Developed by Wishfully and published by Thunderful Publishing, Planet of Lana 2 is a direct sequel to 2023’s Planet of Lana. Developing a sequel is not an easy task when it comes to a narrative adventure that manages to deliver an excellent experience the first time around. There is always the chance that it may fail to meet the expectations of the first game. With Planet of Lana 2, the developer seemed to have hit a few of the right notes, but unfortunately, it is smaller and managed to leave out quite a bit of the charm of the first title. This is our review of the PC Steam version of Planet of Lana 2, in which we explore beautiful new biomes and find out more about our mysterious partner, Mui.
The game’s story kicks off right where the first game ended. Much of the planet has changed since the machines’ invasion, and the local tribes have now adapted to the technology left behind. As you play through the first hour of the game, you will notice most of the machines integrated into the lifestyle, like people carriers, heavy lifters, or simply as scout units. While much of the planet has remained unchanged, the industrialization of the tribes is fairly evident. Each tribe in the game has adapted to this technology in its own ways, and now new problems are arising as they clash with each other.
Planet of Lana 2 expands massively in terms of its world. This time around, there are multiple huge biomes to explore, and each biome brings its own unique challenges and moments. You will explore deep oceans, snowy peaks, and destroyed ruins to explore more of the game’s lore and understand what is happening around you. You step into the shoes of Lana, who is now grown and comes with increased agility. Joining her on the adventure is Mui, the mysterious creature from the first game. The duo begins their journey inside the giant ship where the first game concluded, leading to a mysterious holographic message that urges them to figure out Mui’s past.
The first few areas serve as a tutorial where you are gradually introduced to what sort of puzzles you will be coming across. Most of the puzzles require the use of both Mui and Lana, as Lana can command Mui to move around and perform different tasks. These range from flipping switches to cutting ropes, controlling robots to move around platforms, or deactivating security systems. One of the new mechanics is that Mui is now able to control local critters as well, and it gives direct control of them to you. You can move around these critters and perform different tasks suitable for them. For example, in the snowy mountains, you can take control of smaller, round white figures and move them around to create sticky, flammable trails, which can be used to open paths.
One aspect that I always liked about the original Planet of Lana was its level design and how natural the puzzles felt. This continues with the second game, and none of the puzzles feel out of the way. Everything feels like it is straight out of the game’s world, whether these puzzles are located inside facilities or outside in open areas. The uniquely charming and atmospheric universe of the game does a huge favor when it comes to immersion. The puzzles are not overly complex, and you can solve them in a few minutes without much head-scratching. While nearly all puzzles have something to remember, one of my favourite puzzles is in the starting sections of the game, where you use little fish to deceive much bigger Orca-like electric fish to lure and trap another similar fish to retrieve a particular seaweed. Puzzles like this force you to think out of the box, but they are still not overly complicated to make progress difficult.
Apart from these complex puzzles, most of the platforming requires typical gameplay mechanics like pushing boxes around, flipping switches, and then running to the open path before it closes again, or luring an enemy into a specific spot to open up a safe path. There is not much else to its gameplay apart from this. This is a little disappointing as well because this is fairly the same amount of gameplay mechanics that were present in the first game. Compared to the first game, the puzzles are definitely bigger and better, but the overall gameplay loop remains fairly the same without much innovation.
The narrative is fairly emotional and is one of the reasons why it keeps you glued to the screen. There is no dialogue, and the characters speak in an alien language, but the sound design and the amazing soundtrack do more to tell a tale than cutscenes in most games today. Music plays a key role in setting the atmosphere of the game. I like how it calms down in most sections, but as soon as we near something sinister, it changes its tone completely to highlight a difficult coming up. It also helps build up the tension as you are trying to escape threats.
While overall, the game manages to pull through, the main aspects that fall short include its length and how bluntly the game just ends. Everyone enjoys a cliffhanger, but it has to make some sense, and here, it is just abrupt. The whole game presents a great narrative up until the very end. I just hope that we get to see a third title in the franchise to clear things up. This might be a deliberate move by the developers to keep the hype up for the third game, but if this is not the case, players are in for a surprise.
Final Verdict:
Planet of Lana 2 builds on the foundation of the original with expanded ideas, but not all of them land as effectively. While new mechanics like controlling critters and additional movement options add some welcome variety, the core gameplay remains largely unchanged. The narrative also lacks the same emotional weight that made the first game so memorable. That said, the visual design continues to impress, with beautifully crafted biomes that elevate the overall experience. In the end, Planet of Lana 2 is a solid and enjoyable sequel for returning fans, even if it doesn’t push the series forward as much as it could have.
Final Score: 8.0/10
