There are plenty of short indie games floating about these days. It seems like every time you turn around, 20 more indie titles drop and it’s legitimately hard to keep pace with everything that’s coming out. Half of them are experimental, not all of them are good, and few are worth a second look. Once in a while something special surfaces in the middle of that huge morass of releases though.
That game is Planet of Lana, and entirely unexpected debut release from Wishfully Studios, a small Swedish game company. Published by Thunderful, Planet of Lana takes you onto an alien planet where humans live in a pre-technology communal society. You play Lana, a young girl who lives in a village. You’ve lost your parents but you have a sister left and you spend time with her. Things don’t stay peaceful long however, as an army of robots descends on the planet. Your sister is captured and it’s up to you to save her!
Now, this might not sound like the most original plot ever, and it’s not, but for a change, things aren’t about that. Instead, Wishfully has taken pains to design a game that perfects and fine tunes everything about the genre. For one, there’s no dialogue at all in Planet of Lana. Everything is told through actions and a handful of words in a foreign language that is never translated. Storytelling is tough enough with words, so without them? That’s a feat. Above all, this is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer though and you’ll have to work your way through to save your sis. There’s a lot going on here too, so follow along!
Once things get moving, the game slowly introduces the mechanics. You can jump, walk, crouch, and interact with things. That’s about it, but hey, you’re a little girl after all. Once you get your bearings, there’s a bit more to do and you’ll meet a little friend, Mui. He’s a cute…something or other that you befriend, after which he helps you out to progress through the game. Making your way through the puzzles, you press onward trying to rescue your sister.
What’s unique about Planet of Lana is that it’s designed for you to play in the moment. There’s no planning, no menus, no difficulty levels. It’s just you and some puzzles. There’s a high level of emotional connection as well. As you play, the bond between Lana and Mui grows deeper and richer, adding a powerful emotional element to the game and supercharging the engagement. The puzzles are relatively straightforward and anyone with puzzle game experience will probably blow through most of them in only a try or two, but again, the game isn’t about that. It’s about the experience itself.
As you play, there are a wild array of things going on in the background and occasionally the foreground. The visuals carry the narrative of the story, adding dramatic intensity and fleshing out Planet of Lana. If it were just the puzzles, this would be an okay game, but it’s not. There’s a feeling of taking a journey that’s somehow injected into the gameplay in such a way that it not only feels natural, but you as a player feel connected to Lana and Mui. Yeah, that sounds silly but it’s true! The story occasionally drops into cinematics too, reinforcing all that emotion at key points and the entire design of the plot and gameplay is clever and effective.
In addition to running, jumping, crouching, and grabbing, you can also control Mui with the L and R triggers. You can direct him to go places and drop ropes or pull switches for you, and even to stay, climb on things, or bite through them. This adds an additional element to the game, but the goal here is progress and nothing is going to tax the player too hard. You still feel like you’re doing something however and when you solve a particularly good puzzle it feels good as well. There are also some quick time events, but they aren’t outrageously difficult and the menu system allows for accessibility to turn them off if you aren’t a fan. They fit well with the game though, so if you can, leave them in.
What you’ve probably also noticed by now are the visuals. Planet of Lana is hand-painted and looks absolutely gorgeous. The designs, the characters, the backgrounds…the entire game is simply a work of art. Creative uses of backgrounds for storytelling abound and the landscape transitions from rural village to desert wasteland to high-tech are outstanding. Planet of Lana is, quite simply, wondrous to behold.
Visuals alone can’t do all the heavy lifting though, and along with the emotional and captivating gameplay and stunning vistas, there’s an equally powerful soundtrack. Composed by Takeshi Furakawa (The Last Guardian, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), the music in Planet of Lana is both striking and integral to the game itself. Recurrent themes feature heavily in the actual gameplay, reinforcing the musical connection to the game and cinemas pull back to several excellent compositions, adding strength to the storytelling. There are two fantastic songs with voice accompaniment as well and chances are you’re going to want them in your playlist!
Planet of Lana is elegant in its simplicity. It simply asks you to come see the world that Wishfully has created and then shows you a world of wonder and beauty seldom matched in gaming. This is as much a piece of art as a game and the world that is built is a fascinating one. Even better, there’s no filler here…no collecting items or alternate pathways, just a story waiting to be told. Clocking in at only about 5-6 hours, you’re not going to spend forever with Planet of Lana but the time you do spend will be magical. Don’t miss this one because Planet of Lana is something truly special.
This review is based on a digital copy of Planet of Lana provided by the publisher. It was played on an Xbox Series X using a Sony 55” 1080p TV. Planet of Lana is also available for PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.
