Bayonetta, the story of the witch from PlatinumGames

Bayonetta

It is not new that the story of Bayonetta has its roots in European folklore and literature, especially in our most famous Italian opera in the world. The series is a constant tribute to Dante's Divine Comedy: the Trinities of Realities, the realities that co-exist and represent Heaven, Hell and the kingdom of Chaos, connected by Purgatory, a middle place where business between magical and divine entities takes place. . Bayonetta is a witch from Umbra, a tribute to the European witches order of the Middle Ages, who uses her hair as a medium for special moves, just as witches are said to use their hair in rituals and spells, opposing the Sages of Lumen, which we could interpret as the inquisition of time. Well, the first Bayonetta succeeded in the arduous task of creating from scratch a fictional universe where all this could coexist perfectly: Kamiya infused his work with a lethal mix of sensuality, religion, gameplay and that magical-sacrilegious aura so dear to Devil May Cry, projecting it into the Olympus of Japanese action.

The genesis of the World of Chaos

The Japanese fantasy air of the first Bayonetta is still splendid today The - wrong - consideration that many people face Bayonetta is that the Platinum game is only gameplay, without history: it is not so, and we show it to you. Take the first chapter: twists, jumps in time, fights against gods and angels, there is something for everyone. Let's start from the genesis of the setting, which will help you understand everything else better: three places, as already mentioned, one of which, the kingdom of Chaos, led by a neutral divinity, called Aesir. Aesir knows that in a world of chaos it would have served to impose some balance, so she generates two artifacts, the Eyes of the World, and gives them to humans, the Witches of Chaos and the Sages of Lumen. This choice, however, costs him the disintegration into two opposing twin sons: Loki, the good, and Loptr, the evil.

Meanwhile, the centuries pass in relative harmony, thanks to the bond that the two clans can never meet or contaminate each other. Bayonetta's story begins when Rosa, a witch, and Balder, a sage, secretly unite in a relationship that gives birth to little Cereza, our future protagonist. It is a scandal, an affront to the secular bond: the definitive fuse is lit, causing a hard and bloody War between the Clans. The battle is won by the witches, but Rosa and Cereza have no alternatives: they are condemned to a sort of imprisonment within the clan, marginalized by the rest of the witches. Meanwhile, Cereza grows up and makes friends with the little witch Jeanne, her age, who turns out to be the chosen leader of the Umbra clan.

In a fit of sufficiency Jeanne, to inherit her leadership role by defeating one of her peers and thus receiving the Left Eye of the world, chooses to challenge Cereza, who however discovers she has incredible powers. Jeanne is then defeated and Cereza inherits the Left Eye, just as Balder inherits the Right one. It is the moment in which the fuse is determined that gives the real way to events: Balder begins to be tempted and disoriented by the Angels of Heaven, so much so that he decides to involve humans in a crazy fight against witches, setting them on against eternal rivals. , thus giving birth to the historic witch hunt.

Balder, however, realizes the angelic subterfuge, understands the deception and tries to save Rosa and Cereza, but entering the battle it is Rosa who sacrifices herself for him, taking in his place a devastating blow launched by a mysterious silver-haired individual. Meanwhile, Jeanne, aware that the situation was becoming too chaotic and out of control, decides to put Cereza to sleep inside the Left Eye, hiding her in a coffin and throwing her into the depths of a lake. Do you know for how long? 500 years, exactly when the first Bayonetta begins. PlatinumGames therefore chooses a curious path, entrusting the past with a very important narrative weight.

The awakening of Cereza

Cereza, alias Bayonetta, is a character who over the years has been able to build on a very solid fanbase Cereza awakens and we can finally control her fate: so many memories are gone but not that of being a witch on the hunt for angels. In the meantime, she nominates herself Bayonetta, she becomes familiar with the new weapons and powers, begins a path of extermination that will last not a little, about 20 years. It is a certain Enzo who reveals to her that somewhere there is someone in possession of the Right Eye; you have to find information about her identity, so our heroine sets off on her way to Vigrid. Clashes upon clashes, the story unfolds thanks to the meeting with a girl named Cereza, with glasses and a cat. The girl grows fond of Bayonetta, thinks it is her mother and begins to follow her, even accompanying her to the island of Isla del Sol.

This is where Bayonetta gets back in contact with Jeanne, creating a relationship of encounter / confrontation that pian allows the player to unite the pieces of the protagonist's background until finally the fight (the last, fortunately) with the witch allows Cereza to remember who she was and make peace with her old friend. The problem is that, in pure Japanese style, this idyllic moment lasts very little: Jeanne sacrifices herself to save Bayonetta from a missile (yes, a missile), with Bayonetta forced to flee with little Cereza. We are towards the epilogue: Bayonetta finally meets Balder, her father, who in the meantime has become the last of the Sages of Lumen, who reveals to her both his desire to recreate Jubileus, the Creative Goddess, uniting the two Eyes after centuries, and the having mentally controlled Jeanne to make her fight Bayonetta.

Now you are wondering: but if Bayonetta is the Left Eye, why make all this Machiavellian mess? Simple: after having forgotten the memory, it would have been impossible for Bayonetta to awaken it, so Balder brought the Cereza child of the past into the present present, so as to bring back the memories to Bayonetta. Jubileus wakes up but Jeanne, with a twist, frees her friend from the yoke, allowing the Goddess to be reborn, but with half power: united, the two witches defeat her, allowing the Cereza of the past to finally be able to return home no longer having to worry about a possible kidnapping of Balder. All this in about a dozen hours very fun, fresh, spectacular but full of gameplay, signed by a Kamiya determined to say his opinion again in the world of Japanese action.

The narrative interlocking by Bayonetta 2

Bayonetta and Jeanne, friendly enemy witches who see good things together We come to Bayonetta 2. A strange story, but with a happy ending, because it marks the publishing transition of the IP, which passes from SEGA to Nintendo . But be careful, one point needs to be clarified: Bayonetta remains 100% IP SEGA. We must say this to underline an important aspect, often overlooked, regarding the genesis and gestation of Bayonetta 2 (and of Bayonetta 3 in surplus). When, after Bayonetta 1, PlatinumGames wants to make a sequel, he goes in search of a publisher and finds in Nintendo a comfortable side, committed to providing heavy software for the unfortunate WiiU. It is in this way that yet another incredible partnership between the two giants of Japanese entertainment is sealed and which sees the sequel on Nintendo fixed in 2014.

The plot of Bayonetta 2 is even more convoluted than that of the first episode, even if it all starts in a decidedly calmer atmosphere as Bayonetta is out with Enzo shopping for Christmas, meeting Jeanne in the half. Everything goes smoothly when the angels ruin everything, unleashing the attack against the two witches: it is at this juncture that Bayonetta, evoking the demonic dragon Gomorrah, realizes that something has changed. The dragon rebels against the summoner and attacks Jeanne, taking her soul to Hell with her. Bayonetta then decides to cross the Gates of Hell to recover Jeanne's soul, aware that she doesn't have much time and that the chances of making it are low: it will be necessary to reunite Jeanne's soul with Chade's watch.

This is how, on Enzo's recommendation, Bayonetta heads to the sacred Mount Fimbulvetr, the only area that connects the kingdom of humans with Heaven and Hell. It is in Noatun, the city on the slopes of the mountain, that Bayonetta meets a silver-haired boy named Loki, who is himself threatened by angels to prevent him from reaching the top of the mountain. Corroborated by the same goal, Bayonetta and Loki then make a pact. At the top, a masked Sage of Lumen and a projection of Loptr, a mysterious figure who seems to know Loki, stand between Bayonetta and the target, the Gates. Loptr shows Bayonetta a vision of the past, making her realize that it was not Balder who unleashed the Witch Hunt, but instead he tried to save Rosa before being catapulted into the future.

In the flashback we also see that it is Loki who looks like the killer (it's written on, do you remember?). Just when the Sage is about to kill Loki, the boy manages to escape by urging Bayonetta to follow him into Hell, where they both escape. But something is wrong: why should Loki, apparently a good guy, have to kill Rosa? Reaching Alraune's palace and defeating the demon, Bayonetta saves Jeanne just as the masked Sage of Lumen attacks again, but is revealed to be a young Balder bent on having his revenge against Loki for the apparent assassination of Rosa. This is where Loki unleashes a wave of blue energy, which hits Balder and Bayonetta, throwing them into the past.

Loptr, the total antagonist

With a nice haircut, Bayonetta 2 closes the narrative cycle started in 2010 with enormous style. We find ourselves 500 years earlier, in Vigrid, during the Witch Hunt. Bayonetta finds herself fighting alongside Rosa, her mother, against a horde of angels. It is here that he meets a young Loptr, discovering that it is he who assassinates Rosa and not Loki: Balder's anger of revenge must therefore absolutely be directed towards Loptr! Back in the present at the top of Mount Fimbulvetr, Bayonetta and Balder, now allies, discover that Loptr has captured the exhausted Loki. Loptr finally explains the past of the world, telling of Aesir and the division into twins, mirrors of the same entity.

Right now, Loptr has achieved the primary goal: to collect the two Eyes of the World - Bayonetta and Balder - in the same place as Loki, half of Aesir. Loptr's goal is to return Aesir and control her, gaining dominion over the World of Chaos. An epic battle ensues against Loptr, with Loki, Bayonetta and even Jeanne first trying to weaken him by destroying the Eyes of the World (Loki), then fighting him using every possible means and evocation (Bayonetta and Jeanne). Defeated the body part of Loptr, the young Balder decides to absorb Loptr's soul, aware that one day he will be corrupted by it: however, he makes Bayonetta promise that, if in the future it proves necessary, she will have to forget that she is the daughter and kill him at any cost. The game ends with Bayonetta and Jeanne shopping again, in a comical final sequence that reopens to the umpteenth clash with the angels.

So let's see again how Kamiya did not choose an easy path to draw the Bayonetta plot 2. There are continuous temporal passages, divine characters and patterns that weave a dense web of relationships, emotions and sensations, both in the characters and in the player, which actually goes from a fight to a seamless arcade sequence, taken by a fascinating flow. playful. If you thought Bayonetta was just a franchise of buttons and reflections, you are wrong: with Bayonetta 3 around the corner, we are really curious to find out how PlatinumGames decided to advance a complex and embedded story like this!

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