Viola, a newcomer to the series and the second playable protagonist of Bayonetta 3, is a character shrouded in intrigue. This punk rock inspired warrior comes from another universe and is an Umbra Witch in training. She doesn’t have the same abilities as Bayonetta (nor does her confident elegance), so Viola has a completely different playstyle that showcases her inexperience.
Instead of mastering a variety of weapons like Bayonetta, Viola only uses her katana and throws darts. She also summons her diabolical Cheshire companion as a backup. However, what she lacked in dexterity, she made up for with raw strength.
As Viola, her style seems significantly more deliberate. She’s still agile, but her sword attacks feel more measured and, above all, impactful. This approach tells me that Viola may not have enough experience to hold out in a drawn battle, so she focuses on hitting good players to end encounters quickly. . Case in point: Hold down the attack buttons to attack her swings, engulfing her in a blast of fiery aura that causes an explosive attack on the unlucky target.
Viola lacks her own set of guns – guns reserved for true Umbra Wizards. Instead, she uses an unlimited supply of throwing darts to thwart enemies far away. Naturally, you can’t shoot them as fast as bullets, so you have to be more tactical about when to throw them.
Like Bayonetta, Viola can beckon Cheshire to fight with her. She does this by using the doll attached to her sword as a conduit for summoning instead of using her hair. The trade-off is that she has to disarm herself, which director Yusuke Miyata says requires a great degree of courage since she relies so heavily on her sword.
Viola’s rookie status means she’s less capable of using magic; She can conjure ghosts but cannot control them. So Cheshire behaved independently, stroking his large paws and attacking whatever threat was in front of him. As the Avengers have learned dealing with Hulk, the best way to “control” Cheshire’s onslaught is to steer him toward a goal and hope for the best. It’s fun to watch this grotesque-looking creature go into town with enemies. Plus, the benefit of not having to command Cheshire is that the player can still have complete control of Viola. Although she has to fight bare-handed, tearing apart the Homunculi along with her demon cat is an explosion, and Platinum says the pair are capable of dealing more max damage than even Bayonetta.
Witch Time presents the biggest contrast between Viola and Bayonetta, one that will throw veteran players into a loop. Going back to Viola’s emphasis on brute force, she doesn’t dodge to trigger the effect. Instead, you must block with your sword just before an attack lands. What’s going to increase the fanbase – as I did – is blocking being mapped to the R button. Years of using Witch Time have trained me to keep my finger moving on the correct trigger, so I received many punches in the face before (mostly) got used to pressing the R button. Viola can still dodge, mind you; it just doesn’t have an effect attached to it. The upside is that the timing for Time of Witchcraft is more forgiving than in Viola’s case. If that doesn’t work, she can simply block attacks normally.
These traits, plus Viola’s inability to use her hair to perform sinister weave attacks, make her feel basic compared to flashy Bayonetta at first. But the more I played with her, the more I understood and appreciated her differences. The most interesting thing is that I only played the weakest version of Viola. Like Bayonetta, she has a full skill tree and I’m excited to see how her arsenal grows throughout the adventure.
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