Almost four years after it was announced at The Game Awards, Bayonetta 3 finally received a full-length gameplay trailer in the September 2021 Nintendo Direct. While the Bayonetta 3 trailer did not give a release date, it revealed several new details about the upcoming game.
This new footage is the first major update on Bayonetta 3 since its original teaser in 2017. It’s not a long trailer, but eagle-eyed Bayonetta fans might spot several hints at the game’s story. The Bayonetta 3 gameplay trailer opens, however, with a fake-out.
Generic soldiers confront a large monster in what appears to be a semi-destroyed Tokyo. The monster shrugs off the soldiers’ attacks before finally reacting to shots fired from behind it. It turns around to reveal not Bayonetta but Lappy, the hat-wearing dog mascot of Astral Chain’s police force. Bayonetta then comes swooping in, and the trailer begins in earnest.
Bayonetta 3 Will Have Controllable Demon Battles
While some of the trailer’s gameplay seems similar to earlier entries in the series, Bayonetta 3 has one big new mechanic: Players can now directly control summoned demons. Up to now, when Bayonetta summoned her demon familiars, she would do so with an Enochian incantation, and the demon would briefly appear from a portal to devour whatever angel was nearby. Now, it appears Bayonetta’s summons can be controlled with dance, as she’s shown dancing onscreen while they move and attack. The demons she can summon this way appear to all be large, such as the dragon-like Gomorrah and the crow demon Malphas.
Bayonetta Can Merge With Demons In Bayonetta 3
Bayonetta’s connection with the demons of Inferno is a pact that allows her to summon them at will using her hair as a medium, but they’ve always been separate from her. According to Nintendo, Bayonetta can now “wield her new Demon Masquerade ability to channel the power of demons.” The Masquerade featured most prominently in the trailer appears to have Bayonetta use the power of her patron, Madama Butterfly, as she assumes a demonic form with large butterfly wings on her back. Since Bayonetta has several other demon pacts, she will likely have other Masquerade forms. It would certainly shake up the combat, which has been in need of a refresh after Bayonetta 2.
Angels Have Entered The Human World In Bayonetta 3
The Angels of Paradiso, Bayonetta’s traditional enemies, are found in a trinity of realities separate from the human world. One of these realities is Purgatorio, which exists within the same space as the real world but cannot be seen. In order to fight both Angels and Demons, Bayonetta enters Purgatorio through a portal, and ordinary humans can’t see Angels without magic. The trailer’s depiction of what appears to be an Angel engaged in combat with the military implies the Angels have somehow found a way into reality.
Bayonetta 3 Has A New Set Of Guns Called “Colour My World”
PlatinumGames has changed up the look – and, apparently, voice actress – of Bayonetta for Bayonetta 3. Her signature weapon is a set of four guns: two she carries and two attached to her shoes. In each game, she has a new set named after a popular song, with each gun named for a lyric in that song. According to the inscription on her new set of guns, they’re called “Colour My World,” most likely after the song by Petula Clark. Bayonetta 3 theory YouTuber Rakunx spotted one of the other guns is engraved with the words “Yellow Sunshine,” which references a lyric in Clark’s tune. If this is the case, the guns will likely be called Yellow Sunshine, Orange Blossoms, Blue Sky, and Green Grass.
Bayonetta 3 is set to release sometime in 2022.
