Cherry and Cheshire have the closest bond in Bayonetta Origins.
Sometimes there are surprises like Bayonetta Origins: Cherry and the Lost Demon. It’s true that no one asked for a game about Cherry’s origins, but this one art spin-off so unusual It has us trapped from the first minute. PlatinumGames has pulled out of the hat a game that seeks to expand the bayonetta universe with a different language. Cherry and the Lost Demon doesn’t have much in common with the main series, but it feels like a game with a lot of personality and delicacy. Fans of this series will be able to enjoy it from March 17 on Nintendo Switch.
The title of the game already offers us a lot of information. Bayonetta Origins is a action adventure with isometric perspective centered on the cherry origins before being known as Bayonetta. a girl who born of forbidden love between a Lumen sage and an Umbra witch who has grown up far from her hometown, singled out and marginalized like his mother. The game will tell how Cherry faces the unknown in an adventure with story format which reminds us of Alice in Wonderland.
A tale of witches and fairies
Bayonetta Origins has an artistic design like a children’s story
In popular culture we have a different view of fairies and witches, but Bayonetta Origins arrives to turn the story around. Due to the forbidden love of her parents, Cereza’s mother is imprisoned for life in a cell. The girl is rescued by a woman who will become her mentor in the dark arts: Morgan. Cherry is not the same as we know, but she is a vulnerable girl who wants to save his mother at all costs.
One night a mysterious character in dreams, guiding Cherry to enter the forest of avalondespite his teacher’s warnings. A mystical place where fairies live and very dangerous for children. these fantastic beings absorb energy of children until they die. Cereza ignores Morgana’s advice and goes into the forest on the tracks of a White Wolf. At times we feel part of the work of lewis carroll following our particular white rabbit.
Cheshire helps Cherry to reach unreachable places and vice versa
It doesn’t seem like a coincidence Cheshire (Alice’s smiling cat) is Cereza’s main traveling companion. A demon well known to Bayonetta fans who get summon the young witch, but he uses the Ragdoll that his mother made him as her own body. She appears to save Cereza from the first dangers, at which point she begins a vital link.
The gameplay is based on the link
Cheshire is arrogant; Cherry is vulnerable. But they need each other. The gameplay of Bayonetta Origins is based on this premise, a game divided into chapters and zones with metroidvania elements, teleportation included. The bond of these protagonists is the key to advance on stage, each with their own abilities and controls. In fact, Cherry is quite dependent on Cheshire in the early game.
Cherry uses the Warlock Pulse to interact with plants.
With the left controls Cherry moves using the umbra arts to make flowers grow, a very agile movement sequence system. or for throw bridles to trap an enemy by pressing ZL on the target. Cherry’s magic is quite limited and it doesn’t hurt to enemies. This little girl still doesn’t know how to kick. nor do combos spectacular. And there Cheshire comes into action that can be control individually (and simultaneously) with the controls on the right. It has blunt attacks that consume its own energy bar.
Cheshire assumes a great weight in the gameplaysince he is the one who defeats the enemies in a combat system designed to create synergies. However, Cherry is in the background more than we would like. Cheshire is almost independent in the unleashed mode, but has to go back to the ragdoll when it runs out of energy. This also allows Cherry to move around the world more freely by hugging her ragdoll, unless she finds obstacles like rosemary (repels demons) to prevent it.
Both characters have to collaborate to advance on the stage
This strong bond is also reinforced in environmental puzzles, looking for different ways to move across the stage without getting too far apart. Cheshire has a range of action which allows him some freedom to find solutions, remove obstacles with his claws and more elemental abilities. The player can unlock up to 4 elementary forms of Cheshire based on plants or stones that will allow you to return to blocked paths.
This radically changes your Special powers whenever the player needs it. As a plant, it can hook its tongue at certain points that can be used to move structuresbreak elements of the environment or even to remove the shield to a fairy But with its stony shape it is heavier, opening new shortcuts on the map or propelling Cherry to places previously unreachable. Definitely a success that gives him a lot of play.
combat between two
Cherry can trap enemies by growing weeds
We already anticipate that Cherry has no ability to fight By itself. Cheshire is really the one who takes on the fairies, but this forces one to always keep an eye on the young witch. Therefore, it is not convenient for her to stand still. Both have a skill tree to improve and learn new combat techniques such as counter attack and other joint combos. The ingredients are obtained on the stage (note the flowering bushes), in spontaneous challenges or in chests scattered throughout the stage. And they are old acquaintances of the saga like the lunar pearlscrystallized salamanders or onyx roses.
The fighting becomes more intense as we progress, but above all dynamic. Cherry gets more mobility and Cheshire gets new ways to attack, as well as a increased resistance to damage enemy. After all, the demon cannot die and frequently becomes the guardian of Cherry that he does have his own vitality. That is where the Tír na nÓg come into play, some areas created by fairies that distort reality to scare intruders. Are dungeons that pose fighting, sometimes with time conditions or strategy, or puzzles. The prize is worth it: a vital petal for increase Cherry’s health and more crystals for both.
World with secondaries and collectibles
Fight against a boss in the circus of the fairies
In the final moments of this preview, Cherry comes to a circus that the wicked fairies have set up. There they dedicate themselves to exploiting and torturing children as part of their fun. When they die they become will-o’-the-wisp, wandering souls who are trapped in this sinister forest. The protagonist will be able to rescue them throughout the adventure and some have your own demands. In addition to these characters, there are journals and files to find as collectibles that provide a lot of information to this curious universe.
To end, we face a boss that does not follow the usual combat system until now, but you have to use a cannon to hit him. Again, a little puzzle to complete the chapter. game design it’s so intuitive it’s hard to miss. Even so, they have enabled some guides for the player such as the tracks of the white wolf, whose identity we do not know, or some lights in the middle of the forest. Also mention that the game has save points and shrines, the only place where you can access the skill tree or the cauldron of potions.
a different tale
Bayonetta Origins stands out for its color despite presenting an artistic section of diffuse lines
Bayonetta Origins is an unexpected gift for many reasons. The Bayonetta game that nobody asked for, but that will captivate players from minute 0 as it already did Bayonetta 3. First, by his artistic style that evokes all those recently painted children’s stories, where color and fuzzy lines They are your hallmark. But the gameplay that Platinum Games raises is the big bet of this adventure game with a very powerful bond between Cherry and Cheshire.
Seemingly simple, but Cherry’s origins have a pretty deep system to hold our interest. Now all that remains is to return to the forest of Avalon to see the character progression and how this adventure develops on a narrative level. At the moment we can only say that it is a very different proposal to all that Bayonetta means, a spin-off of the witch more noble, innocent and vulnerable called Cherry.