Planet of Lana released in 2023 to strong reviews, but flew under the radar. Wishfully Game’s short and sweet indie platform puzzler was a real treat, with its painterly style and cute central partnership at its centre.
While the original is still well worth seeking out, the story is quickly recapped in the opening moments of Planet of Lana 2. In short, Lana and her cat-like companion Mui had their peaceful existence shattered by a rain of hostile robots falling from the sky and running amok across their home planet of Novo.
It is now two years later, and their world has changed. Society has harnessed the very technology that once tried to capture and kill them. Tribal factions have splintered across the land and technology even encroaches on Lana’s quaint fishing village. There is some semblance of balance in this new normal.
As you can imagine, the fragile status quo does not last and after a brief tutorial, Lana and her sister are attacked, leaving the younger girl poisoned. Big sister must venture out in search of ingredients to make a cure. With Mui in tow, her journey leads back into the wild, where she encounters an even more evolved technological threat. She also starts to uncover secrets surrounding the robot’s presence on Novo.
There is a compelling mystery unravelling across Planet of Lana 2. The worldbuilding is strong and the story is all the more intriguing thanks to the use of a constructed language, which shifts most of the narrative burden onto the visuals. Interactions between Lana and other NPCs are subtitled, but the majority of the game is made up of a genuinely sweet, wordless companionship.
The beautiful hand-painted style of the environments creates an atmospheric and often terrifying world. There is a strong contrast between biomes, and the fusion of wild nature and cold metal is striking. All of this builds a rich, cohesive sense of place. This mood is elevated further by an intoxicating, brass-driven score that recalls the melancholy suites of Disco Elysium.
Travelling across Novo is treacherous, with both Lana and Mui defenceless and unable to face any threat head-on. Inspired by the mix of puzzling and stealth seen in modern cinematic platformers like Limbo, Inside, and the Little Nightmares series, Wishfully also draws clear influence from genre classics such as Éric Chahi’s Another World.
Mechanically, Planet of Lana 2 plays much like these inspirations. Timing-based platforming and stealth with an extra sprinkle of traversal sequences based around Lana’s new sliding and wall jump abilities. Where it differs from its peers is the unique management of Mui and the abilities of creatures around you. Lana can command her alien feline pal, telling them where to go and recalling them at will. The cute little critter also emits an energy pulse which can both disable technology and control other wildlife. Lana herself can hack some of the neutral worker bots, adding an extra dimension to puzzles.
Each area you travel to in the hunt for medicinal ingredients will have a unique animal that Mui can control, adding a specific flavour of progression. This breaks up the usual routine of sneaking past enemies and performing timed platforming. For those who played through the first game, you won’t be seeing more of the same. There’s a dark edge to the wildlife manipulation as well, Mui and Lana send countless creatures to a grisly demise in service of getting to their goal.
The platforming follows the genre trend of requiring precise action with the slightest (purposeful) input delay. This isn’t a fast-twitch title like Hollow Knight; Lana’s animation is methodical. Solving puzzles, specifically timing-based ones, requires you to plan ahead of time and then execute a strategy, rather than zoom ahead on a wing and a prayer. Instant death awaits the slightest lapse in timing.
That’s not to say Planet Of Lana 2 is difficult in any way; most of its challenges are intuitive and you won’t often be stuck for a solution. It’s perhaps a bit too brief and can be finished in a few hours if the puzzles click with you straight away.
The game arrives on Switch as well, with a free Switch 2 upgrade available on release. Both versions run well on their respective systems, with the Switch 2 Edition boasting better performance (60fps at 1080p both handheld and docked) and faster loading. The fuzzy edges and pixelation of Lana’s first adventure are gone, Wishfully having refined their visual style in between games. Outlines are sharp in both versions and undocked mode looks particularly crisp and vibrant.
Conclusion
A visually intoxicating journey across an alien world, as full of cute critters as it is murderous robots. Planet of Lana 2 builds on the original game with a wider scope and worthwhile mechanical changes. The mix of stealth, platforming and Mui-based puzzles keeps Lana’s journey feeling fresh throughout.
