Noriyoshi Fujimoto, the Producer of Balan Wonderworld, has discussed the feedback to the demo, and how the game will have a day one patch.
As previously reported, the player’s adventures through the world of people’s hearts is not always a smooth one. Some people have had their hearts twisted by bad memories and negative feelings, creating and even turning themselves into monsters. You can find our coverage on the character trailers here [1, 2, 3, 4].
Fujimoto discussed the game’s themes and gameplay on Square Enix’ official website, including “what is truly important in life,” and how the traumas and fears of each character may be things the player has or will experience; Fujimoto included. Players will harness positive memories and emotions from the Tims within the hearts of people to defeat Negati; born of bad memories and traumas.
Players will have access to over 80 costumes, born from the happy memories of those people, and each with their own abilities. Fujimoto explains “Just as there’s not only one correct way to keep balance within your own heart as you confront difficult situations in everyday life, there’s also not simply one correct way to clear each stage with a certain costume.”
Fujimoto also discussed the reaction to the game’s demo. Reactions to the demo were poor for some [1, 2, 3, 4]; though others did state they enjoyed it [1, 2]. The rough consensus on issues (thanks CBR) include the controls, inconsistent level design leaving stages feeling empty or shallow, a lack of a back button in menus, and the general feeling of the demo being unfinished.
Lengthy costume transformation also made gameplay feel restrictive; especially when being able to jump was tied to specific costumes. As these jumping costumes have a built in attack, many felt costumes that attacked but could not jump were quickly made redundant.
Fujimoto revealed- less than two weeks from release- that not all the feedback could be addressed. However the game will have a day one patch, addressing movement controls, camera movement, and adjusting the difficulty.
“There’s been a wide range of opinions and responses to the demo, and unfortunately at the current stage of development, it simply isn’t feasible to reflect every piece of feedback into the game. However, to offer you all a more balanced gameplay experience, we will be implementing a day one patch for the full game.
Specifically, this patch will adjust movement controls, camera movement, and rebalancing of the difficulty. “
You can find the full rundown (via Steam) below:
Welcome to a wondrous all-action show, the likes of which has never been seen before!
BALAN WONDERWORLD is a wondrous action platformer game themed around the Balan Theatre. Led by the enigmatic maestro named Balan, the stars of the show Emma and Leo 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 the Wonderworld, each with their own unique quirks. They will explore all corners of these labyrinthine stages, filled with a myriad of tricks and traps, to get to the heart of each story.Wonderworld exists in people’s hearts and imagination
The setting for this tale is the fantastic, bizarre land of Wonderworld; a place where people’s happy and positive memories mix with their restless worries and negativity.
Leo and Emma are led into Wonderworld by the mysterious clown Balan and set off on a journey to find what is important to them.
Before they can return to the real world, they must first restore the lost balance in their hearts…Over 80 different costumes open up all the action you could want!
The stars of the show can use powers from the inhabitants of Wonderworld by wearing their colourful costumes, with over 80 different ones to try on!
Bash your enemies, walk in the air, freeze time or manipulate all kinds of objects… the possibilities are endless when you pick up a new costume.Two Legendary Creators Reunite!
Come one, come all and enjoy the pinnacle of Square Enix storytelling in an all-action world of wonder created by the legendary Naka Yuji. For the first time in 20 years Naka Yuji and Oshima Naoto join forces forming the BALAN COMPANY team; founded around, bringing together action game development, video and music production professionals from both inside and outside of the company.2-Player Local Co-op Mode
Enjoy an even more wondrous adventure as one player controls Leo and the other controls Emma in 2 Player Co-op Local Mode. Co-operate together combining the abilities of two different costumes which will surely open new paths as you wander through Wonderworld!
Balan Wonderworld launches March 26th, 2021 on Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A demo is available now.
