Game Review: Bayonetta

Bayonetta, released originally by SEGA in 2009, is a single player hack and slash game about an Umbra Witch named Bayonetta. When you begin Bayonetta, even before reaching the title screen, the game welcomes you with a cinematic picturing a setting much like a hearing where someone is tried for ‘breaking ancient commandments’ and ‘crafting a bond with the light’ and is sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. We see scenes of chaos followed by a coffin being discovered. At the end of the cinematic we see a close up of a woman scantily covered with her hair and a voice says, “Rise my child. Rise to realize your true potential unleash your power and awaken the Eyes of the World.” Throughout the game you find yourself playing primarily as Bayonetta who is trying to remember her past while fighting Angels who are then dragged into hell. She encounters a little girl named Cereza and a Human named Luke who become her companions for part of the story. Bayonetta ultimately regains her memories, realizing she is Cereza, and stops her father, the last of the Lumen Sages, from resurrecting a deity that will bring about an apocalypse.

Bayonetta was followed by a sequel, Bayonetta 2, in 2014. Following this, Bayonetta was release as a downloadable character for Super Smash Bros. 4 in 2016 quickly becoming a favorite and top played character in the Smash community. She is arguably one of the most powerful characters in the game while being one of the easier characters to learn to play. Due to this, various tournaments have banned or considered banning her at some point. The ease of Bayonetta’s playability in Bayonetta can probably be attributed to the type of game Bayonetta is. While there are endless combos one can use when fighting enemies, the most basic combinations can get the player through the game. Style in fighting is arguably one of Bayonetta’s key components, however it is not necessary in order to complete the game. In Super Smash Bros. 4, Bayonetta can also be learned with ease. However, the type of game is different and tends to rely more on strategy, at least in the professional community. Is Bayonetta as a character affected by her playability? When a character’s game mechanics are simple enough that a player does not need to spend much time learning, does it work against the complexity of character shown in the narrative?

Bayonetta is a very sexual character; from her design consisting of wide hips, a narrow waist, and big chest to her gameplay mechanics where the hair that makes up her attire moves and reforms according to different attacks often leaving her close to naked. The stronger the spell she uses to summon demons, the more clothes gets stripped off; often leaving her close to naked. In addition, her attacks, especially in cutscenes depicting defeating an enemy, consist of sensual movements with close ups to her chest or rear. It appears to be the case that when the player does something right in terms of gameplay, they are rewarded with a cutscene that objectifies Bayonetta. In terms of the narrative of Bayonetta, her sexual design has little to do with what is happening around her. In an early cutscene, the disguise she is wearing gets torn when she is fighting enemies and the player sees a close up in slow motion of her rear and chest before she transforms into her regular attire and continues the fight. Scenes like this throughout the game seem unnecessary and put in place merely for the male gaze.

Bayonetta is not the first and certainly is not the last of overly sexualized female characters but perhaps she is not an example of a woman controlled by the male gaze but rather a woman reclaiming her sexuality and affirming her power. In the game, Bayonetta radiates confidence and is unapologetic in her sexuality and in her strength. Bayonetta was meticulously designed by Mari Shimazaki (a female artist) who in a blog stated that the criteria she was given were: a female lead, a modern witch, and she uses four guns. Shimazaki writes how Bayonetta’s bodily proportions were intended in order for her to be “more appealing as an action character.” In addition, Bayonetta was given glasses in order to stand out from other female characters and to give her “a sense of mystery and intelligence.” With this in mind, it is possible to interpret the close ups of her body throughout the game as a critique to the objectification of female characters prevalent in many games. In the narrative of the game, Bayonetta conquers tropes of female characters such as the trope of a woman needing a man to save her. Bayonetta saves herself and becomes her own hero by saving herself and protecting young Cereza. She is the one often saving male characters in the story as well. There is something special about Bayonetta that not only was a sequel created and another is in the works, but the games were re-released on the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch.

I would like to say Bayonetta is a prime example of an early 2000’s female character critiquing popular tropes of female characters while reclaiming female sexuality but I have trouble getting there. While her character design appears to have been thoughtfully created, her movements in the game appear to be quite performative for the male gaze. Especially since Bayonetta is played from a third person perspective, there is intention for her movements to be looked at. Upon completing the game there is not only a two-minute scene of her seductively pole dancing to “Fly Me to the Moon” during the credits of the game but also a four-minute upbeat dance video that makes multiple close ups to her rear and chest, often with her outfit shifting to a more revealing as if seeing her practically naked is a reward for the player completing the game.

Bayonetta is an interesting example that leads into the question of how a marginalized group can reclaim aspects of their identity. In addition, it highlights the complications of trying to reclaim aspects of identity when the act of reclaiming can appear to work to further suppress them. Can Bayonetta be an icon for women empowerment or is she a victim of objectification, a slave to the male gaze as she is a slave to the devil she made a deal with to get her powers?