Across a dusky horizon, a locomotive barrels down ancient tracks. Bound for an uncertain destination, the train, unceasingly long and coughing out ephemeral emerald smog, trails endlessly through a desert purgatory. Aboard the perpetual line, a cargo of socialites and aristocrats mingle with paupers and vagrants. Obscured by bestial visages, the myriad travellers drown their bewilderment in expensive spirits and pleasantries, their questions and concerns hushed by the vices of high society.

In an unmarked car in the convoy, a young man, burdened by a biting malaise, confides in a weary passenger. With no memory of boarding the train, much less arriving at the platform, he stumbled through the car, remembering little more than his name, and the hours leading up to his faithful departure. This confusion would be understandable in the best of cases, but for the young man, the circumstances behind his sudden arrival left him particularly disturbed, for only moments ago had the man perished.

“If On A Winter’s Night, Four Travelers” lives through its depictions of death, both in the immediate present and in how it confronts the lives of our protagonists. Told through grim vignettes, “Four Travelers” tells the tale of people consumed by passion, anger, and grief, spiraling to a tragic conclusion, a slow-burn melancholy in the tradition of classical horror.

While this would be plenty interesting on its own, where the game really shines is in the art backing it: Talking about the story without discussing the uniquely evocative sprite work would be meaningless. Framed in an isometric lens, the game brings effervescent life to decadent mansions, mortifying dread to a hellish otherworld, and all-encompassing sorrow to a war-torn battlefield. The beauty used in depicting the morbid, morose and macabre is the lynchpin in “Four Travelers’” dreadful drama.

A stunning work packed into a fleeting runtime, “If On A Winter’s Night” is gorgeous, if not narratively well-trodden. An utter gem. Besides… it’s free. Incredibly hard not to recommend.

Might re-review after playing more on Infinite Climax but am disappointed with what I've played thus far.

The action is better than what I remember from Bayo 2 but some flaws of that game compared to Bayo 1 (variable witch time, piss-weak combos, too many giant enemies, etc) haven't been addressed. I don't think the new Demon Slave mechanics are as good as Astral Chain's take on the idea either.

About the story, Bayonetta games aren't exactly Shakespeare, but Bayo 3 is unfortunately the most bloated, least interesting and least entertaining out of the three. They did our girl dirty too.

I'm torn. This has some of the moment to moment funnest gameplay in the series. It also has flatout the worst story. It also has a million setpieces of mixed quality.

You can tell Kaimya & Co. took a lot of stuff from Scalebound to use here and I think that stuff works great! The various Demon Slaves are really fun (with a few exceptions), and the Masquerade system also opens a lot of neat opportunities.

Viola the newcomer is fun but very limited. Her skill tree can be maxed really quickly & the game's insistence on giving every weapon a traversal option with a universal input of R x2 or Fwd+R while putting her main mechanic of parrying on the same button is madness. Her variation on the Demon Slave system felt worse overall as well.

The many setpieces are mixed - the first arc in Japan with like 5 goddamn chase setpieces was awful but later ones like the Queen Butterfly or the Paris shmup sequence were great. I just wish there were maybe....15% less of em.

The multiple AU Bayonettas all have pretty cool looks (that you can unlock ofc). I will say the Chinese Warlord costume was the worst. Far too busy.

The Jeanne chapters were... a thing. I didn't hate them. I didn't like them. I still don't understand, like, a lot of the gimmicks.

I won't get into specifics of the story but my main complaints could be summarized as "one of the most nothing villains possibly ever" and "the mechanics the entire story are based on have almost zero explanation". I also have qualms with it wanting me to be emotionally invested in certain things I had no reason to be.

In conclusion I'm glad we're now 3 for 3 on Bayonetta games being super fun but wildly inconsistent in terms of weird things that hurt the experience.

I still have so much to do, so this review could change, but for now, I think the gameplay is incredible but the game is let down by a terrible ending and a general lack of personality surrounding its protagonist. Bayonetta does not feel like Bayonetta and that really sucks. I can only hope they do a 180 after this game's ending when it comes time to develop the fourth entry, because I do not like where it's going at the moment. I want my Bayonetta back, but I don't know if I ever will, especially after all this behind-the-scenes drama about her original voice actress.

Bayonetta is back, baby! I waited years for this final entry in the trilogy. After being disappointed by Bayonetta 2, I hoped that this would reignite the love I have for this series. After all, Bayonetta is my favorite female video game protagonist. She truly deserves something extraordinary for her grand return, right?

Gameplay wise, she absolutely comes back guns blazing. Bayonetta 2 took a step in the wrong direction in my opinion. It didn’t have the same vigor and practically as the first entry. Thankfully they fixed their mistake here. The inclusion of controlling demons in combat is well welcomed too. My only issue here is Viola. Now, I love her. Her personality is adorable but unfortunately her combat felt lackluster. DMC was able to handle four fully fleshed out characters but this game can’t even handle two. Would’ve loved to see her moveset expanded or even have more levels just for her. Her battle theme is so kickass though. Ugh, the best theme in this game easily.

With all this praise, why can’t I still give this game five stars? Two main reasons. The story and the visuals. The visuals are more of a nitpick, they are honestly just fine, but still, there is not a massive leap in graphics from Bayo 1 to 2 to 3. If anything, this is more of the Switch’s fault. As it already tanks through certain cutscenes and combat scenarios. Dear Jubileus though, the writing in this was AWFUL. Worst than Bayonetta 2 even, which was just a rehash of the first game. Another generic garbage villain that spouts nonsense lines expecting me to actually care? These character action games, primarily by Capcom and Platinum are at their best when they’re silly, goofy fun. Not taking itself very seriously. Instead, becoming self-aware. I have no idea what they were thinking for the finale. It actually upsetted me how baffling the writing was. I just want to forget that ending, that total schlock. Bayonetta 1 is still superior in story it seems.

Even so, I still think it is worth playing through Bayonetta 3, especially if you’re an action game fan. Better money spent than the new COD, right?

I know Stray is really short but I don't mind because it was developed by such a small studio and it was their first game and that makes it even more surprising how amazing the graphics, atmosphere, lighting, sound design and particularly the animations are. Although the gameplay is basic and doesn’t offer much other than a little exploring, I find it refreshing because I never really had a chance to play as an agile cat before. It's really relaxing. Also there are levels with a lot of verticality and the Robots feel more human than the actual humans in other games, very good job on conveying the emotions. I was also surprised how deep the story actually is, it kinda reminded me of Soma.
Conclusion : really atmospheric game with a cool Cyberpunk setting, good sound design and soundtrack, smooth animation and an interesting story and characters.

Bonus fact: Cats are freaking cute but do I really have to tell you that?

Amazing work BlueTwelve Studio, I'm excited for your future.
Meow!