It is honest to god amazing that they somehow fixed everything that was a problem with Bayonetta 1 and made a worse game.
The Good: QTEs are gone. Instant deaths are mostly gone and far more manageable. Backtracking is largely dealt with, sometimes there are one or two verses you need to backtrack for, but the Muselpheim are visible, compared to the Alfheim where you could go the entire game without even accidentally bumping into one. Most of the new weapons are fun. Umbran Climax is cool.
The Less Good: The combat is very sped up compared to the first game, and witch time tends to last much shorter, which leads to a lot of the combat simply turning into button mashing (I can hear the cries of "git gud" echoing now, I have beaten this game on Non-Stop Infinite Climax difficulty, so I do know what I'm doing). It's still fun, but it's not as good as the first game.
The Bad: The boss fights, with the exception of Alraune, are abysmal. Every time you have to fly for combat it just straight up becomes unfun. Some of the less good minigame verses from Bayonetta 1 are still here, albeit less bad (the After Burner verse is much better for not hurting your eyes with all the spinning the first one had, but I still don't love the combat).
Everything together just adds up to a fairly meh experience, not really adding up to the highs of the first game, even if it avoids its lows, which is disappointing because Bayonetta 1 is one of my favorite games, and I don't think this game measures up.
The Good: QTEs are gone. Instant deaths are mostly gone and far more manageable. Backtracking is largely dealt with, sometimes there are one or two verses you need to backtrack for, but the Muselpheim are visible, compared to the Alfheim where you could go the entire game without even accidentally bumping into one. Most of the new weapons are fun. Umbran Climax is cool.
The Less Good: The combat is very sped up compared to the first game, and witch time tends to last much shorter, which leads to a lot of the combat simply turning into button mashing (I can hear the cries of "git gud" echoing now, I have beaten this game on Non-Stop Infinite Climax difficulty, so I do know what I'm doing). It's still fun, but it's not as good as the first game.
The Bad: The boss fights, with the exception of Alraune, are abysmal. Every time you have to fly for combat it just straight up becomes unfun. Some of the less good minigame verses from Bayonetta 1 are still here, albeit less bad (the After Burner verse is much better for not hurting your eyes with all the spinning the first one had, but I still don't love the combat).
Everything together just adds up to a fairly meh experience, not really adding up to the highs of the first game, even if it avoids its lows, which is disappointing because Bayonetta 1 is one of my favorite games, and I don't think this game measures up.