Witch tripped: A few hours later, Witchcraft 3 looks like an all-around timer for Nintendo Switch

PlatinumGames hasn’t been the hottest lately. Babylon’s Fall was a demonstration class on how not to do service games, it lost a job making Granblue Fantasy: Relink to Cygames in 2019, and even Astral Chain failed to really get you from a cornerstone series like Bayonetta Traction or Neil seen in. Sadly, the studio has been struggling.

Check out the trendy witch in action.

But, with the introduction of Bayonetta 3, Platinum jumps out of that placid state in an explosion of keratin and Umbran magic. From the opening minutes — no, the opening seconds — Bayonetta 3 says “the witch is back, honey” and kicks all your expectations to the curb. The languid rhythm of Astral Chains’ opening hours has been forgotten, the low-level combat and service patterns of Babein’s fall have been abandoned; this is platinum burning on all cylinders again. And, damn, it feels good.

Everything you remember about Angel Hunt and its sequel is present and explained: sharp combat, top-notch witch-time evasion, frantic but controlled melee, over-the-top positioning. Yet, somehow, Witchcraft 3 took everything that made you grin like a kid from the first two games and tuned it up even more.

When you hit a new enemy type of life with a fist made of hair (don’t ask), you can summon demons to modify your combo chain. Not content with simply letting you impale a humanoid foe with your impossible stilettos, Bayonetta 3 now lets you insta-summon gigantic beasts to cast punishment on your behalf. You can hold the trigger and summon them for long periods of time – tidying up the battlefield and giving you room to rest – or you can use them to add flashy high-damage abilities to your combos.

There’s a lot going on in Bayonetta 3 all the time.

The first part of the game will introduce you to Gomorrah, Lady Butterfly and Phantasmaraneae. The first is the large lizard/dragon, which should be familiar to anyone who’s played the series, and is very much like Bayo’s “pet” – it’s hard, strong, slow, and a light attack that perfectly complements the Witch’s rapid-fire array. Next up is Lady Butterfly – every furry dream. The familiar towers of furry, moth-grown towers hover over your foes, happy to kick them to nuts, and can dazzle opponents in style with some kind of sexy dust…or something. Either way, she’s a decent all-rounder – good at crowd control, giving you space to catch your breath and think about your next move. Finally, there is Phantasmaraneae. Simply put, it’s just a big fucking spider. It sticks things to the wall and catches fire. Great for annoying aerial enemies buzzing around, or big bosses you want to take on, well-targeted pop.

Bayonetta has always been about power, and using these demon slaves to lean on your strength or give you breathing room is a perfect formula addition, I wonder if I’d be able to go back to playing Bayonetta games without them. The way you’re given these massive and powerful beasts to supplement your abilities is as game-changing as Witch Time was in the first game. It’s a ridiculous, impossible mechanic that so easily rhymes with everything you’d expect from a “character action” game (if you want to call it that) and makes it all the more delicious. If you devoured Bayonetta 2, you’re going to be stupid about it.

Even better, you can hot-swap your demonic buddies as you like, switch happily between Hell’s agents, subdue and subdue in the blink of an eye as you waltz around whatever apocalyptic vision of the modern city you’re in today. Humiliate anyone who gets in your way with a butt move and a finger click. So why not? – You can also switch between the two sets of weapons at will. By the time you’re five hours into the game, you’ve got such a powerful arsenal at your disposal that you can even make Devil May Cry’s Dante blush.

The embargo prevents me from digging into too many details about Bayonetta 3 before the review period, but I can say this with confidence: In a few hours, PlatinumGames’ latest blatant nonsense action blockbuster is a must for the Nintendo Switch. In the first few hours of the game, I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. I never get bored. I’ve never been surprised, inspired, or laughed at by Bayonetta 3’s daring attempt.

PlatinumGames is back, baby – I think it’s probably better than ever.