Bayonetta is one of those games that is hard to describe. Not because the genre or setting isn’t clear. Simply because you need to play with it to understand exactly what we are talking about. Above all, we remember very well how the first episode played on XBox 360 made us put down the pad still leaving us a lot of adrenaline. Bayonetta is a action adventure with a relentless pace that continues to keep us under pressure in a very strong way. One of the few for which an enemy encountered as a boss becomes standard and shows up in groups a few levels later. However, Bayonetta also tells a story for the character; and not even trivial. Let’s take this opportunity to remember the events while we wait for the third episode of the series to be released soon on Nintendo Switch.
Bayonetta and its history
The first chapter of the series begins with the main character, Bayonetta, a curvy femme fatale in a very tight black dress, who he wakes up from a 500-year sleep and remembers absolutely nothing. From here, we will discover the story with the protagonist. Our goal is to understand who we are and what is happening.
Good and evil
The first Bayonetta is set in the city of Vigrid. We discover that the world is contested by its opposing factions: i Essays of Lumen not Witches of Umbra. Which, it takes little to understand, they represent light and shadows. In addition, the world is divided into Hell, Purgatory and Heaven (in the original game the words in the Italian language are used). At this point, adding that Vigrid sounds a lot like “Virgil”, the setting is undoubtedly identified as “Dante’s”. There is therefore the reasonable doubt that Bayonetta is a reinterpretation of the character of Beatrice, also given the assonance of the two names.
But returning to talk about light and shadow, the balance between the factions is ensured by two artifacts that control the passage of time: the Eyes of the World.
From creation to the apocalypse
In order to recover her memory, Bayonetta must be able to find the eyes of the world. On the way, he first learns that his real name is Cereza and then that she is there daughter of a witch from Chade and a sage from Lumen called Balder. Balder, his father, he wants to use the eyes of the world to bring Jubileus back to life: the creator deity of everything. With the intervention of Jubileus, the kingdoms of the two factions can be reunited. It’s a pity that the operation requires unleashing the apocalypse.
The last important piece of information we discover is that Bayonetta herself is the Left Eye of the World. When, towards the end of history, we get back all our memories the eye is activated and Balder manages to resurrect Jubileus. Things, however, go a little wrong at this point; Why first Jubileus absorbs Balder and then immediately gets to work.
In the last part of the first episode of the series Bayonetta and her shoulder Jeanne (Joan of Arc, perhaps?) Hire one epic battle with Jubileus and avert the apocalypse.
Bayonetta 2, the story continues
The second episode takes place a few months later the termination of the first in the city of Noatun. At the beginning of this chapter, Bayonetta is in the company of Jeanne and the two undergo theattack of some angels. During the fight the angels summon a demonic dragon named after Gomorrahwhich, however, is beyond their control. At the end of the battle Gomorrah is defeated. However, before he died, the demon manages to imprison Jeanne’s soul in Hell. Bayonetta, of course, vows to go and retrieve her friend. To do so, her story makes them find a new ally: Loki. Loki suffers from amnesia, but accepts to accompany Bayonetta to hell if in return she will help him recover his memories and powers.
It is interesting to note that in this second chapter there is a turn towards Norse mythology. Beyond Loki, who speaks for himself, in Norse mythology Noatun is the hut of the god Njord; divinity often associated with maritime activities. Indeed, in the game, Noatun is a port city.
A circle that closes
After saving Jeanne from Hell, Loki loses control of his powers. The results are quite intricate: Bayonetta and a young incarnation of her father, Balder, are sent back in time 500 years. Right in the middle of a witch hunt that will be the cause of the protagonist’s 5 centuries sleep.
In the new timeline, Bayonetta teams up with her mother, Rosa, to defeat Loptr: Loki’s evil counterpart. Loptr corrupted Balder by turning him into the enemy we encountered in the first chapter.
Epilogue
Unfortunately, Rosa falls victim to Loptr. Bayonetta and young Balder chase him as he escapes into the original timeline. Luckily, they manage to destroy him before he can use the Eyes of the World to transform into a deity and reign over all humanity. Despite his defeat, Loptr still manages to corrupt the young Balder before he returns to his own timeline.
Everything we have just described sets in motion the events underlying the situation found in the first chapter of the series.
Waiting for Bayonetta 3
The story of Bayonetta, as told in the first two chapters is, honestly, closed in a circle. So, from a narrative point of view, not it is still very clear what we can expect in the third episode. Some information has already been cataloged by fans, but thehype remains very high.
We just have to wait for the shelf availability to be able to enjoy the game.