Overall I liked this game for its gameplay and slight visual upgrades compared to its predecessors, but the biggest issue I had was the story. I know you aren’t really playing these games for the story and are rather playing for the gameplay (which don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the new gameplay and the different weapon variants were extremely fun to use), but the way they decided to take the story can’t be ignored. It feels completely random and doesn’t really fit in when compared to the other two games.

Spoilers from here forward:

The way they decided to implement the multiverse content story wise is very weird. It should’ve had more to do with paradisio and inferno like the previous entries. I’m sure the writers could’ve found a way to make a multiverse from those two realms and not used the realm of chaos as the way to incorporate it. I preferred the focus on the heaven/hell aspect of the first two games but now with these alien multiverse creatures being the main focus they basically just threw that concept out of the window (besides the occasional reference/fight). I get what the writers were trying to do in creating an enemy of the world of chaos like inferno and paradisio have but like I said the focus on heaven/hell is what the series was built on and throwing it out seemingly randomly without any setup in Bayonetta 2 (besides maybe when she travels to the past at the end of the game, but then you’d expect the multiverse to come from inferno) is kind of weird to me.

The chapters where you don’t play as Bayonetta are also pretty weak and essentially feel like filler content. The Jeanne chapters are fairly inoffensive since they’re so short but feel like the definition of filler (however the Cowboy Bebop intro reference is so good). Viola is also a topic of discussion but the issues I had with her are the same as what I have with the multiverse, very random and not set up well. They don’t tell you at the beginning her importance so when you play as her a few chapters later it feels like a chore and more filler content that you don’t care about.

On the final chapter/boss, it was legitimately the most random thing ever with absolutely zero setup. The “final boss” feels like it’s just randomly introduced at the end without any build up. On the contrary, I thought the Bayo 1 & 2 fan service was super cool when they brought in the Bayonetta’s from both previous games to fight along side the third one but at the same time it feels like they just randomly appeared for no reason. Also after completing the game you’re really left with more questions than answers. There’s almost no explanation of Viola’s story in the entire game so you feel zero connection to her during your entire play through. It’s only explained very briefly when the credits end. And seeing that she’s going to be the new protagonist of the series I really don’t like the direction they’re going in with it.

Overall I thought the game was a decent experience outside of story. Gameplay is loads of fun with the new weapons/movement and is definitely what I’d expect to see in a sequel. Same for graphics, even if it’s running on switch it looks vastly improved compared to its 360/PS3 and Wii U era counterparts. Only issue was the story and the direction they took in this game/how the series is going to move forward but nothing we can do about it now.

(Side note: loved the references to other media in this game. It references Shin Godzilla, Cowboy Bebop, Metal Gear, Metroid, Terminator, and Spider-Man to name a few.)