(Image: PlatinumGames)

After 4 years of waiting since its announcement in 2017, along with some speculation about its status along the way, Bayonetta 3 was finally showcased during the 9.23.2021 Nintendo Direct presentation. The eponymous magic-using witch returns in her third hack-n-slash/shooter venture, following 2014's Bayonetta 2, originally released on the Nintendo Wii U.

Hideki Kamiya, head of PlatinumGames and Bayonetta's director, addressed Bayonetta 3's long absence from the news cycles:

"Sorry to have kept you all waiting. It’s been about four years since the announcement back in 2017… We really, really kept you waiting.

In those four years, I’m sure people had a lot of concerns like “What’s happening with Bayonetta 3?” and “Are they really still working on it?” and “When are we going to get some new news?” But just as much as everyone wants to see Bayonetta 3 as soon as possible, all of us working on it have been burning to show it off just as badly, and without being able to hear any cheers from fans, we’ve buckled down and kept working for four years.

Now we’ve finally been able to show the fruits of our labors and the team can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and we’ll be able to concentrate even harder on our work. It’s been a long four years for us too."

So there's elements that appear to be new to the fats-paced action series to juggle up the gameplay, and PlatinumGames has never been shy about experimenting with expanding upon its mechanics. And Bayonetta 3's new director Yusuke Miyata, talks about one of her new abilites. Bayonetta can now possess demons and monsters with a new technique known as "Demon Slave". In previous games, her Climax Summons just finished off enemies. Now, the Demon Slave ability summons monsters to perform attacks and open up new intuitive actions.

Staff intends to reveal a little more of Bayonetta 3 in due time. Look for Bayonetta 3, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, in 2022.