You play as a witch performing hair-based magic attacks against enormous monsters, dodging at the last second to trigger a slow-motion counter window. Later fights let you summon giant demons of your own to trade blows with equally giant threats. The combat rewards precise dodge timing and combo memorization, so it can feel overwhelming if you are not used to fast action games.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
The verdict
It's bigger and louder than ever, sometimes to a fault, throwing so much spectacle at the screen that the core combat can get buried under it.
The mechanics
Demon Masquerade summons add a new strategic wrinkle to dodge-heavy combat, though the sheer scale of some encounters can feel overwhelming rather than exhilarating.
Presentation
Every stage escalates into increasingly absurd set pieces, and the game clearly pushes the Switch harder than it comfortably wants to go.
Staying power
Series diehards chasing high scores and combo mastery will find plenty to dig into, though newcomers might find the difficulty and story tone a lot to absorb.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control Bayonetta, a witch who fights with guns strapped to her hands and feet, using simple attack buttons for punches and kicks alongside a dodge button that, timed perfectly at the last second, slows down everything around you so you can land a flurry of extra hits. From the opening chapter, giant otherworldly monsters invade familiar city streets, and the scale is enormous, with Bayonetta sometimes climbing onto and fighting creatures many times her size. A new mechanic lets you summon towering demons of your own and control them directly to smash through enemies, though while you do this Bayonetta herself stands exposed and vulnerable nearby. A second playable character, Viola, joins partway through with her own simpler sword-and-companion-cat fighting style, offering a different rhythm to combat.
Most of your time is spent moving from one elaborate combat encounter to the next, chaining punches and kicks together, dodging at the right moment, and occasionally switching to demon control for a burst of extra damage against tougher foes. The story hops between different alternate versions of Bayonetta and wildly different settings, from city streets to giant monster battles to entirely different genres of set piece, so no two chapters feel quite the same. A full playthrough runs for well over ten hours, and side chapters and challenge rooms are there afterward for players who want more practice against tougher fights. Difficulty options let newcomers to the series lean on auto-assisted combos if the full technical demands feel like too much at first.
Session to session this is about spectacle and rhythm, chaining flashy combos and feeling untouchable when you dodge perfectly at the last instant. What may frustrate you is that the story jumps between so many settings and ideas that it can feel hard to follow, and Viola's combat controls feel noticeably stiffer than Bayonetta's own. It is best suited to players who already enjoy fast, stylish action games and want spectacle piled on thick rather than a straightforward story.