Bayonetta 2 (for Nintendo Switch) Review (2024)

Bayonetta 2 was one of the best games on the Nintendo Wii U. Unfortunately, because it was a Wii U exclusive, not nearly enough people got to play it. That's why we are so excited to see the Nintendo Switch ports of Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2. Now, more people can play this excellent action game (as well as its very good predecessor) and enjoy the Switch's portability. You can purchase Bayonetta 2 and the original Bayonetta as a bundle in physical or digital form for $59.99, though you can also buy them separately on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $49.99 and $29.99 respectively. Bayonetta 2, in particular, is a fantastic action game and once again earns our Editors' Choice.

The Bayonetta Basics

If you're unfamiliar with the series, Bayonetta (the protagonist) is a dark witch who summons demons using her hair (which is also her clothing) and fights angels with pistols on her hands and feet. It's weird, bombastic, and sexy, starring agency-filled, powerful female protagonists that essentially striptease-fight cherubic golden monsters over the balance of the world. Or, to better explain the premise, it's a Platinum game.

Developer Platinum Games is known for two things, after all: frenetic, satisfying action and increasingly ludicrous gameplay and narrative combinations. The plot is there and it does matter, but it's also absurdly over-the-top anime-style wackiness. There's time travel, a smart-ass kid, and a trip into hell to save someone's soul. There are also rail shooter segments.

Platinum Combat

Bayonetta 2 is one of the best examples of Platinum Games' ability to craft satisfying, accessible, and complex combat systems. Action is fast and tight, combining light and heavy (punch and kick) melee attacks with Devil May Cry-style gunplay for positioning and continuing combos. Bayonetta is best known for fighting with guns on her hands and feet, but she gets a variety of weapons beyond them. She can even mix and match pairs of them to find the best combination that suits your own personal play style. There are whips, twin swords, a katana, a scythe, a bow and arrow, and even a set of flamethrowers, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and combo strings.

Basic attacks and combos only scratch the surface of Bayonetta 2's combat system. For example, you can end combos with powerful Wicked Weave attacks that summon demons made of Bayonetta's hair to hit with a massive fist or set of jaws. You can also build up a magic meter while fighting and perform powerful Torture Attacks on enemies. Alternatively, you can or trigger Umbran Climax mode to turn every hit into a Wicked Weave for a short period of time.

Then there's Witch Time, Bayonetta's signature combat mechanic, and what separates the series from Platinum's other action games (even if similar, less intricate features can be spotted in Transformers: Devastation and Nier: Automata). To trigger Witch Time, simply dodge (R2 button) an enemy just before they hit you. Witch Time slows down all of the action for a few seconds and lets you chain powerful attacks together while the enemy is vulnerable. The timing for dodging to trigger Witch Time is generally pretty generous, so it's common to slip in and out of slow motion when fighting a crowd of enemies. This mechanic looks and feels very powerful, and makes the combat really enjoyable.

The combat is very easy to pick up but hard to master, which is why only the Easy and Medium difficulties are available at first. You need to beat the game at least once to unlock Hard (and again to unlock Non-Stop Infinite Climax, the hardest difficulty setting). The difficulty ramps up quickly, with more aggressive enemies and faster reflexes required to dodge and counter their attacks. The simple combos that got you through the game the first time need to be refined and tweaked in the harder modes. You can add additional gameplay twists, such as different playable characters and game-altering accessories to further adjust the feel of the action.

Keep Coming Back

You can fight through Bayonetta 2's 16 chapters in four to six hours, but as with most Platinum games, that's only the start. Every chapter is broken into sections called verses, and every verse is graded based on how well you play. Achieving a grade of Pure Platinum is difficult, but incredibly rewarding. Since the combat is so enjoyable, improving your skills and playing through different parts of the game again doesn't feel like a chore.

Tag Climax mode offers additional challenges meant to be taken in pairs, with a friend in local or online co-op or with a CPU partner. These can get brutally hard, and offer bite-size chunks of combat to let you hone your skills outside of the story.

Bayonetta 2 looks excellent on the Nintendo Switch ($279.99 at Amazon) . Framerates are smooth and graphics look crisp both in 720p on the system itself in portable mode and in 1080p when the Switch is docked. Once again, the Switch proves to pack enough power to offer a satisfying HD experience, even if it doesn't quite have the juice of the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X.

Since Bayonetta 2 was a Wii U exclusive, it features several Nintendo extras. You can dress Bayonetta like Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Samus Aran, Link, or even Fox McCloud. You can also unlock a Chain Chomp from the Mario games as a foot weapon. These extras usually take a lot of Halos (the in-game currency) to unlock, but you can unlock them immediately if you have certain Amiibos (Nintendo's NFC-equipped collectible toy line). Even Amiibos that don't have specific rewards offer a generous amount of Halos and items, and you can scan up to 32 a day. This is helpful if you want to fight the hardest boss, which requires 9,999,999 Halos to face.

The First Bayonetta

If you buy the retail version or the $59.99 bundle in the Switch eShop, you also get the original Bayonetta. It's still a very good game, but it hasn't aged quite as well as Bayonetta 2. Combat is slightly less forgiving, the graphics look a bit rough, and it doesn't maintain solid framerates. It's worth playing if you haven't tried it, but it's clear that Platinum Games improved the series on all levels in the five years between Bayonetta's release in 2009 and Bayonetta 2's in 2014.

This Witch Hunts

Bayonetta 2 was an excellent game when it came out on the Wii U and it's even better on the Switch. It hasn't changed at all since its Wii U release, but as with so many other Switch ports, the smooth gameplay and portable format adds significant value. If you never played the Bayonetta games but like satisfying, fast-paced action, you owe it to yourself to get Bayonetta 2. And if you already played it on the Wii U, the Switch version is still worth considering for the platform's improvements. The original Bayonetta (included in the $60 retail bundle) isn't quite as polished or visually impressive as Bayonetta 2, but nine years later, it still stands as a very good game in its own right. Bayonetta 2 for the Switch earns our Editors' Choice as one of the best action games on the system.