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Balan Wonderworld (2021)

Arzest

Nintendo Switch · PC (Microsoft Windows) · PlayStation 4 · PlayStation 5 · Xbox One · Xbox Series X|S

1.70 from 27 ratings

178 members have it in their collection · 3 playing now · 71 backlogged · 33 wish listed

How long? Main story 12h (from 1 logged playthrough)

Balan Wonderworld is a wondrous action-platformer game themed around a mysterious musical theatre. The stars of the show will use special abilities from a multitude of characterful costumes as they adventure in the bizarre and imaginary land of Wonderworld. Here memories and vistas from the real world mix with the things that people hold dear. Twelve different tales await our … Read more
Balan Wonderworld is a wondrous action-platformer game themed around a mysterious musical theatre. The stars of the show will use special abilities from a multitude of characterful costumes as they adventure in the bizarre and imaginary land of Wonderworld. Here memories and vistas from the real world mix with the things that people hold dear. Twelve different tales await our stars in Wonderworld, each with their own unique quirks. They will explore all corners of these labyrinthine stages, using all the tricks and gimmicks hidden along the way, to get to the heart of each touching story. Read less
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Details

Developers
Arzest
Publishers
Square Enix
Genres
Platform
Themes
Action
Event
Tokyo Game Show 2020
Steam
View on Steam

Release dates

  • Mar 25, 2021 (Europe) Nintendo Switch
  • Mar 26, 2021 (Worldwide) Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
  • Mar 26, 2021 (North_America) Xbox One
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Featured in lists

Switch by phantasy2004 · 270 games · 0

Rating distribution

5 stars
0
4 stars
1
3 stars
4
2 stars
8
1 star
13
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Community All Reviews Statuses

BMO

Status BMO Aug 1, 2022

After enjoying one supposedly mediocre 3D platformer, New Super Lucky’s Tale, I’ve decided to give Balan Wonderworld a second chance. I didn’t enjoy the demo and I know that Yuji Naka was basically muscled off the project so the end product doesn’t align with his vision, at least it’s done now and potentially more enjoyable and fleshed out than …

Read more

After enjoying one supposedly mediocre 3D platformer, New Super Lucky’s Tale, I’ve decided to give Balan Wonderworld a second chance. I didn’t enjoy the demo and I know that Yuji Naka was basically muscled off the project so the end product doesn’t align with his vision, at least it’s done now and potentially more enjoyable and fleshed out than the demo.

Read less
4 Comment Permalink
maeday

Status maeday May 3, 2022

Girlfriend really wanted it, so we bought it. I have no earthly idea what's going on in this and somehow that's exactly what I want from it.

3 Comment Permalink
BMO

Status BMO Jun 4, 2021

Report: Balan Wonderworld Creator Yuji Naka Is No Longer With Square Enix

No idea if his departure has to do with the game's lack of success, but the main reason I am posting has more to do with the following figure:

Per Destructoid, sometime after its release the misbegotten platformer had sold only about 2,000 physical copies in Japan …

Read more

Report: Balan Wonderworld Creator Yuji Naka Is No Longer With Square Enix

No idea if his departure has to do with the game's lack of success, but the main reason I am posting has more to do with the following figure:

Per Destructoid, sometime after its release the misbegotten platformer had sold only about 2,000 physical copies in Japan

I don't know if the Japanese are particularly known for buying physical copies of games over digital ones, but 2000 seems exceptionally low regardless.

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3 Comment Permalink
Alphadoriest

Status Alphadoriest Mar 27, 2021

So... what's happening to the reviews with this one? Released yesterday and only one review I can see. Could be that even the Yuji Naka name couldn't make this a review priority? Or demo feedback perhaps even had them delay key distribution?

To echo the other statuses here, I thought the demo was truly... baffling.

1 Comment Permalink
ElectronicJourneys

Status ElectronicJourneys Feb 2, 2021

Just played the demo, and I'm speechless. Technical issues aside (which are understandable in a demo), the game is just pure garbage. The controls are sloppy, the level design is puerile, the one-mechanism-at-a-time gimmick is just about the worst design concept I've ever seen implemented in a 3D platformer, the motion-captured animations are all kinds of uncanny-valley-grotesque, the art is …

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Just played the demo, and I'm speechless. Technical issues aside (which are understandable in a demo), the game is just pure garbage. The controls are sloppy, the level design is puerile, the one-mechanism-at-a-time gimmick is just about the worst design concept I've ever seen implemented in a 3D platformer, the motion-captured animations are all kinds of uncanny-valley-grotesque, the art is amateurish, the way the environments contort around you as you walk through them is nauseating, and the amount of laziness and cut corners is so obvious it's practically shouting at you through the screen (just look at the way NPCs fade into nothingness when you get near them so the programmers didn't have to add in any interactions with them!!). Seriously awful. Unwishlisted harder than I've ever unwishlisted a game before.

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3 Comment Permalink
Reset_Tears

Status Reset_Tears Jul 24, 2020

So right after I finish another playthrough of Nights into Dreams, Nights's brother in a top hat shows up:

Great to see a big studio taking a crack at the 3D platformer genre again (something other than Mario). Looks fun and whimsical, grand and delightful.

3 Comment Permalink