Balan Wonderworld Review

Balan Wonderworld is a running, jumping and exploration game where you control two characters Emma and Leo in the imaginary place called Wonderworld. The world is populated with people’s memories: happy helpful characters but also restless worries and negativity thoughts that create enemies and boss battles. For Emma and Leo to return to the real world they must find out why the clown, Balan, led them there.

“In times of sadness or difficulty, finding true happiness starts within,” says the trailer. It’s simplistic and saccharine, but escape to this world for even a few minutes and you are swept along by it’s charming interaction, characters and environments.

The story plays out in 12 stories and builds a narrative as you go on. There are 80 different costumes that can be collected, each has a different ability and attack style. This takes you through the differently themed biomes for each area of the world, and the challenges and enemies that come with it.

It’s a game that draws on the early 3D platform challenges like Mario 64. It’s also similar to other recent full-world platform games like Mario Odyssey and Yooka Laylee although with more an an action element like the Sonic games.