We are not quite sure where to start with Balan Wonderworld. Give early access to the demo – available to everyone from tomorrow – we’re playing this somewhat mysterious title, and we’m not entirely convinced. The demo itself is quite large, but in our experience we are not sold with this new concept of Yuji Naka.
After a stylish introduction to the world of the game with a flashy CG cutscene, you are connected in a center world that connects the levels of the games. There is not much to see or do here, but to jump to a stage. The first duo levels are in a farm setting, with giant crops and green fields everywhere. What is unusual about this setting is a very shocking visual effect. As you run forward, the world is beyond the kind of warping, as if you were sitting on a big cylinder. The problem is that the effect is poorly implemented; it actually messed up a bit with our eyes. After clearing this first world, other levels open up and they do not seem to have the same problem.
Be that as it may, visually exceptional, the game has a whimsical look and feel, with everything in bright colors and with a closed 60 frames per second on PlayStation 5. That being said, it’s not particularly impressive to look at do not look, with very simple characters and texture work. The music is better, and accompanies the stage with comfortable tracks that are likely to end up in your head.
As for the game itself, it’s extremely simple. The main hook of Balan Wonderworld is that your character can wear numerous costumes, and each offers a unique ability. After collecting one, you will get a brief outline of what it does. Examples in the demo are a wolf outfit with which you can generate a tornado, a flower that can stretch to reach collectibles, and a dragon that can breathe fireballs. We say that the game is extremely simple, because no matter what outfit you are currently using, the ability is turned on with one button. You can use any of the face buttons or one of the triggers (which have a customizable feedback on DualSense) to perform the power of a suit.
This means the game is very accessible to younger players, and there is no worry about the controls when switching between costumes. You can bank three of them at once, and you can switch between them freely if you wish. What’s nice is that every ability can be used to progress on a level, but it can also be used against bad things. Some are better than others at repelling enemies, but just jumping on their head will do the job.
If you are hit by an enemy, you lose the outfit you are currently wearing, which can be an annoyance depending on how far the pickup is from the costume. In general, they seem to be cleverly handed out, but be prepared to return a bit if you need a specific skill.
After playing through various levels in the demo, it would seem that you want to return to previous stages with more outfits unlocked. You can pick and choose which costumes you want to take on stage so you can mix things up and possibly have access to new areas or hidden secrets. Your main goal is, as far as we can tell, to collect gold Balan images, and you must use every outfit to find them all.
There are also mini-games to discover, but they fall pretty flat and do not add much to the experience. After playing through a stage, you have collected some colored gems. Back in the hub area, these gems like chicks named Tims can be fed to the chick, but it is not really explained why you should do this.
This is not the only unexplained mystery; there’s a counter in the middle of the hub, and we have yet to determine what it’s for. After fighting with a boss, we freed the farmer who was trapped inside, and then rode an air train. This demo contains a fair amount, but the inexplicable elements stunned us a bit.
Clearly, the goal of this game is to create something with a dreamlike quality that is suitable for players of all skill levels. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, but we can not help but feel overwhelmed by what we’ve been playing. Maybe the whole game will fare better with the whole picture in place, because it currently feels like a bizarre jumble of ideas not quite coming together.
The Balan Wonderworld demo is available on PS5 and PS4 from Thursday 28 January. Will you investigate this? Play dress up in the comments below.