Bayonetta 2

Somehow managing to be even more insane and frenetic than the first one (which is saying a lot) Bayonetta 2 is a unique action game that, with its fascinating heroine and engaging combat system, excels at wowing us with increasingly insane set-pieces.

The story begins when Bayonetta’s dear friend, Jeanne, is attacked and taken to hell by a demon that Bayonetta herself summoned but got out of control. On her journey to rescue Jeanne, the Umbra Witch comes across a mysterious boy named Loki, who is being pursued by an equally mysterious masked priest. Bayonetta, then, realizes that she needs to save both Jeanne and Loki, who for… mysterious reasons also intends to travel to hell.

Bayonetta’s characterization here remains as bold and complex as ever. Her sexuality is a form of expression, her attacks create a fluid, but dominant dance, and her dialogues are full of sensual provocations. She seems to exist and act in an unexpected liminal space between objectification and independence, accepting the lewd male gaze that the camera clearly casts over her, but only to subvert it later: this masculine gaze is focusing on her body only because Bayonetta allows it. We’re not in control; she is.

To the point that she often breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges the existence of the male gaze just to smile to the camera provocatively: instead of accepting it submissively, Bayonetta seems to be delighted to have our eyes on her; she’s basking in all the attention. She’s a diva. It’s not the camera that’s sexualizing her, on the contrary, and this is precisely why it’s a powerful subversion: Bayonetta takes the male gaze so often used to diminish women, turning them into sexual objects, and makes it frame her sexuality as a symbol of self-assertion.

Right in the opening scene, for example, she appears in front of a store called Wonder Toys, and the camera places her face covering the letter T, which could easily be seen as a symbol of objectification (she would be the player’s wonderful toy). However, the scene also shows that it’s her employee who is inside the shop trying to buy a phallic-shaped plane, and he’s even asking for the biggest one. In other words, the toy is no longer Bayonetta, but hers. In the same sense, when the gallant journalist from the first game, Luka, tries to grab her, his hand passes straight through the witch’s body, which appears to be immaterial: men may want to have her, but Bayonetta is unattainable.

And while Bayonetta is not complicating the analysis of the male gaze, she is busy wiping out angels, decimating demons, and surfing soaring whirlpools in the sky. After all, when it comes to set-pieces, Bayonetta 2 further increases the level of madness: the Umbra Witch battles angels on top of jets over an urban center, then a monster on a runaway train, and finally a dragon on a skyscraper during a beautiful sunset… just in the game’s prologue. And things don’t scale down for too long afterward: there’s a moment around the mid-way point in which she will be dueling against that mysterious masked priest inside the belly of an enormous beast, surrounded by rivers of blood, while a gigantic angel confronts an equally gigantic demon in the background. Bayonetta 2 easily sets a new standard for the genre. It’s bonkers. It’s beautiful.

The same can be said about the combat system, which focuses on fluidity, with the incredible animation work making Bayonetta look like she’s dancing while she’s shooting and decapitating monsters – when she uses an opponent’s spear to hit him and his friends, for example, Bayonetta does it while… pole dancing on it. It’s beautiful stuff. Crazy, yes, but beautiful. With dozens of combos available among various weapons, which can be equipped on both the character’s hands and feet, the game allows veteran players to wipe out enemies easily and, even better, with style. With panache. It’s a combat system that perfectly suits the main character’s personality, in other words.

Those new to the party don’t need to feel intimidated, however, since virtually any combination of buttons has some destructive effect: knowing the speed, damage, and range of each combo is usually crucial only to improve the score we receive after each battle. And Bayonetta’s dodge remains the game’s most fundamental mechanic, stopping time when used right before we’re about to be hit (the window is generous), which leaves any enemy totally vulnerable for a short period of time: Bayonetta is not a particularly difficult game to beat, but beating it well, beating it with panache? That’s where the challenge lies.

Then we have to carefully manage our special gauge, for example. In the first game, it was destined to “torture attacks”, whose comical sadism had Bayonetta slapping an angel’s ass as they were being guillotined – as I said, beautiful stuff – but now it’s also possible to spend it to increase the strength and range of common attacks, making them able to stagger enemies, including bosses. It’s less fun than torture attacks, sure, but this adds strategy to the proceedings, becoming a must for anyone striving to get a good score.

Speaking of scores, in the previous game, quick-time events could ruin a good run in an instant if we failed them. But here things are more civilized, so while we’ll still be prompted to suddenly press the dodge button in the middle of a cutscene, we’ll not be punished by instant death if we don’t manage to do it in time.

Meanwhile, the story may still be far from great, but it’s a clear step up from the first one. It has much more fun with itself, for example, boasting tons of cheeky dialogue, such as the recurrent jokes about the masked priest’s clashes with Bayonetta, which Loki compares to a couple’s quarrel – something that becomes a bit disturbing when the antagonist’s identity is finally revealed. The general pace is also improved, with small mysteries being constantly introduced and solved to keep things always moving. But more important is the fact that the story now takes much less time to be told, as cutscenes during stages are now brief and infrequent, rarely stopping the action for too long: unlike the first, Bayonetta 2 is aware that we don’t want to spend ten minutes hearing a boring villain monologue about his intentions; we want to be with Bayonetta herself.

The story also tries to fix the villain of the previous game, Balder, making him a less one-dimensional figure a and more tragic one, and even succeeds in creating some interesting narrative rhymes: the theme of duality, for example, is represented by the Bayonetta-Jeanne pair, the union between demon and angel at the climax, and the complexity given to Balder, who previously divided his face with a mask. In the same vein, the static cutscenes also receive special treatment, being marked by the hand of a clock, which reflects the race against time to save Jeanne. However, Bayonetta herself doesn’t have any kind of character arc – a serious problem – and some themes, such as the importance of free will, are simply thrown into the proceedings without any kind of build-up, and so fail to make an impact.

On the other hand, the soundtrack, produced by eight composers (!!), is just marvelous: it continues to capture Bayonetta’s irreverent and energetic personality (Tomorrow is Mine is an intoxicating theme), and some musical arrangements are even dynamic, growing in intensity as the fights approach their climax.

Finally, the game also includes some Nintendo-themed outfits that range from having a humorous cosmetic effect that adds to the overall playful tone – like watching the cutscenes with Bayonetta dressed as Princess Peach or see her attacks conjure Bowser’s fist – to the ability to actually alter the gameplay: wearing the Star Fox themed outfit in the final stage, for example, transforms the normal jet into an Arwing and the controls are modified to simulate those of that classic N64 game. Bayonetta doing barrel rolls while wearing a fox tail? Crazy, beautiful stuff.

Bayonetta 2 is an exemplary sequel that enhances the strengths of the original and fixes much of what was wrong with it. It’s a unique action game, whose irreverence and insanity are yet to be surpassed.

June 11, 2025.

Review originally published in Portuguese on February 28, 2018.