'Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon' tasks players with controlling both witch, demon

Fans were no doubt shocked when "Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon" was announced during the 2022 Game Awards on December 8, just over a month after the release of "Bayonetta 3" on October 28. The upcoming game is not a sequel but a prequel to the game series developed by PlatinumGames.

What's interesting is that "Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon" would feature a young Bayonetta when she was still in her childhood years with developers promising a totally different gaming experience. Here's what we know so far about the upcoming title.

'Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon' release date, platform

Along with Nintendo's surprise announcement of the game during the 2022 Game Awards, the company also revealed the "Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon" release date. The game will launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch on March 17, 2023.

'Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon' story

"Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon" is a prequel to the Bayonetta franchise. Unlike other games, players will need to control both the young Bayonetta, who goes by her birth name Cereza and the demon Chesire, according to Inverse.com.

"Long before this trainee of the dark arts would come to be called Bayonetta, she took a fateful journey into the forbidden Avalon Forest. Alongside her was Cheshire, her very first demon, possessing Cereza's stuffed toy. Play as both Cereza and Cheshire and search through the treacherous forest to look for the power to save Cereza's mother," was how Nintendo described the game.

Fans probably know by now that Bayonetta is the offspring of an Umbran Witch and a Lumen Sage, a forbidden union that eventually led to the conflict between the two sides. Some probably remember that a much younger Bayonetta used the name Cereza does appear in the first game.

Meanwhile, the "Lost Demon" mentioned in the title is Cheshire, the same demon that appeared as Viola's companion demon in "Bayonetta 3."

'Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon' gameplay

What sets the "Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon" gameplay apart from the other games in the franchise is that players will have to control both the witch and the demon in the upcoming game.

"Players must combine Cereza's magic abilities and Cheshire's ferocious power in order to progress through the game. The way you control these two is truly a one-of-a-kind experience and I'm certain you'll love sinking your claws into the gameplay," Platinum Games' VP and chief game designer Hideki Kamiya wrote.