Nintendo has announced that Bayonetta 3 will be launching on the Nintendo Switch later this fall, making it the big Halloween release for the system. This announcement was hot on the heels of Bayonetta 3 receiving a Mature rating by the ESRB, which suggested that the game was close to completion.
Bayonetta 3 was one of the last hold-out games that had been announced during the Switch’s first year, yet took a long time to actually hit store shelves. The initial Nintendo Switch announcement in 2017 included Shin Megami Tensei V and hints at a third No More Heroes game, both of which launched in 2021. Bayonetta 3 was announced at The Game Awards 2017 and it won’t launch until this year. The only hold-out left at this point is Metroid Prime 4, which was announced at E3 2017 and hasn’t been seen since.
The official Nintendo UK YouTube account has uploaded a new action-packed gameplay trailer for Bayonetta 3, confirming that it will launch on October 28. The trailer revealed that Bayonetta won’t be the only playable character in the game, as she will be joined by a sword-wielding apprentice witch named Viola, who fights alongside a giant demonic Chesire Cat. The villains in the game have also been revealed to be bio-weapons, rather than the forces of Heaven or Hell, as seen in previous Bayonetta games.
The story of Bayonetta 3 seems to involve multiple realities, with invaders trying to wipe out different worlds. The characters from the other Bayonetta games will still be present, as Rodin, Enzo, and Luka all make an appearance in the trailer, though Jeanne is notably absent. The traditional Bayonetta on-rails shooting section was shown in the trailer, with a segment involving using cannons on the back of a moving train, in order to fight off the homunculi bio-weapons. The trailer showed off some of the giant, Kaiju-like demon battles in Bayonetta 3, with Bayonetta’s familiars now taking part in kaiju-style fights with other monsters.
Bayonetta 3 will be releasing alongside some stiff competition later this year, as it launches on the same day as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Resident Evil RE:Verse, and it launches in the same week as Scorn, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Gotham Knights, and the new consoles ports of Persona 5 Royal, including one on the Nintendo Switch. The thirst for new Bayonetta content is still strong, however, and none of the other games being released in that period are Switch exclusives. Halloween is the perfect time for Bayonetta 3 and the Nintendo Switch’s 2022 game release schedule isn’t so packed that the game will be overlooked, even with the full autumn/winter release slate.
Bayonetta 3 will be released for the Nintendo Switch on October 28, 2022.
