Played the first 6 chapters of Bayonetta 3 this weekend and here are some impressions. I'm going to echo @Wyrdness 's thoughts on a few points there because I've had a similar experience.
Bayonetta 3 does a lot more to refresh the combat experience than the changes from 1 to 2 and pretty much all of it is positive. The Demon Slave mechanic is very interesting and is the best use of the magic meter in any Bayonetta game. There's a risk/reward system when summoning a demon to do the dirty for you and unlike Bayonetta 2 where you were kinda forced to use Umbran Climax to do any real damage, here you have a good amount of variety on how to use your demon friends. For example, a quick hit of L2 will summon them for a quick hit or you can also use it as a combo finisher (which I like a lot).
So far, it seems they've done away with segments I found tedious in Bayo 2 (like the flying fights that took forever). The special segments in Bayo 3 have been real fun, don't overstay their welcome and also truly spectacular.
Viola is a nice addition too, although I do a lot worst in combat with her than Bayonetta but it's the switch from dodging to blocking to trigger Witch Time that throws me off. The Jeanne missions are a fun distraction too, a nice change of pace.
The only negative so far for me would be the Hint button being bound to L3, which means I might be trying to collect the five pieces for a time trial chest and accidentally press on L3 which pans the camera away from the challenge toward the objective but that's a rare occurence.
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