Technologies

Nintendo’s New Bayonetta Prequel Is My Favorite Zelda Appetizer

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is charming, weird and just creepy enough.

I had absolutely no idea what Cereza and the Lost Demon, Nintendo’s unexpected prequel to the Bayonetta trilogy, would be like. After playing it for a couple of weeks now, I’m still not sure I can explain. But this is definitely one of Nintendo’s most interesting Switch games in a while. Am I the only one who’s getting some Zelda vibes playing it?

Bayonetta games are violent, snarky, combat-based and surreal. Cereza and the Lost Demon feels like a storybook children’s game in comparison. With narration, page-turning, lush hand-drawn-style illustrations and an overhead perspective that weaves through tangled forest mazes, it’s not frenzied at all. It’s a relaxed puzzle adventure through a creepy fairy kingdom, with an enchanted stuffed animal possessed by a demon as your companion.

This isn’t a co-op game, either, but the mechanics feel like one. You control Cereza (young Bayonetta) and her demon companion Cheshire at the same time, the left controller moving one and the right controller moving the other. Solving some puzzles and defeating some enemies requires clever teamwork between the two, and a bit of patience to figure things (and the controls) out.

Discovering hidden treasures and little secrets are also a part of the game, as well as unlocking extra abilities and upgrades through finding items or earning rewards by solving little puzzle world challenges in fairy dimensions. The lyrical music, and its little riffs and chimes when you discover something new, reminded me of the feeling I get when wandering around Zelda games. Cereza and the Lost Demon is limited to the tangled forest maps and their branching pathways, so it’s not an open world. But the game’s indie-like spirit makes it great to settle into for an hour or so, like reading a chapter of a book.

Nintendo Switch Mario bundle

$300 at Target

But Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is coming soon. May 12, in fact. That’s less than two months away. If you’re only buying one Switch game in the near future, by all means that’s the game to wait for. Yet as I play Breath of the Wild again to prepare for it, I’m also finding that Cereza’s adventures are giving me some of that fun spirit, too. Not the open-world part, but the crawling-around-and-solving-little-dungeons part. And I’m enjoying the game more in its own way than even the Bayonetta games, mostly because the whole thing’s a bit less combat-focused.

Nintendo already has a free demo of the game to download, so that’s likely your best path. At $60, it also feels expensive for what it is. However, if this game ever goes on sale someday soon, it’s a great one to consider snatching up.

Game console reviews

See the latest CNET gaming coverage here.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.