Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was a surprising inclusion in last year’s The Game Awards–a Bayonetta spin-off that eschewed the series’ leather-clad heroine and her gothic-inspired combat chops in favor of a bright action-adventure game. However surprised you were to see the game debut, though, it’s even more surprising to play it. While Bayonetta Origins ties thematically and chronologically to Bayonetta, the experience of playing it is so wholly different as to be almost unrecognizable. Judging by my hands-on time with the game, this looks to be a sweet-natured, relaxed affair.
In fact, the game Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon reminds me of the most is Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. That 2013 game from a pre-Game Awards winning Josef Fares centered around a pair of siblings navigating a fraught forest with asymmetrical abilities. Even the premise of the two games is remarkably similar. In Brothers, you were on a journey to find a magical cure for your father, while in Bayonetta Origins, you’re looking to help your ailing mother.
While Fares is now known for his co-op games, Brothers was single-player, and you controlled the two characters independently with the dual sticks. That’s the case in Bayonetta Origins as well: The left stick controls Cereza, while the right stick controls Cheshire, a demon that has taken up residence within her stuffed cat. In theory, and thanks to the Switch’s detachable Joy-Con controllers, you could hand one off to a friend and play cooperatively, but it’s obviously meant to be a single-player experience.
