Players who own Bayonetta 3 are privy to a first playable demo for Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon which was first announced at 2022's The Game Awards. As the name implies, this is an origin story for the eponymous series protagonist. Bayonetta Origins follows the young Cereza as she explores a treacherous forest after a demon possesses her stuffed animal to aid in her search for her lost mother.Bayonetta Origins follows hot on the heels of the long-awaited Bayonetta 3 which launched exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 8 years after the last game in the franchise. Bayonetta Origins takes the series in a surprising new direction as it makes a departure from the familiar gameplay and visuals, taking the form of a picture book with RPG elements. It will also be a Switch exclusive, like Bayonetta 3 before it. Recently, Bayonetta Origins was rated by the ESRB as another good sign that it is on track to hit its launch date.To unlock the playable demo, Bayonetta 3 players must go to the in-game shop called The Gates Of Hell and purchase an item called the Old Picture Book, which adds the demo via the Chapter Select screen. Note that Bayonetta 3 must be updated to the latest version, v1.2.0, for the content to be accessible. Bayonetta Origins plays quite differently to other titles in the series and sports a completely different art style, with a greater focus on puzzles and exploration over the main series' combat-focused gameplay.
Fans of Hideki Kamiya's Bayonetta series were not pleased at the long wait for Bayonetta 3 which was originally revealed at The Game Awards in 2017, alongside the announcement that the first 2 games in the series would be coming to the Switch platform. Thankfully, the developers seem to have learned from this mistake and have made the announcement mere months before its release date, with details like Bayonetta Origins file size emerging as a strong indicator that its "all systems go" for the new game.
Bayonetta Origins gameplay is quite different when compared to the mainline titles, but fans will no doubt be pleased that the beloved series is getting some love, especially after the long wait for Bayonetta 3. As a prequel to the series proper, this title could potentially lay the groundwork for Bayonetta 4 which was casually mentioned by Kamiya himself on Twitter while discussing the ending of the third game.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon will launch on March 17, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.