Planet of Lana immediately caught my attention when Ifirst saw it at Summer Game Fest 2021. Beautiful bright graphics with a hand painted art😼style, tranquil music, puzzle-solving mechanics, and of course, that adorable little blobby monkey-dog thingy. I don’t know what it is, but I know I would die for it already.
I recently had the chance to get better acquainted with the game at EGX. It’s billed as Limbo mꦇeets Studio Ghibli, and it’s not hard to see why. I found myself having to navigate a stunning 2.5D world wh🎉ile solving puzzles with the help of my mysterious little companion.
There is depth to the world around you. One of the most striking visual qualities was the stark contrast between the bright plains and the shadowed forest areas, where small fragments of sunlight filter into the gloom. The environment you find yourself in is very much alive, filled with little sprites that lurk and watch you as you progress, strange mechanical creatures cross your path, and all have that quintessential Ghibli-esque vibe abou🐷t them.
The gameplay is companion-based, so you must work with your little monkey friend to overcome whatever blocks your path. Things start pretty simply, but as you delve deeper into this intriguing planet, the puzzles become more complex, and you must learn new mechanics and strategies to survive. Some sections require stealth, while others make you rely on your reflexes. One wrong move and you might find you or your little buddy meetꦚ a grisly end.
One particular puzzle that stumped me involved trying to get from one side of the screen to the other — there was a ledge on either side and a lower area in the middle of the screen with a rock. The gap between the rock and ledges seemed too wide to jump across, but I knew there had to be some way to get there, so I went to take a closer look. To my dismay, when I jum⛎ped down with my little buddy, the rock stood up on creepy little legs, flicked out some horrifying tentacle leg, grabbed my monkey, and chowed down on him!
It turns out the solution was that I had to run across and get my little buddy to safety below the farthest ledge, out of reach of the devil rock. However, I had to ensure we weren’t going so quickly that the rock remained oblivious to us, as I needed it and its many legs to move over a bit so I could climb up by tempting it with that sweet monkey blob flesh. You can better believe I didn’t trust a 🎀single rock after that point. Thankfully, once you reach your destination, it seems your companion can just simply follow you with its greater jump range. Regardless of how much you struggle to get anywhere, you don’t have to finesse the same puzzle twice.
Planet of Lana introduces us to a stunningly beautiful sci-fi world so full of life and mystery that you can’t resist exploring it. There’s an alluring tranquility about the whole game — the visuals, the music, the plot — and yet underneath it all is a darker undertone, a lurking danger that feels as though it’s about to break the peace at any moment. The puzzles are challenging enough to really make you work for a solution without ever becoming too frustrating, ensuring an enjoyable experience with a sense of accomplishment. I imagine the final game might have more difficult puzzles that make me want to feed myself to that damn rock, but as long as I can overcome them with my little buddy, I’m sure the satisfജaction will be worth it.