The dying sun the color of blood slid down the sky toward the horizon and Lana could only watch, the tears barely dried on her face. Thick grass around her wavered and bent with the gentle breeze that gusted across the hill top where she’d stopped to rest. It had been hours since she’d had a rest, the machine had seen to that.
She missed the way things used to be, without ever-present fear and danger. She missed swimming in the shallows off the pier near her home. She missed being chided by Old Galab for stealing fish pie snacks. She missed Elo most of all; she missed her friend. She’d know what to do to reclaim their home.
Really, she missed not feeling so alone.
At that though, a warm nuzzling at her knee broke her reverie. A soft hoot followed, then a more insistent nuzzle. Lana smiled despite her sadness and reached out to scratch Mui, who hooted again in happiness. Well, not totally alone.
Getting to her feet, she brushed off her knees, straightened her shoulders and set off through the lush forest again. Down the hill and moving, always moving. She had to find E’loh, had to find a way to fight the machines. She paused, shivering, as off in the distance echoed the frightfully familiar notes of the invaders: beeep-bup-boooop.
Lana pictured the accompany riot of colors that coruscated from their single lensed eye with each note. Fear shot up her spine as an accompanying series of notes resounded in answer and the cycle of colors flashed bright enough to light up the forest around her.
Mui blinked up at her in shaking silence. Lana placed a hand on his head. Hide, we have to hide!
Desperately she cast her gaze around. She must not panic, she cannot!
Hunching over, she slunk over to an abandoned wooden gantry and slid under its lower platform into the deeper lion grass underneath it. A slight rustle behind her signaled that Mui had followed. Good boy, Mui.
Then, crashing sounds. The tripod machine clattered into the clearing, its observation beam sweeping back and forth…searching. Lana froze in the Lion grass as the beam swept over her and Mui both and waited for the blazing siren of discovery that meant death, or worse, capture. But the tripod beeped, did an about-face and marched a dozen meters in the other direction before pausing to sweep the brush again. It was patrolling.
Lana bent a strand of the protective grass over and let it go. Interesting. She pressed a palm to the underside of the platform above her, the rough wooden planks cool in the night air. Something to work in her favor.
Returning her gaze to the invader, she noticed the granite cliff in the gloom of the oncoming evening. The tripod was marching back toward where she still crouched with Mui and the return trip of its patrol would take it just to the edge of the precipice. If only she could make it charge her…
The beam swept over the grass and the robot turned and marched back toward the cliff. Deftly, Lana slid up onto the platform above her. There was a rope. She snagged it and hurried to the upper platform, gasping as she made climbed over the edge and lay flat. No movement, no noise.
A soft hoot interrupted her thoughts.
“Nada, MUI!” she hissed. His eyes reflecting the last of the sun’s rays, Mui hooted again and hid back in the grass.
The machine continued to patrol and Lana put her plan into action.
If you’ve ever liked a side scrolling puzzle platformer then Planet of Lana is definitely worth your time. I was a huge fan of Limbo and Inside and was delighted to check out this lighter hearted cousin.
You begin the game as Lana, a teenager living a simple life in a fishing village on a distant planet. Life seems peaceful, idyllic, with lush surroundings that pull you into the story even though you’re just going left to right. You run off into the woods with your best friend, Elo but then the invaders show up. Robots from off-world crash into the peaceful world Lana inhabits and begin to wreak havoc. This feels like a callback to Attack of the Tripods or War of the Worlds, and your friend is kidnapped by the robotic jerk weeds and spirited away. You spend the rest of the game desperately looking for her and trying to rescue her.
Mui, a very fuzzy boi.
Accompanying you on that journey is Mui, your fuzzy companion creature that you meet early on in your your quest to free your friend Elo. Mui could be a cat? He’s an alien, fuzzy, and is very smart and involved. He even makes sad hooting noises if you die and genuinely seems distraught…instead of using your corpse like a chair like an Earth cat probably would.
You’ll have to get past many robot sentries, solve interesting puzzles, and also run, swim, sneak, and climb your way through the wilds of Lana’s planet. While it may seem a peaceful place, there are creatures that are not so friendly and you’ll need to watch out for them as well.
what makes it fun?
First of all, I love a good puzzle game. Limbo and Inside I mentioned already, but I’m also a huge fan of Portal, Portal 2, Lightmatters, Superliminal, Little Nightmares, and many others. Planet of Lana is not more inventive than any of these games, maybe not even as inventive, but it does enough to scratch that puzzle solving itch.
What I really enjoyed was the complexity of using Mui in order to get past obstacles or solve puzzles. Sometimes he needs to sit on something, or run a diversion, push a button, cut a cable…there’s a number of different modalities that require his help and that keep you thinking.
The puzzle variety was diverse enough that it didn’t feel repetitive and I thought they did an excellent job of slowly building the puzzle mechanics so something you learn in a new puzzle comes up in future ones. A learning curve built in such a way keeps things novel but not vexing. Indeed, this was something that I found frustrating in a similar game: Manifold Garden. The puzzle mechanics started out at a reasonable pace but then I stonewalled hard at a particular puzzle and I ended up putting the game down and I haven’t gone back.
Now, if you don’t know, I have a penchant for being stubborn and enjoying if not seeking out a challenge, and I’ll stick with something until I figure it out (see above list of completed games). I have several hundred hours in Elden Ring, and have enjoyed(?) beating it and then doing so again in new game plus. Dedication.
Planet of Lana doesn’t need you to be hardcore. You just need to think, experiment, and be curious. There were a couple puzzles that I got stuck on and thought This is way too hard…because I had missed something. An object I could manipulate or a part of the environment I could use. If it gets that hard…look around more, you probably aren’t using all the tools you need.
Hint: Always be thinking of sequence, and don’t be afraid to take a step back to take two steps forward.
How’s it look?
Absolutely gorgeous. Whoever did the art direction for this game deserves an award (or three) because it was beautiful from start to finish. I mentioned earlier that even though this is a side scrolling game, the environment pulls you in and heightens the immersion and boy-howdy does it! There’s a lushness to the forest that makes you want to actually go there and lay under the trees like Lana does. The sea/bay/harbor/water where her village sits is a place I want to go hang out. Though the foreground is excellent, I feel that the middle and backgrounds are the stars of the show.
Really being detailed and thoughtful with those spaces brings a huge amount of depth to Planet of Lana. It feels like a real place, a real cave or plain or mountain vista. It’s intoxicating in a really subtle way that I found myself appreciating it more and more as I progressed through the game.
The art style is deceptively simple and paired with wonderful sounds for characters, events, and the environment that coalesce into a cohesive experience that is understated but masterfully done.
Additionally, paired with the immersion aspect of the game is the sound. The music is incredible and subtle and so perfect you take it for granted. At times of tension it heightens feelings of menace or anxiety, or sits softly in the background to create a solemn sense of adventure. All in all it really deepens the experience. I’ve often said that many times it can be the sound that can make or break a game; who cares if the graphics are perfect if it the sound doesn’t match in quality?
I actually just went back and played the first chapter to get some screenshots for this post and the sound of the robots ripping down through the atmosphere was even better the second time around.
HOW HARD IS IT?
On a ten-point scale Planet of Lana is a five, smack dab in the middle. There’s enough difficulty to keep you guessing and interested but not enough to stymie curiosity or generate frustration. At least, that was my experience and mileage may vary.
It’s interesting and detailed but not overly inventive. I wouldn’t have minded a “mastery” mode or something that ups the ante a bit, but the vanilla game play, I think, is doable even for beginners at the genre.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There was a time in the not-too-distant past where things were…hectic in my life. Lots of big changes and challenges and I remember searching for relaxing games on Google. I wanted to game but I didn’t want something intense, I wanted to wear sweatpants and think but not too hard and still have fun. A few games came up and this was one of them and I’m glad I checked it out.
Planet of Lana is rich with story, and a palpable sense that the planet you traverse has a real history, the weight of millennia, and navigating through it is a satisfying experience. Also quite impressive was that you get so much information and emotion with no discernible dialogue. A masterclass in context clues because Lana literally speaks gibberish but you always get enough emotion context to know exactly what she’s saying. Planet of Lana is immersive, thought provoking, and fun. You can take part in Lana’s adventure in pretty much any game store, digital or brick and mortar. I recommend checking out GOG if you haven’t yet, you get to keep those games and everything they sell is DRM free.
Oh, and you get to pet Mui whenever you want.