Earlier this week, we mentioned that Nintendo had planned a Nintendo Direct for the upcoming Bayonetta 2 for today, and indeed, it has come and gone! We've attached the recording of the Direct below if you want to watch it in its entirety - but let's get down to what was really discussed today, starting with the details on the all-new Online Multiplayer mode!
Tag Climax is a new mode that allows you to play through a marathon of 6 different acts with a partner online, betting Halos to increase the difficulty and hopefully winning even more of the currency after clearing every act that you had selected. In this mode, you choose from several default characters to fight as - with Bayonetta, Jeanne, and Rodin all confirmed to be playable in this mode. Each character has a different move set, so even if you may be playing the same boss as in the main story, adding a harder difficulty and multiplayer with some different characters may make the experience seem new.
Beyond that, the Direct detailed some information regarding the story - and information on some new mechanics that are being added to the game, such as the Umbran Climax. The Crossover Costumes that were revealed for the first Bayonetta's Wii U port were confirmed for the sequel, alongside a new Fox McCloud outfit too. Various Developer and Nintendo Treehouse commentary explained the game well for newcomers to the series and shed some light on some of the more "hardcore" aspects of the game.
Rounding it off, some information regarding how Bayonetta would be packaged was revealed, and it was explained that the two games would be separate purchases when bought via the eShop, with a discount applied when buying the two titles together, bringing the price down to that of the full retail disc - individual prices for each title on the eShop were not revealed, so my guess is as good as yours in that regard.
Bayonetta 2 and the first game's Wii U port are scheduled to launch on October 24, 2014.