Bayonetta 3made a surprise appearance during this past week’s Nintendo Direct presentation. It was the first proper look atBayonetta 3, as its first and only prior teaser at The Game Awards 2017 was thin on content, to say the least. To the surprise of many,Bayonetta 3’s new gameplay trailer drew some comparisons to Platinum Games' canceled projectScalebound, due to its summoning system. New details regardingBayonetta 3’s development shared after the show have only caused these comparisons to grow.
FormerScaleboundcreative director JP Kellams decided to share some news aboutBayonetta 3’s development following its new reveal. Kellams confirmed thatScalebound’s lead designer,Yusuke Miyata, is directing the development ofBayonetta 3. Kellams would go on to say thatBayonetta 3’s trailer showed the player “controlling the summons” and that it looked very similar to a mechanic that was part of howScalebound, which let players control its dragon named Thuban.
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Bayonettahas always featured gameplay wherein its titular character summons large monsters to perform extraordinary attacks and abilities. InBayonetta 3, however, these creatures remain as summoned pets. This visual of a smallBayonettastanding in front of her summoned dragon as it battles what can only be described as a kaiju certainly leaves an impression. Of course, it isn’t obvious how much control the player has over theBayonetta-dragon, butJP Kellams' comment implies there’s a full system behind it.
InScalebound, players spend the entire game working with Thuban the dragon. Players were able toissue commands to theScalebounddragonor could even take full control over it via a shift to first-person. A major facet ofScalebound’s gameplay was upgrading these dragons and using certain dragons for different situations, as well as standard action gameplay while passively controlling the dragon. On paper, that’s a lot more in-depth than whatBayonetta 3’s presenting, but the new game could still use a much simpler system.
Obviously,Scaleboundwas canceled in 2017 by publisher Microsoft Studios. Platinum Games' studio director Atsushi Inaba would describe the situation as a failure on both Microsoft’s and Platinum’s part. WhileMicrosoft retained theScaleboundIP, making it impossible for Platinum to continue development, Platinum could still use what it learned from the project on other games.
It’s ultimately much too early to know just what to expect fromBayonetta 3, and that makes any direct comparisons toScaleboundsomewhat presumptuous. Nevertheless, with Miyata directingBayonetta 3, it’s an interesting and perhaps exciting connection. Perhaps there are even moreScalebounddesign similarities inBayonetta 3that Platinum has yet to show.
Bayonetta 3releases in 2022 on Nintendo Switch.
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