14 DAY TRIAL // 
I’m looking at a canyon, which I need to cross, that’s filled with two types of danger. There’s a local animal, like a boar crossed with a porcupine but all black, patrolling one patch of land. And there’s an alien drone, glowing threateningly blue as it scans the ground looking for me and my companion.
Lana is a nimble character but she cannot outrun either of those and the drone can fly to get to us and zap the duo into unconsciousness. And the only way to reach the end of the area is by some platforms made up of vegetation. This means that my enemies are actually puzzle pieces that I need to slot in the right places. It’s a good thing my own animal companion has some abilities that will come in handy.
We first avoid the drone, then hypnotize the boar, then (I won’t give away the puzzle solution) execute a careful set of moves to get past both. It took about three minutes to come up with the idea and a few tries and deaths to execute it. Now it’s time for some more running to the right, which in time should bring us to our kidnapped by aliens brethren.
Planet of Lana is developed by Wishfully and published by Thunderful Publishing. I played on Steam on the PC. The game is also offered on the Xbox Series X and S and the Xbox One. The title is a puzzle platformer with an intriguing world and a beautiful presentation.
Lana starts off with two teenagers playing around a lovely village, their futures ruined by the arrival of a fleet of alien ships that kidnaps one of them. The protagonist sets off in pursuit, moving across the planet of Novo in search of her friend. She finds an eager companion, a sort of cat that can understand voice commands. She’s named Mui and sicks by our heroine through thick and thin.
Throughout the game players, especially if they do a thorough job of exploring, will get more details and context. But the characters do not speak an intelligible language and there are no subtitles. There are a few big reveals but I gradually became less interested in the narrative and started to focus on simply making progress.
Planet of Lana mixes platforming and puzzles, with an emphasis on the latter. The main characters will jump and swim but the focus is not on perfect timing or quick reactions under pressure. There’s always plenty of time to think about the situation, figure out the pieces of the puzzle and decide how to best approach it.
The real hero of Planet of Lana’s gameplay is the cat-like creature that follows the protagonist around. Mui can jump higher than her, meaning she is invaluable in reaching ledges to drop down ropes. It can also distract the mechanized aliens in various ways and offers the only way to interface with the weird flora that will open up new paths for progress.
Later on, the cat will hypnotize threatening animals, operate some of the machinery, and more. Mui is only afraid of water, which leads to some of the more annoying segments of the game when players have to find rafts for her and slowly traverse bodies of water.
Gameplay challenges are initially easy, requiring just a few actions and some quick thinking. As players make progress, the level of complexity increases, with more moving pieces and phases, but, thankfully, they remain accessible and mostly fun to engage with.
Solid checkpoint placement also means that there’s limited frustration even when a challenge requires players to avoid a mechanical threat. There’s no combat, which is a good choice given the nature of this world. For certain puzzles, players can control the alien drones, which are a little sluggish.
The more advanced puzzles ask gamers to juggle a lot of interactions. Lana might be using a drone, while Mui is keeping an animal entranced, with both also having to move through the environment. It can be easy to mix up the controls and do something dumb that leads to failure. But there’s no pressure to act fast so take your time to ensure smooth execution.
I like the title’s smooth puzzle flow and gently increasing difficulty level. The biggest problem I have with Planet of Lana is that it overuses some interactions without adding anything to the experience. I’ve used Mui to pull out dark vines that blocked progress quite a few times and the mechanic was only engaging once or twice. I wanted less of those and more moments that break up the flow and force players to think of entirely new ways to engage with the problem.
Planet of Lana is a beautiful game, clearly inspired by Studio Ghibli animations. The world, despite being specifically designed to facilitate the gameplay, is good-looking and becomes even more interesting when something special shows up. Lana’s animations are sometimes a little awkward but she and her animal companion are expressive, while enemies are suitably scary. I liked all the moments when the camera pans out for a cinematic reveal. Despite the overall beauty of the world, it’s a shame that the developers didn’t try for more weirdness when it comes to alien design.
Takeshi Furukawa created the title’s soundtrack to suit the look and its science-fiction setting. It’s both subtle and effective, adding to the emotional moments while staying in the background when gamers need to stay focused on an action puzzle sequence.
The Good
- Puzzle design
- Central duo interactions
- Ghibli-inspired presentation
The Bad
- Hard to find story elements
- Needs more puzzle variety
- Flying mechanics
Conclusion
At times, finding a kidnapped friend seems too flimsy a motivation for Lana to continue her adventure. But gameplay is good enough, with limited reasons for frustration and some very clever puzzles, to keep players engaged. Planet of Lana has heart and engaging gameplay sequences, although these could have used extra variety.
A review key was provided by the publisher
