully tapped, and most of the old cast was being retired. Players also weren't thrilled with the attempt to make newcomer Viola the new Bayonetta, both due to her limited gameplay and lack of charisma. Now, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon has promised a backstory for a young version of Bayonetta and the giant cat demon Cheshire, and fans are wondering if they should even care. With worries building, it feels like a better strategy would have been to make Viola the protagonist of Origins instead.
Bayonetta 3 Bungled Viola's Introduction
Coming after the competent and self-assured Bayonetta, Viola had a lot to prove. Her personality and role in the story are inherited from her father Luka, just with a punk edge. While a character based around punk rock using parries to access Witch Time sounds interesting, the execution wasn't there. At launch, Viola's parry window in combat was detrimentally tight, and even after an update she still had other problems. Viola's gameplay is only present in a few levels in Bayonetta 3, and it feels like the game wasn't designed to accommodate her. She never gains new weapons while Bayonetta collects plenty, and ultimately comes off as a half-baked attempt to combine Devil May Cry's Nero with the Round Trip-based gameplay of Trish.
Even worse is how the story treats her, constantly making her the butt of jokes that nullify her accomplishments. The desert level's extended dehydration joke is the worst instance of this, but Viola even gets shafted during the ending. When she finally becomes playable in the last major sequence, she just fights an evil alternate Bayonetta to earn the protagonist torch. This comes immediately after Bayonetta 3's titular hero and true villain die fighting each other. Viola never lives up to her promise of being Bayonetta's successor, and her introduction to players as such couldn't have been much worse. Shuffling some parts of Viola's story into Bayonetta Origins should have always been the plan.
Viola Works Better In Bayonetta Origins
Looking at its component parts, it's a wonder why Bayonetta Origins is not already about Viola. The game is framed as a young Cereza's first adventure before she became Bayonetta, and has a demon possessing her doll Cheshire as a companion. Bayonetta Origins employs fairy enemies instead of past games' cosmic foes, and trailers have implied that other characters will show up to add wrinkles to the plot. This sounds exactly like the adventure Viola should have had to establish her character, and the game would seemingly work just as well if she was substituted in for Cereza.
Viola could stumble into the fairies' domain and have to use the Cheshire doll to protect herself. Cheshire and Viola would bond over time, and Viola would gradually learn how to become an adventurous witch just like her mother. The setting would even give her a better reason to develop her fairy transformation. If Viola was merely a bit player in Bayonetta 3, then Bayonetta Origins could set her up as a compelling protagonist for Bayonetta 4. Sadly, it may be too late for that, but at least Bayonetta Origins should supply a new kind of Bayonetta adventure to help fans cool off between larger installments.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon will be released on March 17, 2023, for Nintendo Switch.