Planet of Lana Review – Chasing Potential

Since the release of Limbo in 2010, cinematic puzzle platformers have relied on capturing players’ attention and imagination with beautiful art directions and compelling, often enigmatic storytelling. The moment-to-moment experiences are usually brief, so the puzzles need to be memorable and clever. They shouldn’t meander with rehashing old mechanics. Planet of Lana almost hits this sweet spot by boasting a gorgeous presentation, but trekking through this strange world doesn’t always inspire the same awe.  

Planet of Lana is not slow to throw players in the fire. Your village and someone near you have been taken by alien machines as the young Lana. It’s up to you to find and free everyone, and you’re joined by an adorable (and pettable) cat-like companion named Mui. The tenderness and sadness between them is beautiful. Many of the photos are worth framing as artwork. The majestic soundtrack sits high on my list of the year’s best, with the main theme, in particular, becoming a welcomed earworm that also has intriguing narrative significance.

The game delivers an adequately entertaining tale, and it’s tough not to smile at Lana and Mui’s cute, though limited, interactions. More exciting world building is found at the edge, mostly through easy to miss, collectible fragments from an illuminated wall carving. This is Earth, or is it another planet? What machines are these, and from where have they originated? Planet of Lana leaves some answers vague, but the intrigue helped propel me forward even if I’m still drawing my own conclusions. 

Lana’s deliberate, momentum-based movement feels fine but occasionally causes headaches, such as watching her slip over an edge after landing a big jump. It can be tedious to put objects in the correct order and move them into the correct position. This is necessary for both characters to overcome obstacles. Mui’s superior agility means you’ll be commanding them to drop climbing ropes for Lana, activate distant switches, or lure away enemies. I just wish Mui didn’t halt after performing actions so I wouldn’t have to call them to my side constantly. Eventually, Mui and Lana can hijack animals’ minds or hack machines, respectively, to make them serve as platforms or weights for pressure-sensitive switches. The game should use these cool abilities more. 

These traversal puzzles have some clever ideas, but they don’t evolve much or hit that next gear. The majority of the trip is spent pushing objects, climbing ropes and hiding in tall grass in order to avoid the patrolling machines. There are some exercises that break this monotony, for example, manipulating the level of water in lakes. However, nothing truly impressed me and sometimes I groaned at the return to routine. Some obstacles were easy to solve on first glance, while others are frustratingly simple. Planet of Lana may have mediocre puzzles, but there are a few adrenaline-pumping parts. I got a kick out of a quick-time-event-driven race across the desert as your mount sprints through an armada of colossal marching machines.

Planet of Lana, while not as exciting and varied in gameplay terms, is a beautiful and enjoyable romp. The art direction and main jingle are likely the only things that will stick with me in the long run, but Lana and Mui’s journey is a competent rescue mission that doesn’t always soar as high as the machines pursuing them.