Planet of Lana Preview (playdead meets Ori)

Often imitated but never duplicated. I haven’t played a puzzle platformer that had such a strong playdead feel to it, but also felt completely original. The similarities to Inside and Limbo are the forefront: Clever puzzles, minimalist controls, stunning 2D visuals, and environmental story telling with a cinematic feel are all here.

However, in the debut title from Wishfully, there is plenty of originality that will hopefully make Planet of Lana stand out. Visually, when you start the game or watch the trailers you can see the difference in tone right away. The hand painted art style is loaded with bright and vibrant colors that make the planet of Novo feel alive.

Obviously, one of the most unique features of Planet of Lana is that you are not alone. You have a companion that looks to be some type of monkey/cat hybrid named Mui that can help you solve puzzles. This companion can squeeze into tight areas that you’re too small for or jump to high areas that you are too short to reach.

Having a companion follow you around adds a level of complexity to the game and will likely lead to plenty of clever puzzles with aha moments. It also goes without saying this monkey cat is going to pull on the heart strings. This wouldn’t mean anything if the game didn’t control well, especially trying to manipulate your companion, but the minimalist controls work perfectly and getting Mui to do what you need is always easy.

From watching all of the trailers that we have seen, there have been so many moments that are going to be unforgettable from meteor shower style alien invasion or the giant glowing spider like creature or the massive sea creature that makes the blue whale look tiny or the desert scene with with the Orwellian robots. The hope is that there are still plenty of moments like this that we haven’t seen yet.

Wishfully is trying not to overstay their welcome with the average play taking around six hours. To some that will be a deal breaker, but to me and part of the reason that playdead titles have become so iconic, is their vision was concise. With playdead moving onto 3D with their third game, and after playing the Planet of Lana demo, I for one am extremely confident that Wishfully will be able to carry the torch if they can stick the landing. Everything thats been hinted at in the trailers and demo indicate a great chance of success.

Planet of Lana is due out in Q2 2023.