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We don’t really know where to start with Balan Wonderworld. Granted early access to the demo – available to everyone starting tomorrow – we’ve played this somewhat mysterious title, and we’re not entirely convinced. The demo itself is quite large, but in our experience we are not convinced by this new concept from Yuji Naka.
After a sleek introduction to the game world with sophisticated CG cutscene, you’re immersed in a central world that connects each of the game’s levels. There’s not much to see or do here but jump into a scene. The first duo of levels takes place on a farm, with giant crops and green fields everywhere. What’s most unusual about this setting is a very jarring visual effect. As you move forward the world is beyond some sort of chain, as if you are on a huge cylinder. The problem is that the effect is poorly implemented; it actually bothered our eyes a bit. Once you clear that first world, other levels open up and they don’t seem to have this same issue.
Regardless, aside from the visual quirks, the game does have a whimsical look and feel, with everything in vivid colors and running at 60fps locked down on PlayStation 5. That said, it’s not particularly awesome to look at, with very simple characters and texture work. The music is better, accompanying the scenes with easygoing tunes that will probably end up in your head.
As for the gameplay itself, it’s extremely straightforward. The main hook of Balan Wonderworld is that your character can wear many costumes, and each offers a unique ability. Once you collect one, you’ll get a brief explanation of what it does. Examples in the demo include a wolf outfit that lets you spawn a tornado, a flower that can stretch to reach collectibles, and a dragon that can breathe fireballs. We say the gameplay is extremely straightforward because no matter what outfit you are currently using, its ability is activated with just one button. You can use any of the face buttons or one of the triggers (which have adaptive feedback on DualSense) to execute the power of a combination.
This means that the game is very accessible to young players and you don’t have to worry about the controls when you change costumes. You can bank three of them at a time and switch freely between them whenever you want. The good thing is that each ability can be used to progress through a level, but it can also be used against bad guys. Some are better than others at knocking back enemies, but just jumping over the head will do the job.
If you are hit by an enemy, you will lose the outfit you are currently wearing, which can be awkward depending on how far it was picked up. Generally speaking, they seem to be distributed intelligently, but be prepared to go back a bit if you need a particular ability.
After playing multiple levels in the demo, it looks like you want to go back to the previous stages with more outfits unlocked. You can choose which costumes to take from a scene, allowing you to mix things up and potentially gain access to new areas or hidden secrets. As far as we know, your main objective is to collect Golden Balan Statues, and you will need to use each outfit to find them all.
There are some mini-games to check out as well, but they fall flat enough, adding little to the experience. After playing through a stage, you will have collected colored gems. Back in the hub area, these gems can be fed to the chick like creatures called Tims, but that’s not really explained why you should.
This is not the only unexplained mystery; there is a counter in the middle of the hub, and we have yet to find out what it is for. After fighting a boss, we freed the farmer trapped inside, then took a ride on a sky train. This demo contains a fair amount of them, but the unexplained elements have us a little confused.
It is clear that the goal of this game is to create something with a dreamlike quality that is suitable for players of all skill levels. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but we can’t help but feel disappointed with what we played. Maybe the full game will do better with the entire image in place, because right now it looks like a weird mix of ideas that doesn’t quite come together.
The Balan Wonderworld demo will be available from Thursday, January 28 on PS5 and PS4. Are you going to check this out? Play dress up in the comments section below.
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