A strange, colorful new game called Balan Wonderworld was announced during Xbox's recent showcase, and it was rather unexpected in more ways than one. The title has some important names behind it, and between them and its general feel, the game looks to be the kind of surreal, magical adventure that would be familiar to those who grew up during the '90s era of Nintendo and Sega-led projects.
The game comes from the minds of Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima, who are both well-known for their work on the Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as 1996's NiGHTS into Dreams. Naka's first announced project since his move to Square Enix, Balan Wonderworld appears to take heavy inspiration from his and Ohshima's earlier contributions, with bright, colorful worlds and characters set within an otherworldly, dream-like realm. The two Sega legends introduced their new title together in a trailer that showed glimpses of behind the scenes work alongside footage of the game itself to drum up hype for Balan Wonderworld's eventual release.
Described as the "action game of action games" by Naka himself, the game deals with the balance of positive and negative emotions. If the balance is disrupted, one could wind up in the brightly-lit Balan Theatre, headed up by the quirky, grinning, low-hat-wearing Balan. This is, of course, is where the young player characters Leo and Emma come in. Using a total of over 80 different costumes, each with their own abilities, the two children must traverse through a dozen areas formed by the struggles of various people caught in the crossfire of their own emotions. Currently, it's unknown if the game will contain different levels for each character (akin to how they were divided in NiGHTS) or if choosing a character is simply an aesthetic choice.
Balan Wonderworld's gave some glimpses into the flow of the game itself, which shows off its roots in '90s-style platforming and level design. Neon-lit streets, giant chess boards and floating masses of farmland were among the various environments shown off, with plenty of floating gems to collect and bizarre baddies to stomp into submission.
We also got a glimpse of what look to be several bosses, who look to provide a larger challenge for players to overcome, with numerous traps and obstacles standing in the way of victory. The entire set-up is something that should be familiar to anyone who spent their childhood playing cartoony platformers, spending hours in a seemingly never-ending Easter egg hunt to find every last collectible. The game seems to be attempting to capture that innocent spirit rather than shooting for a realistic look.
The trailer showed a small selection of the game's many teased costumes. One of them, the "Whirling Wolf," has the player character dressed up in an oversized wolf outfit, which (as the name implies) enables them to spin like a tornado to thwart enemies. The "Web Wrangler" costume bestows a spider-themed ensemble to climb along webs, and the "Super Streamer" and "Pumpkin Puncher" outfits appear to give more long-range combat abilities with blasts of water and projectile fists, respectively. There's also an unnamed costume that gives the ability to run as a super-fast blue speedster, an obvious and loving nod to the Blue Blue and his connection with Balan Wonderworld's creators. Players will certainly have plenty of options to tackle the game's bizarre landscapes.
The game is said to have taken inspiration from musical theatre, something that is clear from the cinematics that we've seen so far in which Balan puts on a show bursting with lights and color. Composer Ryo Yamazaki mentions how he was tasked with coming up with a score that was like a "mysterious and fantastical" musical, and even employed the efforts of performers from London's West End (which Yamazaki jokingly describes as the "Mecca of musicals"). It's easy to see that Square Enix is preparing a feast for the ears as well as the eyes.
With two of Sega's most prolific contributors at the helm and backed by the powerhouse that is Square Enix, Balan Wonderworld is shaping up to be an ambitious nostalgia trip to the heyday of quirky, colorful collect-a-thons. Time will tell if it's a performance that delivers, but for fans of '90s platforming antics, this might be a title to consider lining up at the box office for.
Developed by Balan Company and published by Square Enix, Balan Wonderworld will release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and PC in 2021.
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