Bayonetta 3 Will Do Something New And Be a Turning Point for the Series

Today during a panel at Reboot Develop 2018, PlatinumGames' Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya talked about the highly-anticipated Bayonetta 3.

During said panel, the pair revealed numerous interesting tidbits about the game and PlatinumGames' ambitions with it, including how it is looking to add something new to the mix for the third game, which it internally sees as a turning point for the Japanese studio.

Word of the game serving as a turning point for the developer, and a platform to try new things, comes via Inaba, who claimed a desire to top previous entries in the series, which isn't the easiest thing to do. Speaking via translator Ben Judd, Inaba stated the following:

"Obviously when they announced that they were doing Bayonetta 3, they got an incredibly kind, supportive reactions about that title. Inaba-san himself is producing that. Obviously Kamiya-san is going to provide some feedback from the Bayonetta 1 angle, since he was the director on that. But for Inaba-san, Bayonetta 3 represents a turning point for the company in how they make games. And so Bayonetta 3, for taking a linear forward progression action game, they really want to do something new, add in new gimmicks, new ways to play the game, and then he walked it back a bit, and said, 'Wait a second, I can't even really talk about the job for us.' So let's pretend you didn't hear that, because right now we don't know, maybe it will be something different. However, for them, they see this as a key point to design the game because obviously Bayonetta 2 was a fantastic title, but they need to make sure this is leaps and bounds above that even."

Meanwhile, Kamiya, who directed the first game in the series, reveals that he is "still internally thinking" about his role on Bayonetta 3. Further, he's aware of fans' high expectations and need for better, crazier, and tighter action games. According to the director, fan support and demand is helping push the team to raise the bar. Kamiya stated the following (also via translation):

"… To the point that was made earlier, while they may not make games for the end user, they're certainly reticent of the fact that there's a lot of fans that like them and have certain expectations. And so in keeping in line with those expectations, the one thing it does for them, it helps them push the bar. They know that the fans expect crazier, better, tighter action games. If they're going to put out Bayonetta 3, it's going to have to raise the bar. And so everyone's support, all the reaction from the fans, the positive reaction, has helped build their pride to the point they know they can't let anybody down. So obviously the end user is still very, very important to them as far as helping them to better themselves to perfect, master, improve their craft."

Bayonetta 3, which was announced last December during The Game Awards, is currently without a release date. Whenever it does release, it will do so exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

If you can't wait any longer to satiate your Bayonetta-fix, you can currently play the first two games also on Nintendo Switch via ported forms.

In other recent and related news, during the same talk, the above pair also expressed PlatinumGames' desire to get its 2013 Wii U exclusive, The Wonderful 101, on the Nintendo Switch, something it apparently hasn't sold Nintendo (the game's publisher) on yet.

Thanks, Nintendo Everything.