Stylish action at its peak. The Witch Time dodge rewards boldness, and chaining combos stays gloriously fluid. The set pieces border on excess, but that's exactly what makes Bayonetta such a rush to play.
Your verdict
Category
Action2 players16+
Description
The witch Bayonetta battles angels and demons in over-the-top, fast-flowing action. Published by Nintendo, released worldwide in 2018. Witch Time slows the fray, flashy combos, giant climax attacks and online co-op.
Bayonetta 2 review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
Elegance and excess coexist: lithe silhouettes, hair-as-weapon, baroque angels and gothic demons clashing in a ballet of rare fluidity. This wildly stylised staging, readable despite the chaos, stamps a visual signature you recognise at a glance.
Hyper-charged pop and brassy fanfares mingle with jazzy covers of standards, in a fully owned kitsch. The tempo races during combos to underline the extravagance of the witch's battles. That almost comical exuberance suits Bayonetta's flair, where every dodge becomes a sonic choreography, and feeds the heady pleasure of the action.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Dodging at the last instant to trigger Witch Time and punish a frozen foe: the system rewards daring over caution and delivers an intoxicating combo flow. The over-the-top staging chains set pieces without ever muddying the combat's readability. Modest length, a deliberately excessive plot, but a peak of stylish action still as formidable as ever.
The perfect dodge that triggers Witch Time turns every clash into a lethal ballet: slowing time to chain combos and demonic summons against colossal foes. Angels and demons swell to delirious scale, and the over-the-top Quick Time flourishes punctuate duels of a gleefully exhilarating excess.
Better with friends
Beyond its blazing solo action, the game offered Tag Climax, a duo built around backing each other up against waves of foes and chasing score. Designed for online teamwork, its two-player appeal rests on the witches' complementary styles and the shared frenzy of combat, best savored for its cooperative momentum whenever a connection can still be arranged.
A questionable morality
An elegant witch pulverizing swarms of celestial angels with a generous helping of suggestive poses: laid out plainly, the picture is faintly startling. Mid-game, though, we soak up every ecstatic combo as pure stylish obviousness, never pausing to wonder whether Paradise's creatures deserved this. The clash between the displayed grace and the gleeful carnage is the whole charm.
Is Bayonetta 2 still worth playing in 2026?
Bayonetta 2 remains a peak of whirling action, perhaps PlatinumGames' most accomplished. Witch Time, slowing the action after a perfect dodge, rewards daring over caution and delivers an exhilarating combo flow. The over-the-top staging strings together set pieces without ever losing the readability of the combat system. Its modest length and deliberately excessive plot take nothing from the fun. On Switch this port runs admirably, bundled with the first game. For anyone who loves mastering a demanding, spectacular system, it stays a formidable genre benchmark.
