Bayonetta 2 Hands-On: Riding A Centaur And Clearing Chapter 2

Nintendo showed Siliconera the second chapter of Bayonetta 2 titled, “A Remembrance of Time.” This level is set in a town and introduced a new Angel type to fight.

Right at the beginning of the level, I crossed swords with Enrapture. This Angel has an ability to makes other Angels go berserk (indicated by an enemy turning red), which increases their defense and attack. Enraptures themselves do not go berserk, so you should target them to debuff the other enemies.

Bayonetta 2 lets players carry two sets of weapons, which can be changed on the fly. This demo, like the E3 demo before it, had the option of swords and guns. Switching weapons mid-combo is easy to do, but most of the time I stuck with the swords. My play style is getting close enough for an enemy to attack to utilize Witch Time and then counterattack.

The game has these Angels that look kind of like Centaurs and you can ride them in Bayonetta 2. When a Centuar was stunned I walked up to it an a contextual command that said “Ride” popped up and after pressing a button makes Bayonetta jump on. The Centaur isn’t a tamed mount like in Golden Axe. The enemy violently tried to buck Bayonetta off… which actually helped since it kick other enemies in the process. Bayonetta finishes her ride by tossing the Centaur which kills it.

While running around, I noticed some hidden black portals in the level, but a Nintendo rep said he could not comment on what those were. He did show me a hidden mission where Bayonetta had to fight three Centaurs in a small space.

At the end of the chapter I fought a huge boss that spit poison blobs at Bayonetta. This boss also had a stomp attack that dealt serious damage, but it was telegraphed in a way that made it easier to dodge. I used a spear picked up from a fallen Centaur during the fight and an Umbran Climax, a new move that lets Bayonetta use her Wicked Weave hair attacks when her magic gauge is full, to whittle the boss’ life down. The final blow came from a frog-like familiar that wrapped the boss with its tongue.

Bayonetta 2 comes out this October in North America.