Balan Wonderworld

Balan Wonderworld

Developers
	Arzest
	Balan Company
Publishers
	Square Enix
Engines
	Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows	March 26, 2021
Reception
Metacritic	38
OpenCritic	48
IGDB	57
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform
Sports	Football (Soccer), Baseball
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Fantasy

Balan Wonderworld is a 3D platformer developed by Arzest and Balan Company and published by Square Enix. The game is notable for its extensive powerup system.

The game was released on Steam on March 26, 2021. A pre-release demo was made available on January 27, 2021 but was removed on June 2, 2021.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Publisher website
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Microsoft Store		Xbox Play Anywhere.
Steam

Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM was removed on September 22, 2021.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\BALAN WONDERWORLD\Steam\<user-id>\SaveGames\Option.sav %LOCALAPPDATA%\Happiness\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1341050/pfx/

The first configuration file is encrypted. The second file only allows changing a few of its values, such as screen resolution (for instance, the value for HDR has no effect on the game).

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\BALAN WONDERWORLD\Steam\<user-id>\SaveGames\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1341050/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Graphics settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Aspect ratios taller than 16:9 are letterboxed.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Stretched in fullscreen, pillarboxed in borderless windowed.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Referred to as Virtual Full Screen.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		The game always uses x8 anisotropic filtering. See Anisotropic filtering (AF) for more.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		On/off toggle with TAA is used. See Anti-aliasing (AA) for more options.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS		Choice to lock to 60 FPS or 30 FPS.
120+ FPS		See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the engine page to force native HDR output, or the glossary page for other alternatives.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Custom anisotropic samples
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Engine.ini. Add the following and save the file. [SystemSettings] r.MaxAnisotropy=16 Anisotropic filtering quality can be adjusted by changing the value between 0 and 16.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Change anti-aliasing to FXAA

Follow the instructions to enable the developer console in the game. Press ~ (requires US-Standard keyboard layout, as the game does not accept any alternate buttons for this). Enter r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing 1 FXAA quality can be adjusted by changing the value of r.PostProcessAAQuality between 1 (low) and 6 (high). Requires to be run after each game launch. Adjusting any in-game graphics settings reverts the AA method and the fix needs to be redone.

High frame rate

Custom frame rate cap
Follow the instructions to enable the developer console in the game. Press ~ (requires US-Standard keyboard layout, as the game does not accept any alternate buttons for this). Set the value of t.MaxFPS to the desired frame rate cap, e.g. t.MaxFPS 144 Requires to be run after each game launch. Adjusting any in-game graphics settings reverts the frame rate cap and the fix needs to be redone.

Input

Key bindings

Camera settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Some keys cannot be bound to the mouse.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Separate sensitivity options for X-axis and Y-axis.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Separate option for X-axis inversion.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Present with the Vertical Movement option. X-axis inversion is present with the Horizontal Movement option.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts		Xbox prompts are always active if a controller is detected during launch.
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Steam Input
Steam Input API support
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound Effects, and Voices.
Surround sound		Supports 7.1.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
French
German
Greek
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese				Spoken lines in the intro do not match up with the official Japanese subtitles. However, the spoken dialogue is in Balanese and it's done by the Japanese voice cast.
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Co-op
LAN play
Online play
Asynchronous multiplayer

Issues fixed

"Play with a friend" controller prompt does not recognize the controller

The game treats both the keyboard/mouse and the first connected controller as Player 1.
Connect a second dummy controller if intending to have player 1 on a keyboard, and player 2 on a controller.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Audio	Vorbis, XAudio2

Command line arguments

See command line arguments on how to use the following options.

Parameter	Description
-windowed	Forces windowed mode.
-fullscreen	Forces fullscreen mode.
-d3d12	Forces DirectX 12 renderer.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	8.1	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-4430 AMD Ryzen 3 1200	Intel Core i5-6400 AMD Ryzen 5 1400
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 AMD Radeon R9 270X DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 480

A 64-bit operating system is required.