The best games of 2022: Bayonetta 3

More secrets to find, more devilish weapons to use, and even more difficult bosses to fight

Before 2022, it’s hard to believe that the last Bayonetta game was released in 2014. It was a Wii U exclusive, and therefore a very small portion of the general populace was able to play it. Four years later, a Switch version was launched, and the Umbra Witch was launched into the mainstream, being applauded both critically and commercially.

I had a Wii U. So, I am one of the few people that have been patiently waiting eight years for Bayonetta 3, ever since I saw the credits roll on Bayo 2. For me it was worth the wait. It wasn’t like I was short of things to play in the meantime.

Combat in Bayonetta 3 is much more complex than in its predecessors. 

Bayonetta 3 takes the tried and tested Bayonetta formula and turns it up to 11. There are even more secrets that are even harder to find, more devilish weapons and helpful demons, more playable characters, and even more difficult boss fights than ever faced before.

Adding in Demon Slaves created a complexity to the combat that we didn’t see in the series’ previous games. They deal more damage, but leave you vulnerable. Balancing the best accessories for either Bayonetta or her demons is also a tough choice. There’s certainly more skill involved than in previous games, where learning certain combos feels vital to success on harder difficulty.

The main story is only around 15 hours, but by the time I reached the finale of Chapter 11, I knew I’d play it again. Aside from cleaning up all the missed secrets, I finished it on increasingly harder difficulty settings, played through all the challenge chapters, and by the time I put the console down, I was 80 hours deep.

Bayonetta 3 is all about replayability

One of the most devilish parts of Bayonetta is always the Rodin boss fight. Many people never defeat him. He takes you down in two hits, his attacks are lighting fast, blink and he’ll catch you, and in Bayonetta 3 he’s the hardest he’s ever been. I think I adjusted my loadout more than 10 times trying to find the perfect combination, but when I finally bested him, the feeling was unrivaled.

It doesn’t hurt that he gives you the best weapon and demon in the game, giving you yet another reason to play Bayonetta all over again.