Planet of Lana is a 2D platforming, stealth, puzzle game that has you play as a young boy whose village has been over taken by mysterious, scary robots. As the sole escapee from the robots, he ventures out into the wilderness to find other dangers as well. However, he is soon joined by a little cat-like creature named Mui who helps him in his adventure to find out what happened to his village.
đŽ In Planet of Lana, youâre traversing beautiful environments while being challenged by a plethora of 2d puzzles. Many of them will have you stealthing around to avoid the gaze of creatures and robots. The main boy you play as, as you might suspect, is much slower and weaker than these robots. So, youâll be taking your time, surveying the area to make sure you donât get spotted. Much of the success you have is thanks to your little buddy Mui, who uses his agility and mysterious alien powers to help.
𤍠I may be biased because I am a big 2D platforming fan, but this game is right down my alley. While Iâm not the biggest fan of stealth-based games, this game features a very light version of the mechanic. Solving a puzzle while avoiding or even taking out a robot feels very satisfying. As a puzzle fan, the puzzles in this game were mainly pretty simple to figure out but I will say that in the latter part of the game, there were probably two that I was pretty stumped on. Youâll have to really think a bit creatively about the abilities you have at your disposal to solve some of them.
đ For those who are fans of Playdead games (Limbo and Inside) and youâre looking for a game in that vein, you will not be disappointed. Planet of Lanaâs atmosphere might be cheerier than those games, but the concept of your village being taken by killer robots is pretty dark. Then further on in the game, itâs revealed that some of things happening to the wildlife and people of the planet is even darker.
đ¤ With all that said, this game expects you to solve everything the way it wants you to. There really isnât much room for interpretation or open thought. If youâre not a fan of solving puzzles and you get stumped a lot with this type of gameplay, youâre probably not going to feel much different about this game.
đ¨ The game has a gorgeous art style. Much of it takes place during the day, out in the open. Which is interesting because when you think stealth, you think night and darkness. The game has a couple of dark environments but the majority of the game is pretty bright. Regardless of it being day or night or bright or dark, all of the environments in the game look beautiful. It has this storybook feel to it, which I really like. However, I know this wonât be everyoneâs cup of tea as most are not expecting a golden book style presentation when your story is about killer robots taking your family.
đ I did notice that there were some sprites that stuck out like a sore thumb. You can tell in many areas of the game, the developer was clumping sprites together to form clusters of grass and bushes, so I did see instances where the edges of the sprites would stick out and look really out of place. Considering how nice the rest of the environment looks, this is unfortunate. Most may not even notice it, but it was distracting for me.
đ The clothes/design of the character, audio cues and his life here on this planet definitely harken back to the beginning of the Luke Skywalker saga in Star Wars. It really feels like they said âWhat if we had a younger Luke and he lived on a nicer planet.â
đ The game also seems to take place during summer and I love the summer feel of this game. Running through areas of field and grass, just jumping from rock to rock⌠it just feels like summer and hits really nice during this time of year. Even though there is already a bit of it, I kind of wish there was just a bit more running through fields and platforming without enemies because itâs just wholesome and enjoyable.
đ While the story of the game was mainly about the boy finding out what happened to his village and where the robots took his people, I do wish we got a little more insight as to why it was happening. I guess it's just because the robots were evil? I don't know, but that's all we're really given as explanation.
đ One nit pick I have with the game is that there are times where the puzzles and platforming required Mui to jump a far distance and it was some times hard to judge if he could make that jump or not as some puzzles were based on you trying to get Mui closer to the exit when he couldnât quite get there in the first place. It wouldâve been nice to have some kind of visual indicator of the jumps he could make.
đ This is a great little 2D puzzle game that isnât perfect and isnât going to be for everyone. Some might want a darker tone with their games or perhaps less puzzle gameplay and more action. As it stands though, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I could see myself playing through it again in the future.
đŽ In Planet of Lana, youâre traversing beautiful environments while being challenged by a plethora of 2d puzzles. Many of them will have you stealthing around to avoid the gaze of creatures and robots. The main boy you play as, as you might suspect, is much slower and weaker than these robots. So, youâll be taking your time, surveying the area to make sure you donât get spotted. Much of the success you have is thanks to your little buddy Mui, who uses his agility and mysterious alien powers to help.
𤍠I may be biased because I am a big 2D platforming fan, but this game is right down my alley. While Iâm not the biggest fan of stealth-based games, this game features a very light version of the mechanic. Solving a puzzle while avoiding or even taking out a robot feels very satisfying. As a puzzle fan, the puzzles in this game were mainly pretty simple to figure out but I will say that in the latter part of the game, there were probably two that I was pretty stumped on. Youâll have to really think a bit creatively about the abilities you have at your disposal to solve some of them.
đ For those who are fans of Playdead games (Limbo and Inside) and youâre looking for a game in that vein, you will not be disappointed. Planet of Lanaâs atmosphere might be cheerier than those games, but the concept of your village being taken by killer robots is pretty dark. Then further on in the game, itâs revealed that some of things happening to the wildlife and people of the planet is even darker.
đ¤ With all that said, this game expects you to solve everything the way it wants you to. There really isnât much room for interpretation or open thought. If youâre not a fan of solving puzzles and you get stumped a lot with this type of gameplay, youâre probably not going to feel much different about this game.
đ¨ The game has a gorgeous art style. Much of it takes place during the day, out in the open. Which is interesting because when you think stealth, you think night and darkness. The game has a couple of dark environments but the majority of the game is pretty bright. Regardless of it being day or night or bright or dark, all of the environments in the game look beautiful. It has this storybook feel to it, which I really like. However, I know this wonât be everyoneâs cup of tea as most are not expecting a golden book style presentation when your story is about killer robots taking your family.
đ I did notice that there were some sprites that stuck out like a sore thumb. You can tell in many areas of the game, the developer was clumping sprites together to form clusters of grass and bushes, so I did see instances where the edges of the sprites would stick out and look really out of place. Considering how nice the rest of the environment looks, this is unfortunate. Most may not even notice it, but it was distracting for me.
đ The clothes/design of the character, audio cues and his life here on this planet definitely harken back to the beginning of the Luke Skywalker saga in Star Wars. It really feels like they said âWhat if we had a younger Luke and he lived on a nicer planet.â
đ The game also seems to take place during summer and I love the summer feel of this game. Running through areas of field and grass, just jumping from rock to rock⌠it just feels like summer and hits really nice during this time of year. Even though there is already a bit of it, I kind of wish there was just a bit more running through fields and platforming without enemies because itâs just wholesome and enjoyable.
đ While the story of the game was mainly about the boy finding out what happened to his village and where the robots took his people, I do wish we got a little more insight as to why it was happening. I guess it's just because the robots were evil? I don't know, but that's all we're really given as explanation.
đ One nit pick I have with the game is that there are times where the puzzles and platforming required Mui to jump a far distance and it was some times hard to judge if he could make that jump or not as some puzzles were based on you trying to get Mui closer to the exit when he couldnât quite get there in the first place. It wouldâve been nice to have some kind of visual indicator of the jumps he could make.
đ This is a great little 2D puzzle game that isnât perfect and isnât going to be for everyone. Some might want a darker tone with their games or perhaps less puzzle gameplay and more action. As it stands though, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I could see myself playing through it again in the future.