Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a 2023 action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. A prequel to Sega's Bayonetta series, it tells the story of the titular protagonist as a young witch named Cereza.
The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its art direction, atmosphere, gameplay, and story, particularly the dynamic between Cereza and Cheshire.
Bayonetta Origins is an action-adventure video game. Gameplay is split between the protagonist Cereza, a young witch in training, and Cheshire, a demon bound to her stuffed toy. Both are controlled simultaneously: Cereza is controlled using the left Joy-Con while Cheshire is controlled using the right. Cheshire can be toggled between two modes. In Unleashed mode, he grows to a large size and can attack enemies or obstacles, while in Hug mode, he shrinks to his toy form so that Cereza can carry him and use him for various purposes.
The player must use Cereza and Cheshire in conjunction in order to fight enemies and solve various environmental puzzles. In combat, Cereza binds enemies using spells while Cheshire attacks them. Cheshire cannot die in combat, but he may run out of magic when fighting. When this occurs, Cereza will need to pick him up in his plush form to refill his magic before he can be used in battle again. Certain powerups allow Cheshire to attack while in plush form. Elemental Cores throughout the game world can be broken to upgrade Cheshire's abilities, making the duo more powerful in battle and allowing them to explore previously inaccessible areas.
Six hundred years before the events of the first Bayonetta, a young Cereza stays with her strict and stoic teacher Morgana, following her exile from her home due to being the result of the forbidden love of the Lumen Sage, Balder, and the Umbra Witch, Rosa, leading to her father's banishment and her mother's imprisonment. One night, feeling underappreciated by Morgana despite her hard work in mastering her powers, Cereza decides to venture into the forbidden Avalon Forest, being led there by a mysterious boy she saw in her dreams. Inside, she is swarmed by a group of faeries. With no other option, Cereza performs a demon-summoning ritual, successfully summoning a demon, but it attempts to attack her after possessing the body of Cereza's stuffed cat in order to survive outside of Inferno, though it is unable to hurt its summoner. With the creature, who Cereza dubs Cheshire, unable to harm her, the two reluctantly decide to travel through the forest together, with the promise that Cereza can find the power she needs to save her mother, as well as send Cheshire back to Inferno.
The two continue their journey, following the tracks of a white wolf whilst conquering the dangerous creatures that lurk in the forest and destroying the four Elemental Cores hidden deep within the thicket, where Cereza gradually overcomes her timid nature, while Cheshire's stubborn attitude eventually begins to soften as he begins to care for Cereza like a true friend. Suddenly, a faerie tries to lure Cereza into its grasp by disguising itself as her mother. Realizing this, Cheshire destroys the illusion, but Cereza's grief over her mother causes her and Cheshire to argue, deciding to part ways. Later, after seeing him captured, Cereza, concerned, swallows her pride and, with the wolf's help, ventures into the faeries' castle, rescues and makes up with Cheshire, and the two work together to defeat the faeries' ruler, Púca.
Soon, the two reach the deepest part of the forest, where the boy Cereza saw in her dreams, named Lukaon, explains that, like Cereza, he was cursed for being the half-blood son of a faerie and a witch. Cereza sympathetically agrees to help him, but grows torn when Lukaon explains that he needs a demon's essence to free himself from the curse. Refusing to put her friend in harm's way, Cereza refuses to give up Cheshire, but Lukaon decides to rely on force and use Cheshire to rid himself of the curse. Luckily, Cereza manages to rescue the demon, though Lukaon steals the elemental powers Cheshire gained from the Cores. The two combine their strength and engage Lukaon in battle, take back the elemental powers, and defeat him.
However, soon after, Púca returns for payback, amassing his faerie army for cavalry. Cheshire, carrying the weakened Lukaon, and Cereza narrowly escape the forest before being saved by Morgana, who discovers the boy, but instead of saving him, she angrily turns to Cereza and Cheshire, revealing herself to be Lukaon's long-lost mother, as well as sending other failed Umbran disciples before Cereza to retrieve Lukaon from the forest, unleashing her magical power upon them to avenge her son. At first feeling doubtful of her abilities to combat her mentor, some words of encouragement from Cheshire spur Cereza to fight on, manifesting the Witch Time ability to take Morgana by surprise and defeat her, destroying her Umbran Watch and forcing her soul from her body. After tearfully bidding farewell to Lukaon, Morgana's soul is dragged down into Inferno--a fate that eventually befalls every Umbra Witch--and Cereza and Cheshire share a farewell of their own before Cheshire uses the portal made from Inferno's denizens and returns home. Cereza, after her mother wishes her luck in a dream, leaves home the next day to find her next adventure.
After completing the game, a bonus scenario is unlocked taking place after Cereza and Cheshire destroyed the Fire Elemental Core from Puca's fortress. Jeanne, Cereza's best friend from her home, enters the forest to search for Cereza. She discovers Cheshire, who has been separated from her by a mysterious force, and the two team up to rescue Cereza. After searching through the forest, they discover the unfamiliar figure that is responsible - Singularity, the main antagonist from Bayonetta 3 who appeared to be killed in a climatic final battle, had actually sent a piece of himself back in time at the last second in an attempt to kill Cereza and steal the Left Eye of Darkness before she could ever become Bayonetta. During a fierce battle, Singularity provides Jeanne with glimpses of her own future, in which she will ultimately meet her end at Singularity's hands, promising to free her from that fate if she abandons Cereza. But Jeanne refuses to back down, and she and Cheshire manage to overpower and destroy Singularity and free Cereza. Despite knowing what her future holds, Jeanne vows to continue being the friend Cereza can always count on.
The game was developed by Japanese studio PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo. It was announced at The Game Awards 2022 and was released on March 17, 2023 for Nintendo Switch. The game was directed by Abebe Tinari, a Finnish game designer who joined PlatinumGames in 2013; it was his last project at the company before moving to Housemarque in December 2024.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. On OpenCritic, the game was recommended by 86% of critics.
The game’s graphics and art-style were highly praised by critics. Both Marcus Stewart of Game Informer and Tom Regan from The Guardian compared the art-style favourably to Ōkami. Stewart remarked that “simply looking at Bayonetta Origins is a colorful treat”, while Regan wrote that “[the game’s] twist on the well-worn cel-shading art style is a handsome one”. Jessica Cogswell of GameSpot said that “the game as a whole has a whimsical, painterly quality to it that perfectly suits its sense of wonder". She also praised the game’s color and camera angles, noting how it was used to “create spectacles that add a bit of grandeur and magic to the intimate experience”. Critics also liked how the game focused on art-style rather than graphical fidelity, with Regan writing how it’s cel-shading “perfectly [suits] the limitations of the increasingly creaky Nintendo Switch hardware”.
The game’s story received generally positive reviews. Stewart praised the story of the game, calling it his favourite compared to other games in the series. He described it as “heartwarming, humorous, coherent… and it has the emotional depth to provide substance to its eye candy”. Regan said that the game was “all charming stuff, with a surprisingly solid script telling the most coherent Bayonetta story to date – a low bar, admittedly”. However, he also felt that the game didn’t offer many “wow moments”. The relationship between Cereza and Cheshire was also positively received, with Cogswell writing that “Both Cereza and Cheshire bounce between cheeky and reluctantly compassionate with ease and pure adorableness, and it makes for a delightful dynamic that evolves into a truly special relationship”.
The voice acting for the game was also received positively. Michael Higham from IGN loved the narrator’s performance, particularly praising her voice for Cheshire, writing that it created “an effortlessly whimsical tone that made me feel like a kid during story time again”. Stewart wrote that “[the narrator’s] warm delivery and smile-inducing impression of the gruff Cheshire rekindled the long-forgotten joy of being read a fun bedtime story”. Cogswell wrote that “[Cereza’s] lines are delivered with sincerity, youthful joy, and emotion, and her moral compass and strength make her easy to love”.
The gameplay was met with mostly positive reception. Many critics felt that it took some time to adjust to the nature of the controls. However, they noted that the game wasn’t too difficult and was forgiving of mistakes made while controlling both characters. Cogswell compared the game’s puzzles to those in games developed by Hazelight Studios, writing that “the game is filled with asymmetrical puzzles that require you to explore your environment and use both characters’ various talents to progress”. Regan remarked that, while the core combat may initially feel simplistic for adult players, it “patiently drip feeds the lessons you need to learn, developing from puzzle platformer into a child-friendly introduction to the often demanding character-action genre”. Higham liked the mechanics used in boss fights, and praised the game’s progression, writing that “each region smartly transitions into the next then conveniently loops back around to previous ones thanks to new abilities Cheshire gets, while also tucking away little secrets off the beaten path”. PJ O’Reilly from Nintendo Life felt that the puzzles and combat never met their full potential, stating that “You’ll deal with the same handful of puzzle types, moving platforms, and so on, and the combat, whilst still fun, reaches a point where every battle begins to feel overly familiar”.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was the sixth best-selling retail game in Japan during its first week of release, with 6,474 physical units being sold.