Foreword

It’s strange, really.

I still vividly remember—and likely forever will—the very first time I laid eyes on the original Bayonetta at 2008’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. The sight of the titular character tearing angels to pieces in ways that communicated that she cared naught what anyone thought of her drew many an awed expletive from the crowd of gathered gaming press. For my part, I simply stood in stunned silence, the smile unable to leave my face, the Trickster in me cackling maniacally.

Five years later, I’m penning a companion book to that game’s sequel. Heck, for the longest time we were convinced there wouldn’t even be a sequel. I suppose not even a god could have seen either coming.

What can be said about Bayonetta that hasn’t already? I don’t know, but I’ll give it a shot. The minds that make up Platinum Games have been exploring and expanding the character action genre since the turn of the century, and with the studio’s first sequel they’ve answered even more of stylish action’s burning questions. What if you could wield a hammer imbued with the power of lightning against the hordes of the underworld, anyway? Or take down angels while wearing fox ears? Is there a true and proper way to handle a chainsaw such that one doesn’t stain their Sunday best? These are answers the world has burned for since the beginning of time, and you will find these answers within.

And yet, for all of Bayonetta’s wondrous insanity—the posing, the innuendo, the mechanics that demand so much physical, visual, and aural feedback at once—she and her game are still inviting. Through numerous options that facilitate effortless, easygoing play whenever you desire, she asks all newcomers to her genre to play with her and to play in her world, to enjoy it for what it is. Bayonetta doesn’t ask for anyone to be intimidated—though if they are, file that under “personal problem.”

It’s not one of mine, though. After having played Bayonetta 2 for more than two hundred hours, I’m fully aware that there’s room for me to learn even more about the game and for my skills to deepen—and I really want to. I’m pretty comfortable here.

This book contains everything learned in that time, with the aim of helping you, who hold it in your hands, to be not only the best but the happiest Bayonetta 2 player one could hope to be. Enjoy the combat rundowns, read up on the enemy tactics, grab all the secret items. It’s all here. The three planes of existence await for you to conquer them all—beautifully, of course.

I genuinely hope you find this guide as rewarding to digest as we did in putting it together.

~ Geson Hatchett