Like Bayonetta herself, Bayonetta 3 is a game with quite a few secrets. Yes, there are things like costumes and Viola’s identity to consider and unlock. However, there’s another important element to consider. The game essentially contains a teaser for things to come. However, if you want to unlock the secret chapter in Bayonetta 3, you’ll need Halos, an Old Picture Book, and access to a number of chapters throughout the game. Here’s a spoiler-free guide to getting that extra adventure.
How to Get the Old Picture Book to Unlock Bayonetta 3’s Secret Chapter
First things first, you’ll need to prompt Rodin to carry the Old Picture Book in Rodin’s Treasures. This is easy enough. If you beat Chapter 1, you’ll find it in his store. You do need 4,100 Halos to purchase it, however.
There are two ways to earn enough Halos to buy it, and both tend to involve being a few chapters into the game first. As you go through chapters, you’ll sometimes encounter Verses with Angels as opponents. If you’re coming to this guide after playing Bayonetta 3 for a while though, you might already be able to play Jeanne’s Spy Action minigame at The Gates of Hell. You can earn Halos there, with the Casual difficulty offering a rate of 0.5, Standard 1.0, Expert 1.5, and Climax 3.0. This is a way to essentially go through Jeanne’s spy side-chapters with an additional challenge.
Earn 4,100 Halos, buy the Old Picture Book, then beat Bayonetta 3. Once that’s done, you can move on to step two. Which is…
How to Open the Old Picture Book to Unlock Bayonetta 3’s Secret Chapter
There are three keys that appear in levels once you beat Bayonetta 3 for the first time. Which is for the best, because a familiarity with the areas helps a lot when collecting them. You’ll need to pick up the Blue Key in Chapter 1, the Green Key in Chapter 4, and the Red Key in Chapter 13. All three appear in the Ginnungagap portions of those levels, which makes finding them a bit easier. In many cases, the chapter select portion will let you jump right to that section.
Chapter 1’s Blue Key is the easiest to find. It is hiding behind a rock formation after you finish fighting in Verse 4. I recommend equipping Colour My World or Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo, so you can use the Madama Butterfly or Phantasmaraneae Masquerades to reach it. It’s honestly easier to see if you go past it and continue along the path to the exit. As you’re hopping up a series of floating platforms, you can look to your left and see it.
Chapter 4’s Green Key is more finicky, because it requires some platforming skill and quite a few jumps to sometimes get it righ. Once you start the level, head into Ginnungagap as normal. Once you do, you’ll see a big mountain that it seems like you could maybe reach? Well, you can. The two best weapons at this point are Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo or Ribbit Libido BZ55. If you’re good at platforming, I recommend Ribbit Libido BZ55, as it’s faster. You could use the Baal Masquerade’s high jumps to try and jump and float your way up there. If you aren’t, use the Phantasmaraneae Masquerade to jump and climb your way up.
Chapter 13’s Red Key can be found not long after entering Ginnungagap. While running through, you’ll see a rather large floating landmass with essentially a spiral path around it leading to the top. Climb it. The path will be dissolving as you run, but as you look to the right you will see a key floating there. From my experience, the easiest way to safely get it, then back to a platform safely, is to equip Simoon and use the Malphas Masquerade to leap and glide over.
Do all that, and you can open the Old Picture Book on the Chapter Select screen and see the secret Bayonetta 3 chapter. It features its own unique visual style and different sorts of gameplay elements.
Bayonetta 3 is available for the Nintendo Switch.
