Planet of Lana Review

Ever since laying my eyes on Planet of Lana at the EGX con in London towards the tail end of last year, I knew it was a game worth getting excited for. From the little snippet the public was allowed to play, it did enough to interest me and made me excited for what the rest of the game holds. Fast forward to May 2023 and Planet of Lana has finally dropped and is a day-one launch into Xbox Game Pass to boot. Developed by Wishfully and published by Thunderful Games, Planet of Lana is a short and sweet Puzzle Platformer packed full of charm.

Players will take control of a young girl accompanied by her loyal furry friend as they embark on a rescue mission after their peaceful planet becomes disturbed by unfamiliar creatures and machines, requiring you to solve puzzles and avoid enemies to reach its conclusion.

A beautiful journey awaits

Planet of Lana doesn’t have a long run time which I personally think works in its own favor. Taking the average gamer roughly 5-6 hours to complete, it’s short and sweet which is always very welcomed here. It also doesn’t do a lot outside of puzzles and avoiding enemies but the main draw for me was the gorgeous aesthetic and beautiful art style.

I’m a real sucker for a good-looking indie, and this game that “didn’t do all that much” worked really well for me. It’s a nice, simple experience you can just kick back and soak in. Most of the puzzles and platforming sections are quite easy to figure out, with one or two sequences leaving me scratching my head for a few minutes, so it isn’t a complete walk in the park.

Although it worked well for me, I can see how some of the sections can feel the same albeit look a little different from one another, which could prove repetitive for some. Most of the encounters boil down to sending your furry pal Mui to different parts of the screen to hide from enemies or control switches.

Short and sweet spectacle

You’ll have to get used to Lana and Mui’s abilities as you progress and learn what each character can and can’t do so that you can use them to work together to overcome enemies and puzzles. Lana can command Mui to press switches, move to a specific spot to hide or operate some controls, and also control certain creatures at points whilst Lana herself can move boxes, break vents/wood, and use control panels to control magnets, or even certain robots. Aside from this, you’ll encounter some cinematic moments with quick-time events (a gripe of some gamers I know) that thankfully doesn’t happen too frequently.

In terms of gameplay, that pretty much sums it up. As I said, it doesn’t do all that much, but I think that helped me enjoy the experience for what it was, a beautiful spectacle with some tremendous cinematic parts. What initially grabbed me about this title was its art style and aesthetics and I routinely found myself stopping just to enjoy the world around me.

Each chapter takes the player to different biomes from deserts to swamps and some more mysterious ones and they’re all very pleasing to look at. Accompanied by some impeccable sound design and ambiance, makes for a relaxing and cathartic experience. There’s a very nice environmental variety filled with an array of different colors that keeps it fresh in the aesthetics department throughout.

Tremendous cinematic moments

I purposefully avoided mentioning anything story related as this is really one you should experience fresh for yourself and considering it’s a short and sweet title, you could potentially finish this in one sitting should you feel so inclined. Overall, Planet of Lana is a gorgeous experience that I absolutely have to recommend to anyone who enjoys these smaller palate cleansers, especially for subscribers to Xbox Game Pass. It’s cute, it’s charming and it just gives off a “perfect Sunday morning” type game. A heartwarming story accompanied by lovely aesthetics and sound design is right up my street. The pacing can feel off between chapters with some feeling like they could have lasted longer, and others could have been shorter but it didn’t dampen my experience in the end.

Planet of Lana is a game worth your time and for me personally was worth the wait from the time I first set eyes on it. Available on Xbox (£16.99) and PC (£15) it is very much worth the asking price. If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you have no excuse to sleep on this one. Wishfully have done a great job with this, go play it.