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During exploration, enemies called Negati will appear and attack the player character. A simple control scheme is used, with two buttons used to change between costumes, and other actions aside from character and camera movement mapped to all other buttons. Collectables include Balan Statues and crystalline objects called Drops.
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Within each chapter, Leo or Emma must navigate through a sandbox environment, searching areas for collectables and solving puzzles to progress to the end of the level. In the beginning, only the first chapter is available, collecting items called Balan Statues in each area will unlock Chapters. The game plays out across twelve multi-level areas called Chapters. Gameplay from Balan Wonderworld the player character (centre) uses a costume ability to traverse the environment.īalan Wonderworld is a platform game where players take on the role of either Leo Craig or Emma Cole, two children drawn into the magical realm of Wonderworld by a being called Balan. Following the release, Naka resigned from Square Enix he later revealed he had been removed six months before the release due to internal conflict around its quality and marketing. Critics panned its gameplay and design, although some praised its character design and music. The game received generally negative reviews and underperformed commercially. Square Enix also published a novelization by Kawasaki.
Balan wonderworld sales series#
The cutscenes were created by Visual Works.īalan Wonderworld was released worldwide for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 26 March. The music, composed by Ryo Yamazaki and Hironori Anazawa, emulates musical scores and includes vocals from West End performers such as Laura Pitt-Pulford. The scenario was written by novelist Soushi Kawasaki. The aesthetic was based on musical theater, and Naka studied the hero's journey when creating the story draft. Development began in 2018 it was Naka's first collaboration with the artist Naoto Ohshima since Sonic Adventure (1998). They explore levels, collecting items to progress to further areas and using a variety of powers unlocked using themed costumes.īalan Wonderworld is the debut project of Balan Company, a subsidiary brand of Square Enix led by Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog and Nights into Dreams. Assuming the role of two children guided by a magical being called Balan, the player explores twelve worlds themed after the hearts of troubled individuals. For example, he once threatened to leave Sega because the American studio Sega Technical Institute wished to use the engine he worked on for ‘Nights Into Dreams’ in their upcoming title ‘Sonic X-Treme’.Īs of this article Square Enix has not responded to these accusations.Balan Wonderworld is a 2021 platform game developed by Arzest and Balan Company and published by Square Enix. It should be noted that Yuji Naka is known for being rather difficult to work with. He is currently working as an indie developer and has made a mobile game by himself. Naka left Square Enix in 2021 following the poor reception and sales of Balan Wonderworld. I think Square Enix and Arzest are companies that don’t care about games or their fans.” I wanted to further improve various things and put out a great action game. “Personally, I’m very sorry that ‘Balan Wonderworld’ was released in such an unfinished state. The second, and more significant factor was that co-developer Arzest had submitted the final build of the game which was filled with “known bugs.” Naka wanted them to make further improvements which were denied by the game’s producer who wanted to keep to a “tight schedule”. Naka asserted that the original track be used instead. The first was when a Youtuber was hired to play an arranged version of a song from the game for promotional purposes instead of the original. He states that Square Enix decided to remove him due to two incidents. In his tweets, Naka explains that the decision to remove him was decided by the producer, promotional partner, sound director, project director, and HR.
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I would like to talk about this now that the trial is over and the business order is no longer in effect. “Approximately half a year before the launch of Balan Wonderworld, a business order was issued that I was to be removed from directing of Balan Wonderworld, so I filed a lawsuit against Square Enix in court.
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