Stunning from the word go, Planet of Lana is something I’ve been at least mildly excited about since I saw it during the extravaganza of beige that was E3 2021. This hand-painted, beautiful platformer is Limbo/Inside if they knew what RGB stood for. Its’ somewhat sci-fi plot plunges you into a hint of War of the Worlds. Similar to the charming and likewise indie trope-heavy story Dordonge, Planet of Lana tells the story of a kid named Lana. Well, she wasn’t going to be called Steve now, was she?

To drill Planet of Lana down to its basics, it is a short story-driven puzzle platformer with more gameplay than holding right until the credits roll after the five-and-a-half-hour mark. The typical emotional story told mostly through visual storytelling is at the forefront here. In fact, it does a fantastic job to stand out against similar games. There just aren’t enough synonyms for how stunningly beautiful Planet of Lana happens to be or how breathtaking the simple visual storytelling happens to be. Dordogne similarly doesn’t get stuck up itself telling a story visually, but here we’re so slim on voiced lines it stands out.

Being story-driven, it seems obvious to give the basic premise: In a fantasy land full of humanoids that seem primitive with their homes on stilts made of wood and thatch, H G Wells comes crashing down on this simple and beautiful world to kidnap people, including Lana’s loved one Elo. Venturing to the far-off land of whatever is to the right, Lana goes on a search to find and rescue Elo, stumbling into a fat rabbit/cat/monkey thing called Mui. Together with Mui, you’ll venture to the right solving puzzles, getting frustrated at repeated deaths, and maybe enjoy a puzzle or two.

Jabs aside, I enjoy Planet of Lana for something more than its beautiful, almost Studio Ghibli-esque art. While some puzzles are frustrating for select reasons, including Lana’s movement, Wishfully Studios keeps introducing ideas throughout the 5-ish hour runtime, keeping the overall experience fresh throughout. That said, when select puzzles would lead to repeated deaths due to a lack of pixel-perfect-platforming or simple stupidity on my part, it was always frustrating. Death tends to be aggravating in the first place, which isn’t a surprise. Yet with 15-20 second load-times it builds that exasperation.

Though I am praising the visual storytelling, I don’t know if I entirely “get it.” I understood what I was seeing and how it was told, though I think somewhere in the middle we’re just turning wheels until we can connect the first and third act together. The first and third acts have this large operatic epic-ness to them and Planet of Lana is throwing mystery and suspense at you in those portions with all its might. Out of the three, the middle act I’d argue is the most gameplay focused. The first act introduces ideas, and the third act brings in the bombastic climax that wants to meld action-packed platforming and story together, similar to The Artful Escape.

That final act is also where I think I need to criticize Planet of Lana’s performance. Up until “The Desert” and “The Oasis” chapters, every moment was running at 60 frames per second and would have run easily at more than 140, though it introduced some odd screen tearing when I ran without V-sync. Running on ultra, particularly in “The Desert” and beyond, there was the occasional drop to 30-40 for a few seconds at a time. It wasn’t completely unplayable, but with a PC exceeding the recommended requirements, it certainly is notable.

Also notable are the accessibility features, of which there are two in the options menu: QTEs on or off, and UI scaling between 50% and 300% of the default setting. There are audio sliders, and in the controller settings you can turn off or lower the intensity of vibration and change the sensitivity of your selection options. This works presumably both for the mouse and controller. The actual controls, however, aren’t remappable on either control scheme. I wouldn’t say anything was too out of place as I played with a controller, though I still think there might be an odd occasion where someone might prefer to remap something.

One thing I don’t usually have an issue with is QTEs. Personally, I could take or leave them. Though I will say that I also don’t mind a good button mash for a mini-game, such as the WWE games or recently AEW: Fight Forever with their pinning. While you can turn them off completely if you don’t like them, I think Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man did this right by letting you turn mashing into holds. Used in what could loosely be called boss battles or the epic and highly intense chase sequence, they have their place for those that want that sense of fighting something. However, the accessibility could have been expanded a little here.

Truth be told, I like Planet of Lana and I think it does all the right things when it needs to, but there is something unexplained that pulls me back from screaming about its excellence. Be it misgivings with the story, frustration with gameplay/load screens, or as I said in the Dordogne review that “looking down the nose” sort of slow gameplay. I know I don’t dislike Wishfully’s absolutely gorgeous game. That being said, something is holding me back from saying everyone needs to play Planet of Lana. Those who play lots of puzzle platformers for enjoyment more than the challenge will love it, but despite introducing ideas throughout the runtime, the challenge isn’t the point here.

Ultimately, Planet of Lana is stunning from start to finish, and gameplay does offer some interesting peaks between showing off more gorgeous backdrops, but can sometimes be frustrating in ways that could be off-putting. When the performance stays steady, little else in that Inside-like sphere can beat it. It has a couple of interesting puzzles and a story that actually goes somewhere, though the middle does have a lull to proceedings that can be tiring even for the short (5.5-ish hour) runtime.

A PC review copy of Planet of Lana was provided by Thunderful Publishing for this review.

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Planet of Lana

$19.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Absolutely stunning from the word go.
• Constantly trying to add pieces to the gameplay.

Cons

• Performance can be a little ropey at times in the late game.
• Repeated death can be more than just frustrating.