May | 2025 | stephensopinions

Bayonetta 3 is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. It’s got such enjoyable core gameplay with a ton of skill expression, but the game constantly interrupts the player with a barrage of annoying gimmicks that get in the way. Mini-games aren’t new to Bayonetta, and having a few to provide some levity and a break from the high-octane combat is understandable. But Bayonetta 3 takes the concept way too far, to the point where it feels like the traditional combat is a minority of time spent in game. I suggest reading my thoughts on Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 to get full context for the rest of this review.

The combat of Bayonetta 3 follows the same formula as its predecessors. Weaving together punches and kicks, using your guns to maintain combos, and slowing down time through well-timed dodges. This iteration abandons the Umbran Climax mechanic from Bayonetta 2, which I think was smart because it was far too powerful. Instead, Bayonetta 3 introduces Demon Slave, a mechanic which lets the player summon a demon to control and fight with.

Demon Slave is a much-welcomed addition as it adds a ton of potential for skill expression and mastery. While summoning a demon you cannot control Bayonetta, which means it’s ill advised to always be summoning as you would be a sitting duck for enemies. Instead, you’re encouraged to weave in summons for a couple of attacks in the middle of your combo, letting you extend your combos and deal massive damage without putting yourself at risk. There’re eight main demons to unlock through the course of the game, each having their own abilities to experiment with. Charm enemies with Madam Butterfly, lay tracks for the Wartrain to run over foes, or you or make it rain blood with the frog demon Baal.

Like its predecessors, Bayonetta 3 has a variety of weapons to unlock and play with. The combination of weapons and demons allows the player to really express themselves to the fullest. Combining different weapons and demons gives a ludicrous amount of potential for mastery. Action games like the Bayonetta series are about more than simply defeating your enemies, but looking cool while doing it. The Demon Slave mechanic provides a ton of spectacle as a godzilla-like demon breathes unholy fire while Bayonetta dances to control it like a puppet. It looks cool and it is a ton of fun to decimate enemies with your demonic pets.

The cost of such grandiose spectacle is visual clarity. Both the player’s demonic summons and the enemies in this game are massive, often occupying the entire screen. Combine that with fast-paced action and colorful effects for an assault on the eyes. I often had an extremely difficult time parsing what was happening on the screen. The camera really struggled and often got stuck inside the bodies of the behemoth demons and enemies. It’s unfortunate because outside of these hiccups, the combat is amazing.

While I did love the core combat of Bayonetta 3, I was shocked by how infrequently the game lets the player partake in it. There’s an abundance of cutscenes, gimmicky sections, and alternate character chapters that disrupt the game’s flow. The Demon Slave mechanic isn’t limited to combat, the game has numerous sections that highlight the other capabilities of the summonable monstrosities. I wouldn’t mind having a few traversal challenges, puzzles, or mini-games tied to Demon Slave, but there’s just way too many interruptions. Sometimes I just want to fight bad guys, not slowly pick up statues and place them on a scale with my bird-demon. Or play the world’s slowest game of rock-paper-scissors as Godzilla. These sections just aren’t very fun. Having a wall of text thrown at you to learn a whole new control scheme for a brief mini-game is clunky and ruins the pace of the game.

Aside from the gimmick sections, Bayonetta 3 is also plagued by the non-Bayonetta chapters. A new character, Viola, is a major player in the story and gameplay. Compared to Bayonetta’s wide array of weapons and demons, Viola only has a single weapon and single demon. She is way less interesting to play than our titular hero, and her control scheme takes a lot of getting used to because it is wildly different from Bayonetta’s. There’s also a handful of chapters featuring Jeanne which serve as a side-scrolling espionage mission. The Jeanne chapters aren’t terrible, but on top of all the other interruptions I found myself wishing that I could just play as Bayonetta some more.

To be honest I don’t particularly care about the story of the Bayonetta series that much. The characters are definitely memorable and quirky, but the plots have always been a convoluted mess. Bayonetta 3 is no exception to this. While I’m not shocked that I found the story of Bayonetta 3 to be dumb, I was surprised by how much time was spent on it. There’s 4 hours of cutscenes in a 14-hour game. For a story-driven game that’s an acceptable ratio, but this is Bayonetta. I want action, I want spectacle, I don’t want to watch hours of cutscenes of a nonsensical story.

The premise of the plot is that the multiverse is under threat by some force known as Singularity. We travel to alternate universes to see alternate versions of Bayonetta and collect special gems to be used to travel to Singularity’s universe and defeat him. You repeat the universe-hopping schtick a bunch of times without much plot advancement until the very end, at which point things go from boring to ridiculous. Again, I wasn’t expecting a narrative masterpiece. But between the gimmicks, Viola chapters, and Jeanne chapters I had no patience left for long, drawn out cutscenes with little substance.

It really is a shame that Bayonetta 3 is crammed with so much superfluous content. It’s the perfect example of “less is more”. It possibly has the best combat in the series, and therefore some of the best combat in all of gaming. But the game is dragged down by a bombardment of underbaked gimmicks, boring alternate characters, and never-ending cutscenes. It is for these reasons that I give Bayonetta 3 a 5.5/10. It is by far my least favorite entry in the series, but if you can look past all of the junk, there is a treasure trove of amazing combat to be uncovered.

It’s rare to find a sequel that is a complete and total improvement from the original. More often than not, I find that sequels often are weaker than their predecessors. It makes sense because for an original work to be successful enough to create demand for a sequel it has to have something special about it. But sequels often just ride on the success of their predecessors. That’s not the case with Resident Evil 2. Resident Evil 2 iterated on every aspect of the original, polishing and refining the bones of the iconic survival horror title as well as adding its own unique ideas. I encourage you to read my review of the original Resident Evil to better understand my perspective on its sequel.

Resident Evil 2 is the first game ever directed by Hideki Kamiya, who is now renowned in the industry for his work on Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Ōkami. Kamiya focused on the story, scraping and reworking the first drafts of the game. The main characters, Claire and Leon, end up in the zombie-infested Raccoon City. They get trapped in the sprawling police station, which owes its grandiose architecture and eclectic decoration to the fact that it was originally an art museum. The diverging paths of Claire and Leon are excellently interwoven to encourage the player to play both paths to see how they work together and how the events of the story unfold.

The writing and presentation of the story are definitely the biggest improvements from the first game. The voice acting, while still a little stilted, is so much better than the often comedic delivery in Resident Evil. Character models also got a glow-up, giving Claire and Leon more detail and fidelity. The writing in particular went from cheesy to actually thoughtful and character-driven.

While searching for her brother Claire quickly becomes an elder sister figure to Sherry, a young girl who is one of the lone survivors of the outbreak. Leon has a brief romantic relationship with the spy Ada Wong, who’s murky motivations leave you wondering if she is even on your side until the end. Even minor characters like the police chief are memorable. When you first meet him, you wonder how he survived, and something is very obviously off about him, but he gets more disturbing as you learn more about him. I wouldn’t say Resident Evil 2 is a masterpiece of storytelling, but the thriller plotlines and thoughtful characters are well-done, especially for a game of its age.

Resident Evil 2 is a survival-horror puzzle box. Like its predecessor, action takes a backseat to managing your resources and devising a strategy to escape the police station. With limited ammo, limited health-items, and limited saves, you have to think carefully about where to go next. While most enemies can be easily dispatched with the handgun, conserving ammo for the more challenging encounters is prudent. Both Claire and Leon have terrifying and monstrous entities that stalk them throughout the game, adding an additional element of tension as you never know when you’ll have to run for your life. You may think you can hold off on saving as you are only planning on going down the hall, but one of these bulky beasts could be waiting for you in a place you previously thought was safe.

The core gameplay remains largely the same from the game’s predecessor. Manage resources, solve some puzzles, navigate the zombie-filled halls of a creepy building, and occasionally shoot your way through tight spaces. While there are some new weapons, I think the most notable improvement is the diverging paths of Claire and Leon. Replaying the game is a whole new experience with new equipment, enemy placement, puzzles, and bosses. In some instances, you can even affect the world in the other character’s story. Playing both paths even unlocks the true ending and final boss fight.

I loved the setting of Resident Evil 2. There are some brief urban sequences as you arrive in Raccoon City, running through the fires, wreckage, and hordes of zombies. There’s a sense of mayhem that is only calmed when you arrive in the police station. The police station being a repurposed art museum gives it a ton of character. From the floor layout, to the architecture, to the décor of paintings and busts, there’s a lot of charm. From there, the game descends further and further down into the grimy tunnels and secrets below the station.

My biggest problems with the game are a result of its age. Movement is still using tank-based controls, which can be supremely awkward to get used to. Especially because of the frequently-shifting camera angles. While I did get used to it after a while, more precise movement was challenging. It’s particularly frustrating when trying to run past zombies or turn during a boss fight. The dated graphics also lessens the horror and tension. The horrifying creatures just look like splotchy and blocky figures, and the fixed camera perspectives mean you rarely get surprised or snuck-up on.

Overall, Resident Evil 2 is a shining achievement in sequel development. It improved on every aspect of the original: story, characters, setting, presentation, and gameplay. The inclusion of two separate characters with their own stories and remixed gameplay was brilliant and excellently executed. While there is no doubt that the game shows its age in a couple places, once you get adjusted to the control scheme it is still a joy to play. I can’t wait to continue through the series and see how it develops from here, and I am particularly excited to revisit the recent remake of this all-time classic game.

stephensopinions

Month: May 2025

Bayonetta 3 (2022)

Resident Evil 2 (1998)