Planet of Lana

Planet of Lana's vibrant hand-painted art style draws you into a story about working together to overcome insurmountable odds.

A beautifully crafted side-scroller with a restless puzzle imagination.

"There's an undercurrent of mystery to the planet that I find myself wanting to bring to the surface"

While I would have liked gameplay to have more bite and variety, Planet of Lana is still an enjoyable and beautiful romp. The art direction and main jingle are likely the only things that will stick with me in the long run, but Lana and Mui’s journey is a competent rescue mission that doesn’t always soar as high as the machines pursuing them.

Planet Of Lana is an action-packed, story-rich adventure across a wonderful sci-fi landscape filled with dangerous machines, but a mediocre middle act just stops it short of achieving true greatness.

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.

Planet of Lana intelligently combines elements of classic cinematic platformers to make something distinctive and characterful. For a tight five hours or so, it keeps up the pace, with very few taxing puzzles or tricky action segments to slow progress. Leaning into easier gameplay in favour of visual and auditory spectacle, it looks the part and runs consistently well. It's a treat for the long-suffering cinematic platforming fan – perhaps even destined to join that short list of classics.

Planet of Lana makes up for some repetitive 2D puzzling with a gorgeous art style and a good-natured tone.

Far from the most inventive or unique take on the puzzle-platformer formula, Planet of Lana mitigates its relatively-safe gameplay with a striking visual style and a surprisingly compelling use of music alongside.

Planet of Lana is a rare game. It's a clean, tight experience, that manages to tell a charming, if simple, story in its short runtime. The hand-drawn illustrations are truly works of great talent, bringing a gorgeous, nearly surreal ambiance to the design. Its puzzles and platforming may not be a lot to write home about, but there are a few diamonds in the rough that make the gameplay worthwhile. If anyone has even a passing interest in the puzzle-platform genre or simply wants to appreciate some art, they should play this game. Plus, since Planet of Lana is available on Game Pass, there's little reason not to check it out.