PlatinumGames have launched a new blog series for their next upcoming stylish action game Bayonetta 3, called Umbran Studies.

The blog takes its name from a book in the game, also called Umbran Studies, that will function as its tutorial mode. You will be able to access Umbran Studies any time you want, so if you forget about one or a few game mechanics, it will now be considerably easier to look it up again. For most games, it’s likely that you go to your phone to search this sort of thing, so this is a handy addition to keep you focused at your game screen.

As for the Umbran Studies blog in real life, it will be an opportunity for director Yusuke Miyata and other members of Team Little Angels to share details on the game in the leadup to its launch.

In our prior coverage, we had reported that Bayonetta 3 will allow players to take control of the Infernal Demons that Cereza summons, in a way completely unlike before.

Today Miyata shared more details on what this entails. Demon Slave allows Bayonetta to control Infernal Demons to obliterate enemies. Demon Masquerade makes Bayonetta fuse with said Infernal Demon to control the demon in a unique way, allowing you to use even more magic.

As Miyata describes it, these systems give players a content sense experience and gives them the feeling of ‘the highest degree of freedom’.

While Hideki Kamiya is the most famous face behind PlatinumGames, he is no longer in the position of being in charge of development of games, like he did when he worked on the first Bayonetta many years ago. Kamiya’s current role as Executive Director mainly positions him to write the scenarios and premises of PlatinumGames’s projects.

It’s actually Yusuke Miyata who has emerged to take on this role for Bayonetta 3, a promotion well earned thanks to his ptiot credentials. Miyata got his start making video game adaptations of anime series like Fullmetal Alchemist 3 and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. Under PlatinumGames, he worked on games like Wonderful 101 and Scalebound. His career changing moment was working as game designer for the very successful Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain.

The Bayonetta franchise is certainly in an interesting position. While the first game’s director is now in a leadership role at PlatinumGames, the director for Bayonetta 2, Yusuke Hashimoto, has already left the company and is actually the game director in charge of Street Fighter 6. And so, with Yusuke Miyata taking over now, each game is set to be a completely different experience.

Bayonetta fans already know themselves that Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 do feel like completely different games, in spite of being based on the same storyline and premise, and having many basic game essentials in common. Bayonetta 3 could similarly be another drastic change to the franchise. It’s the sort of thing that keeps this franchise from feeling stale.

Bayonetta 3 is releasing exclusively to the Nintendo Switch on October 28, 2022.

Source: PlatinumGames