Bayonetta is a franchise that's always meant a lot to me. The drama surrounding the release of this has been absolutely disheartening. I lost a lot of respect for what I considered to be one of my favorite voice actresses and the way it was handled by Kamiya especially was very awful. This had quickly gone from my most anticipated game of the year (or perhaps ever really) to something I felt sick thinking about it. I wasn't sure what to do. Seeing the way Taylor muddied the waters of an important topic for personal gain, throw the new voice actress under the bus and then for the cherry on top asks people to donate to an anti-choice organization just fucking blew my mind. And then finally the previews and reviews started rolling in. Reading and hearing people talk about the game made me feel like I could finally get excited again. I was able to get it a day early and just the experience of completely ignoring the internet until I finished it was such a relief. The gameplay is refined from what I already thought was perfect for me to basically just the next level perfect. I'm a fan of all the changes and everything they keep the same. The story wasn't necessarily the direction I was anticipating but in the same vein I enjoyed it a lot more than I would of thought. Even if you're not a fan of it the gameplay alone is more than enough to keep you engaged. Genuinely such a blast to play and experience. For a franchise I once thought would be dead forever to get an entire trilogy and shine even through unfortunate controversy is not what obliviously gay thirteen year old me sitting and playing this christmas morning would of ever expected. I'm glad to of gotten to play these each at a pretty pivotol moment in my life. I wholeheartedly loved this and even as I'm writing this review I am starting up a second playthrough to explore the mechanics more thoroughly.

Jennifer Hale is a great Bayonetta.