Players who ownBayonetta 3are privy to a first playable demo forBayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demonwhich was first announced at 2022’s The Game Awards. As the name implies, this is an origin story for the eponymous series protagonist.Bayonetta Originsfollows the young Cereza as she explores a treacherous forest after a demon possesses her stuffed animal to aid in her search for her lost mother.Bayonetta Originsfollows hot on the heels of the long-awaitedBayonetta 3which launched exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 8 years after the last game in the franchise. Bayonetta Originstakes the series in a surprising new direction as it makes a departure from the familiar gameplay and visuals, taking the form of a picture book with RPG elements. It will also be a Switch exclusive, likeBayonetta 3before it. Recently,Bayonetta Originswas rated by the ESRBas another good sign that it is on track to hit its launch date.RELATED:PlatinumGames Detail the Origins of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost DemonTo unlock the playable demo,Bayonetta 3players must go to the in-game shop called The Gates Of Hell and purchase an item called the Old Picture Book, which adds the demo via the Chapter Select screen. Note thatBayonetta 3must be updated to the latest version, v1.2.0, for the content to be accessible.Bayonetta Originsplays quite differentlyto other titles in the series and sports a completely different art style, with a greater focus on puzzles and exploration over the main series' combat-focused gameplay.
Fans of Hideki Kamiya’sBayonettaseries were not pleased at the long wait forBayonetta 3which was originally revealed at The Game Awards in 2017, alongside the announcement that the first 2 games in the series would be coming to the Switch platform. Thankfully, the developers seem to have learned from this mistake and have made the announcement mere months before its release date, withdetails likeBayonetta Originsfile size emergingas a strong indicator that its “all systems go” for the new game.
Bayonetta Originsgameplay is quite different when compared to the mainline titles, but fans will no doubt be pleased that the beloved series is getting some love, especially after the long wait forBayonetta 3.As a prequel to the series proper, this titlecould potentiallylay the groundwork forBayonetta 4which was casually mentioned by Kamiya himself on Twitter while discussing the ending of the third game.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demonwill launch on July 17, 2025 for Nintendo Switch.
