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Balan Wonderworld demo launches January 28
- Thread starter Mista
- Start date
D.Final
Banned
A demo is always a good thing to do
Publisher Square Enix and developer Arzest will release a demo for Balan Wonderworld for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on January 28 worldwide, the companies announced.
The demo will feature Acts 1 and 2 of Chapter 1, Act 1 of Chapter 4, and Act 1 of Chapter 6, as well as access to the Isle of Tims, the hub area where you can also raise mysterious creatures called Tims. The demo also supports two-person local multiplayer.
Here is an overview of the demo, via Square Enix:
Gematsu
"BALAN WONDERWORLD FREE DEMO ARRIVES NEXT WEEK!" - Square Enix North America Press Hub
press.na.square-enix.com
shenmue mugen
Member
So do I. Will download this baby asap.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Astro Bots controls felt great and its costume mechanics were more interesting than Balan.
Orta
Banned
Yikes, I mentioned the PC version looks lovely, tried the Switch version just now, it genuinely looks like a Saturn game! I know its a demo and possibly an early one at that but its as shoddy looking a Switch title as I've seen. Jaggies, lo-resolution, really dark, blurry textures, etc. The difference between it and Mario Odyssey for example is monumental.
Inexcusable!
Inexcusable!
HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
Liked the demo a lot, very charming game. Controls feel great, I dig the character and level designs. Unfortunately, the game is not for me. If my daughter was a little older, I'd recommend it to her. I hope this game is a commercial success.
D.Final
Banned
I can't wait to play it
Sander Cohen
Member
I don’t think I’ve ever played something where contrast is so stark between gorgeous CG cutscenes (where SE continues to be at the top of this industry) and game itself that is just so awful beyond words. WTH is going on there at SE, it’s baffling. 
Shaqazooloo
Member
Okay, played the demo and yeah it's kind of bad. The character moves so slowly and feels like you lose whatever little momentum you have when you jump, changing forms is slow and feels like very little is happening as you run around these areas. It's quite boring.
Played the Switch version, i'm not usually someone to comment on graphics but this looks really rough.
I like the world design and how it flattens out or folds up the further you go and the cutscenes look fantastic but those are the only good things I can say about it tbh.
Played the Switch version, i'm not usually someone to comment on graphics but this looks really rough.
I like the world design and how it flattens out or folds up the further you go and the cutscenes look fantastic but those are the only good things I can say about it tbh.
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GrayFoxPL
Member
Played whole day. Got 24 statues. Max I think.
Tried to get one far away costume in stage one by using cloud sheep costume for 2 hours but the game wouldn't let me cheat.
Big demo. Chapters 1,4,6, Boss.
Game oozes atmosphere and charm, so much Nights similarity in characters, story, art style and music. Fantastic stuff.
Runs smooth and looks great on base PS4. There is heavy aliasing in train cutscenes but I think these were simply unfinished.
Anyone knows if there's any use for the hilarious Cat Cube costume?
Shame about some of the reactions here, many people didn't appreciate Nights either.
Yuji Naka, you did great again.
Tried to get one far away costume in stage one by using cloud sheep costume for 2 hours but the game wouldn't let me cheat.
Big demo. Chapters 1,4,6, Boss.
Game oozes atmosphere and charm, so much Nights similarity in characters, story, art style and music. Fantastic stuff.
Runs smooth and looks great on base PS4. There is heavy aliasing in train cutscenes but I think these were simply unfinished.
Anyone knows if there's any use for the hilarious Cat Cube costume?
Shame about some of the reactions here, many people didn't appreciate Nights either.
Yuji Naka, you did great again.
Moogle11
Banned
Didn’t like this at all. Honestly, feels like a bigger budget mobile game to me. Something like Oceanhorn. Not bad really, but I can’t stand the art style and just don’t see it as worth playing over other games in the genre on consoles/PC. Powerups are all kind of lame and boring to me as well. Just nothing appealed to me in my time with the demo.
To be fair, I don’t enjoy exploration/collectathon 3D platformers anymore, so it’s just not my cup of tea even if it had clicked with me on other fronts. I just hadn’t heard of it before seeing the thread about the demo and gave it a go while laid up recovering from hernia surgery.
To be fair, I don’t enjoy exploration/collectathon 3D platformers anymore, so it’s just not my cup of tea even if it had clicked with me on other fronts. I just hadn’t heard of it before seeing the thread about the demo and gave it a go while laid up recovering from hernia surgery.
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Mister Wolf
Gold Member
Now you see why SEGA wouldn't bankroll this bullshit.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
Played whole day. Got 24 statues. Max I think.
Tried to get one far away costume in stage one by using cloud sheep costume for 2 hours but the game wouldn't let me cheat.
Big demo. Chapters 1,4,6, Boss.
Game oozes atmosphere and charm, so much Nights similarity in characters, story, art style and music. Fantastic stuff.
Runs smooth and looks great on base PS4. There is heavy aliasing in train cutscenes but I think these were simply unfinished.
Anyone knows if there's any use for the hilarious Cat Cube costume?
Shame about some of the reactions here, many people didn't appreciate Nights either.
Yuji Naka, you did great again.
Thanks for your positive impressions.
Orta
Banned
Gave it a second more thorough playthrough on my PC this evening and despite my initial positive reaction, yeah, its pretty meh. I think at best I'd buy it for a tenner. I can see the costume changes becoming very tedious and involving lots of backtracking if you don't have the correct one for a specific scenario. The levels look to be very cliched too and the cut-scenes & story to put it mildly are completely retarded. Might have been a keeper 20 years ago, not in 2021 however and certainly not for €60.
JunkerWoland
Member
Simply having two, distinct actions buttons would help the game immensely. One could allow the character to perform a basic jump, regardless of costume, while the other executes the costume ability. This would prevent instances, where the character isn't able to jump at all or stomp on enemies; it'd also decrease the frequency of switching costumes and the need to sit through the change animation.
infinitys_7th
Member
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Esppiral
Member
I don't know what the fuck I've just played.
Is this a Chao Garden? That Balan dude is Nights in disguise? Why the main character looks like sonic from behind? Was that song sung in German? What I am supposed to do after beating the first boss, look how all those Chao like flurries wonder around?
Why the game runs at 60fps, the game world updates at 30fps and the shadows at 15?
Why does the farmer dances after all his field was devastated? Why is people dancing while monsters are trying to kill you? Why the CGI's are Pixar tier and the game looks like shit?
Have they just ripped sounds from Sega Saturn Nights? Because those gems sounds are 100% the same.
Why I am doing so many questions?
Is this a Chao Garden? That Balan dude is Nights in disguise? Why the main character looks like sonic from behind? Was that song sung in German? What I am supposed to do after beating the first boss, look how all those Chao like flurries wonder around?
Why the game runs at 60fps, the game world updates at 30fps and the shadows at 15?
Why does the farmer dances after all his field was devastated? Why is people dancing while monsters are trying to kill you? Why the CGI's are Pixar tier and the game looks like shit?
Have they just ripped sounds from Sega Saturn Nights? Because those gems sounds are 100% the same.
Why I am doing so many questions?
Neff
Member
This feels like the kind of PSX/Saturn 3D platformer developers tried making before Super Mario 64, where they attempted to brute force everything they knew about 2D platform design into a redundant third dimension for the sake of it. The level design is extremely bland, and worse, it commits the terrible sin of simply not feeling good to play. Actions are unsatisfying and lack feedback. The pace is plodding without brisk movement. It all just feels too trite and simplistic, and lacks mechanical sophistication.
There's something about it though. The general presentation is quite fresh (I was not expecting that post-boss dance number), the character designs are great, and I even like the QTE bonus stages. That intro, too.
I'll keep an eye on it, but I expect it to do poorly.
Pretty much. It's no Mario or Astro Bot. Those games hold up for all ages because they deliver on quality throughout.
There's something about it though. The general presentation is quite fresh (I was not expecting that post-boss dance number), the character designs are great, and I even like the QTE bonus stages. That intro, too.
I'll keep an eye on it, but I expect it to do poorly.
Pretty much. It's no Mario or Astro Bot. Those games hold up for all ages because they deliver on quality throughout.
Camreezie
Member
Hello Yuji Naka
gamingforum1
Member
Hold my beer, I'm going in.
Rock And Roll
Member
Played the demo and I wasn't too impressed. The controls are stiff, the world is barren and it doesn't have anything going for it outside of visuals and music. I was looking forward to this as I love NiGHTS but I'm probably going to wait until this hits $10-15 on sale. It's really unfortunate that it turned out this way, I was hoping for a lot more out of this game.
Portugeezer
Member
What even is this game.
SonicJams
Member
How did you go? I was actually very disappointed with it unfortunately. I think the sentiment of it feeling like a mobile game is accurate. Wonder why Yuji Naka didn't try and nail the feel of the gameplay?
Team Andromeda
Member
The typical modern gamer. This game is crap because YouTube told me so
Dthomp
Member
Man, I can't recall the last time I played a demo so bad. I thought at least I'd enjoy how pretty it is, but that is all in the cutscene stuff. Game is stiff as hell to play (Like dated by multiple gens), and just not fun. What's worse is my wife that was looking more forward to it then me stopped at the same exact spot like 5 minutes in saying this is bad and I don't want to play this crap. So many better 3D platform games out there from last gen alone, not to mention that this will come out within some sort of window (Hopefully) of Ratchet. Maybe a PSN $10-15 dollar sale, but I doubt I'd bite at that, I felt it was that bad
Orta
Banned
They probably REALLY like the playable characters.....
Boaty McBoatface
Member
You were the chosen ones ;_;
SpiceRacz
Member
They defend it because you're essentially playing as furries.
ProgenitorCastle
Banned
I hope this was just a bad demo because certain things were well executed but imo the core gameplay combined with the level design didn't do it for me so far. My favorite thing about the demo was the rythym game Special Stage and the scoring system that was born from Sonic 3 and Knuckles'.