If you're looking for a quick and gorgeous game, one you can polish off in a couple of relaxed afternoons, Planet of Lana fits the bill. Previously an Xbox console exclusive, it's come to PlayStation now, and will speak to anyone who enjoyed the likes of Limbo or Inside.
It's in the same vein, with a small and powerless protagonist whom you must guide through a robot invasion of her serene home world. Teaming up with a cute local critter, you'll sneak past robots and other nasties in the hopes of saving your friends and family.
With a beautiful painterly art style, the main strengths of Planet of Lana are in the visual and soundtrack departments, which both excel. Its vistas are stunning at points, although its occasionally ponderous insta-kill stealth mechanics cannot quite match that level. The game also relies surprisingly heavily on its slightly pedestrian platforming, with a movement set that favours animation fidelity over fluidity to occasionally have you missing jumps that you really think you got right.
There are frequent puzzles to provide the real meat of the gameplay, though, as you direct your little companion to distract foes and give you openings to move before figuring out new paths ā the classic overlap between stealth and puzzle-solving is evident here. So, while its puzzles are prosaic enough and its stealth pretty simplistic, given it only lasts for a few hours, neither spoils the party.
It's the landscapes, outsized encounters, and a couple of lovely background melodies that will stay with you, though. Planet of Lana takes you through breezy mountain meadows to arid deserts, with dank caves and metallic constructions, too, each with its own colour palette and soundscape. These help it to feel like a really substantial journey, for all that its runtime is modest (although there are some decently-buried secrets to find for the keener fans).
It might not end up matching the influence of Limbo or the perfectly-judged arc of Inside, but Planet of Lana is a welcome addition to the side-scroller genre on PlayStation regardless. It looks amazing, sounds great, and tells a nice succinct story.
Comments 9
Well, Iām sold. Sounds wonderful.
didnt realise it wasnt already on PlayStation I liked what i played of it on gamepass
Visually it gives a bit of Forgotton Anne vibes, which I enjoyed for what it was but never quite worked out the "best" ending beyond the basic two but definitely hinted at.
One to nab on a sale.
Is this all part of Phils grand plan to make every PlayStation 5, PC and screen a place to play what were once X Box exclusives now they are struggling to sell copies after launching them on Gamepass day 1 and not helped by X Box's declining playerbase ironically caused by two consoles generations lacking quality exclusives. I just hope the majority of these ports are no longer stuck at 30fps like on Series X but without the Series S holding PlayStation back due to forced parity between two versions that should no longer be a limiting factor on Playstation. It will certainly be an interesting time as X Box exclusives flood to PlayStation just before the PS5 Pro launch with it's auto performance increases, resolution upscaling and boost to ray tracing but I guess Phil knows what he wants and can finally pat himself on the back for achieved his dream of making PlayStation the best console for playing X Box games at their very best and the No1 choice for developers wanting to sell the most games and see higher returns on their investments. As an owner of both consoles I just hope it makes sense to him because it makes zero sense to me š¤£
Had my eye on this for a while. A nice, linear game that doesn't take 3 months to complete can be a nice change of pace now and then. And this looks great. Some real Another World vibes along with the Limbo/Inside influence.
@Jett massive wall of fanboy rubbish nobody gonna read
Enjoyed it on gamepass would give it a 7
@Toot1st Agreed. It's a fun game in places, with a beautiful art style and a few really nice moments, but the gameplay is very basic to say the least. Still had fun. 7
Really enjoyed this game. Highly recommend.
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