Bayonetta (2009)
Bayonetta is a 2009 shooter video game made by Nex Entertainment and PlatinumGames.
Bayonetta is a witch who woke from a 500-year sleep at the bottom of a lake with no memory of who she is. She fights angelic enemies using guns strapped to her heels, hair-summoned torture devices, and finishing moves that are genuinely difficult to describe without witnessing them. Hideki Kamiya's 2009 action game is unapologetically excessive, staging combat sequences in environments that range from crumbling clock towers to the surface of a fighter jet midflight. Its tone is theatrical, its choreography is meticulous, and it never once slows down to explain itself.
Quick answers
What is Bayonetta about?
Bayonetta is a witch who woke from a 500-year sleep at the bottom of a lake with no memory of who she is. She fights angelic enemies using guns strapped to her heels, hair-summoned torture devices, and finishing moves that are genuinely difficult to describe without witnessing them. Hideki Kamiya's 2009 action game is unapologetically excessive, staging combat sequences in environments that range from crumbling clock towers to the surface of a fighter jet midflight. Its tone is theatrical, its choreography is meticulous, and it never once slows down to explain itself.
When was Bayonetta released?
Bayonetta was released on 29 October 2009.
Who made Bayonetta?
Bayonetta was made by Nex Entertainment, PlatinumGames and Sega.
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A few thoughts on Bayonetta
The anime film Bayonetta: Bloody Fate adapts the first game's story in condensed form and shares its visual excess. For more non-stop stylized action with a supernatural streak, World Conquest Zvezda Plot has a similar commitment to absurdist spectacle.
Stories where over-the-top powers become a genuine spectacle
Bayonetta turns every fight against angelic enemies into a piece of theatre, finishing moves and all, and these picks share that same appetite for spectacle. Armored warriors channeling gods, teenagers testing the limits of their powers and a father cutting through Norse myth all treat combat as something to be watched, not just survived.
Music with the theatrical excess of a Bayonetta boss fight
Hideki Kamiya's Bayonetta never slows down long enough to explain itself, and these records share that same maximalist streak. Occult-tinged extreme metal, leather-and-chrome heavy metal, brooding prog metal, and a choir-and-orchestra fantasy score all go for broke rather than restraint, matching the game's willingness to be as much as possible, all the time.