In the prequel game Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, the young Umbral Witch Cereza must explore a mysterious and magical forest to discover its hidden secrets. Accompanied by her demon companion Cheshire, Cereza delves deep into the forest, traveling down hidden pathways and through dungeons on an adventure told in storybook style.
A huge element of the game is exploration – each area of the forest Cereza and Cheshire enter is filled with secrets ripe for discovery. This guide provides a few handy tips and tricks to help players thoroughly explore every part of the magical woodland in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, which is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
First Things First: Forage
The first thing you should do when entering a new area of the forest is forage for items. Let Cheshire out into his Unleashed Mode so that he can explore the area in his full elemental form. In Unleashed mode, Cheshire can use his various elemental attacks to interact with bushes and break pots and other items. His Water and Stone elemental attacks are generally recommended, because they both have the widest range and can destroy many items at once. (While you can search bushes with Cheshire in Hug Mode, he can’t break pots and other items that way.)
Foraging in this way can earn you tons of consumable items, as well as potentially reveal secret paths or environmental puzzles. Cereza will automatically pick up any loose items in an area after a short time, which is extremely useful. However, beware while exploring – faeries can be hiding absolutely anywhere, and they are always ready to attack you! A shaking pot or bush is particularly likely to hold a faerie that’s just waiting to jump out and ambush you as soon as you get close.
Search Out Side Paths
As you explore the area, you’ll find a path marked with glowing wolf pawprints. This indicates the path you need to follow to continue the game’s story. However, you don’t have to immediately follow it – in fact, it’s recommended that you don’t! Instead, check out the various side paths in each area. These can lead to treasure chests, shortcuts, or other hidden secrets.
Open every treasure chest you come across while exploring side paths. These can contain consumable items, items such as Onyx Roses or Moon Pearls needed to learn Cereza and Cheshire’s skills, or even collectible creatures called Wisps that provide Cereza with rewards for finding them.
Benefits of Backtracking
However, while you’re searching out side paths and other secrets, you’re likely to discover items you can’t yet interact with. These require the use of skills, items, and powers that Cereza and Cheshire don’t get access to until later in the game. For example, in the very first area of the forest, you will find frozen vines that you can neither break nor melt. You will need to return to this area later to deal with these vines.
The primary thing that will block you from fully exploring early areas the first time you enter them are Cheshire’s elemental powers, which you will learn throughout the game. While some things, such as shaking bushes, can be done from the start using non-elemental attacks, Cheshire’s different powers each have different items that they can interact with.
These are listed below:
- Plant Element – A vine whip that can pull apart plants which may contain Avalon Drops, candies used to help Cheshire learn skills
- Stone Element – A smash technique that hits a wide area, which can dig up buried chests and launch Cereza into the air on see-saws to reach locations above the forest floor
- Water Element – A long-range jet of water that is primarily used for solving puzzles, as it can fill pipes, spin wheels, and put out flaming barriers
- Fire Element – An explosive fireball that can melt blocks of ice and frozen vines and trees, revealing hidden items within or behind them
As you progress through the story of Bayonetta Origins, Cereza will occasionally have to return to earlier areas of the forest. If you find yourself backtracking somewhere you’ve already been while following the plot, odds are that you can use Cheshire’s techniques to unlock something new in this area. Plus, once you unlock the ability for Cereza to fast travel between Sanctuaries, you can return more quickly to previously visited areas for even more thorough exploration.
Beautiful Umbral Blooms
While Cheshire is going to be doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to exploring the forest, Cereza is not without her own unique abilities. In particular, the young witch can use her Umbral Magic to make wilted or not-yet-budded plants bloom. This is an ability that she unlocks at the very beginning of the game. Blooming a plant using magic will often reveal a new path that Cereza and Cheshire can explore. Even if no new path appears, you will be rewarded with Onyx Roses that Cereza can use to learn new skills.
To bloom a plant using magic, stand next to it and press ZL. Then, you will enter a short, timed mini-game where you will need to tilt the L stick in the indicated direction, usually between three and five times. If this is completed correctly, the plant will bloom and you will see the area around you visibly change, revealing things that may have been hidden before.
These helpful tips will allow you to thoroughly explore every area of the mystical forest in Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon and discover hidden secrets, helpful items, and much more. Do you have any other tips and tricks for exploration that you think should be added? What future Bayonetta Origins guide topics would you like to see GameLuster cover? Comment below and let us know!
