Ballex²: The Hanging Gardens

Ballex²: The Hanging Gardens, developed and published by Mushreb Games, is a precision-based puzzle platformer that challenges players with gravity-defying traversal, physics-driven puzzles, and a serene yet perilous atmosphere. At first glance, it appears deceptively simple—roll a ball from point A to point B across floating platforms—but it quickly reveals itself to be a nuanced and demanding game that requires not just skill, but thoughtful planning and an understanding of each ball’s unique physics. The game is a sequel to the original Ballex, and it builds upon that foundation with more complex mechanics, enhanced visuals, and a deeper focus on environmental puzzle design.
The core gameplay revolves around navigating a variety of intricate levels set in a surreal, suspended world known as the Hanging Gardens. You control a ball from a third-person perspective and must roll, glide, stick, and maneuver your way through obstacle-laden stages. What sets this game apart is the variety of ball types, each with its own material properties. The sponge ball bounces and compresses, the sticky ball can cling to surfaces, the stone ball is heavy and stable, and the balloon ball floats with an unpredictable lightness. Learning how each ball behaves on different surfaces and in varying environmental conditions is essential—not just to complete levels, but to do so efficiently and stylishly. These differences aren’t just cosmetic; they fundamentally change the way each level plays.
Level design is clearly a centerpiece of the experience, with the game offering twenty main levels and twenty additional side levels that test the player’s mastery of the mechanics. The main stages escalate in complexity, introducing narrow walkways, swinging obstacles, moving platforms, wind currents, and timed switches. Meanwhile, the side levels often act as advanced challenges, pushing your understanding of ball physics and your control precision to the limit. Unlike many puzzle games, there's no jump button—your movement is dictated entirely by momentum, slope, gravity, and friction. This forces you to think ahead and react quickly, especially in later stages where timing becomes just as important as spatial awareness.
Visually, Ballex² is minimalist but artistically striking. The game opts for clean lines, soft color palettes, and open-air environments that emphasize verticality and space. Floating gardens, seasonal backdrops, and distant ruins all serve to make the levels feel serene despite their difficulty. This aesthetic choice does more than look pretty—it also keeps the visual clutter to a minimum, ensuring that you’re focused on traversal and mechanics rather than overwhelming detail. That said, some players may occasionally struggle with depth perception in certain camera angles, which can lead to missteps, especially in the more vertical or multi-layered levels.
The game offers two main control schemes, catering to different player preferences. The classic control mode uses directional keys with fixed camera angles, ideal for more methodical players who want to approach each puzzle like a chessboard. The free control mode gives you full WASD and mouse control with smoother camera movement, which is more intuitive but can sometimes be harder to manage in tight spaces. The choice between the two becomes more important in later levels where precision is critical. The lack of a jump button might feel restrictive at first, but it's a deliberate design decision that forces players to engage with the terrain itself and think about angles, momentum, and ball behavior rather than just brute-forcing a solution.
One of the strongest features in Ballex² is the level editor and Steam Workshop integration. This opens the door for community creativity, allowing players to design and share their own stages using the game’s built-in assets. For a physics-driven puzzle game, this is a natural fit—the player base can keep the experience fresh long after completing the base game. Some community-made levels rival or even surpass the difficulty and creativity of the official ones, and for players who thrive on experimentation and mastery, this adds significant replay value. The developer has also done well to support the editor with regular updates and improvements, showing a level of commitment that adds credibility to the game's longevity.
Despite its many strengths, Ballex² is not without flaws. The game’s difficulty curve can be steep, especially for players not already comfortable with precision platformers. While it’s rewarding to finally nail a challenging section, the trial-and-error nature of the gameplay can be frustrating when combined with punishing physics and limited margin for error. There are also occasional issues with visual clarity—some objects blend too much into the environment, and camera positioning can sometimes obscure crucial angles or platforms. Additionally, performance may dip on lower-end systems in particularly lush stages with many moving parts or dynamic lighting effects, although for most players this is unlikely to be a major barrier.
Ultimately, Ballex²: The Hanging Gardens is a game built on precision, atmosphere, and challenge. It rewards careful control and mechanical understanding, offering a level of depth that goes well beyond its minimalistic surface. For players who enjoy methodical puzzle-solving, tight physics mechanics, and games that require focus and mastery, it’s an incredibly satisfying experience. While not for those seeking a casual or forgiving playthrough, it stands out as a polished and ambitious indie title with a clear identity and a well-executed vision. It’s a meditative, sometimes maddening journey across floating worlds that demands—and earns—your full attention.
Rating: 9/10

Magnificent game.
The many, lengthy levels are very intelligently crafted, varied and atmospheric, both in terms of scenery as well as music, which I think is unique for every level.
The controls even though unusual, in the sense that movement is possible in 45 degrees steps, work really well after some practice. After all, that is the concept of the game. If using the arrow keys of the keyboard is uncomfortable, a good idea is to map them to a gamepad's D-pad.
In sort, Ballex 2 is a meticulously well designed , challenging action / puzzle game, with great aesthetic sense.

Very emotional story,,, inspirational.......sometimes you are a ball made of ice and other times you are a gummy ball balancing yourself on castle like platforms in space..... like if you agree

I've been looking for 20ish years for a spiritual successor to ballance, this is it. This game is perfect in every way, easily worth twice the price they ask for it.

Awesome game. Casual puzzler with beautiful 3D graphics and physics.

В формате умеренных головоломок с катанием шаров, как это ранее предоставлял классический Балланс из 2000-х, это лучшее, что я видел. Игра не стесняется говорить, что "мы - духовный наследник Балланса". И об этом говорит много элементов гейм дизайна. Даже один из сайд квестов посвящен суперски похожему уровню из главного меню игры.
В общем, графон подкачали, головоломки очень хорошо подтянули, саундтрек приятный. Как истинный шаро%б, рекомендую.

feels like ballex 1, somehow even more gorgeous. there's some freaky graphical glitches on steam deck though. fsr makes the screen go blank sometimes so set supersampling to stp for best results. after that you'll still see uninitialized? rainbow vram in some layer of the scene sometimes. still playable but probably not intended