Balan Wonderworld

Polygon described Balan Wonderworld as a 3D action platform game "with musical flair".[2] Balan Wonderworld follows two characters, Leo Craig and Emma Cole, as they follow the maestro[3] Balan through the Wonderworld, a setting described as a mix of an imaginary world and reality.[4][5] Over 80 different collectible costumes give different abilities to the player character.[4] The player can keep up to three costumes on at a time, and when the player is hit with a costume on, they will lose the costume, and they will be required to restart the stage if they take damage with all costumes lost.[6] They can switch out their costumes at checkpoints. The game will play out in a series of 12 stories.[7] Journalists noted parallels to the Sonic the Hedgehog,[5] Nights into Dreams,[7][5] and Super Mario[4] series.[8]

There are several collectables in each stage. There are several statues of Balan which can be collected in each stage, which can unlock new worlds.[9] The player can also collect golden hats. Collecting these will cause the player to enter a minigame where the player takes control of Balan during quick time events, rewarding the player with Drops. Drops can also be collected in regular stages.[10][11]

The game contains a large world called the Isle of Tims. Tims, creatures which are found in this world, can be fed Drops, changing their color. Tims can assist the player, with their abilities depending on their color.[8][10][11][12]

Balan Company was formed as a subsidiary of Square Enix by Yuji Naka, who joined Square Enix in 2018.[1][4][13] Balan Wonderworld, its first game, was announced on July 23, 2020.[7] It is being co-developed with Japanese studio Arzest.[14] Naka is directing, with art from Naoto Ohshima; the two last worked together on Nights into Dreams and Sonic Adventure in the 1990s.[2][15] Kazuyuki Ikumori of Visual Works is handling animation, while Ryo Yamazaki composed the score.[16] Each chapter's main character and story were designed first, followed by the character's cast, which represents their "positive emotions".[17]

Balan Wonderworld is scheduled for release on March 26, 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.[18][19] A novel is also planned for release alongside the game in English and Japanese, which will explain the story more as the game has no spoken dialogue outside the opening cut scene.[20] It will also cover events following the end of the game.[21] A demo was released on January 28, 2021.[10]

Reviewing the demo, Michael McWhertor of Polygon said the costume gameplay felt "wide but shallow" and that it "adds little joy or surprise to otherwise simplistic 3D platform-jumping." He compared the game's oddity to Cats.[10] Benjamin Maltbie of Siliconera found some of the costumes pointless.[22] Mike Minotti of VentureBeat opined that the game's first level was not "the most visually stunning theme for a video game", criticized the time it takes to switch between costumes and the playable stages as dull. However, he praised the music, and found a dancing sequence amusing, but found the overall experience "sloppy" in comparison to Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (2020).[6] Adam Vjestica of TechRadar said that the level design did not compare well to modern 3D platformers, such as Super Mario Odyssey (2017) and Sackboy: A Big Adventure (2020). He felt some costumes were redundant, that switching between costumes was clumsy, and quick-time events were tedious, but praised the game's use of DualSense controller's adaptive triggers. He opined that the game was fine for a player who wanted something easy both on the eye and to play, but that there were better options.[11]

CJ Andriessen of Destructoid criticized the minigames, saying that they felt "shoehorned in", but praised the visuals and said that the game "plays like a dream".[23]

• Official website