Planet of Lana

More like Planet of Mui

Why

Why Not

Impressions

Planet of Lana takes the classic INSIDE-like formula and iterates on it with two great additions; non-monochrome colors and Mui, your dog-shaped puzzle solving companion.

The game kicks off with Lana in an idyllic looking fishing village, getting up to wholesome mischief with her sister Elo. Sadly some machines show up to interrupt their sisterly bonding time, capturing Elo and the other inhabitants of the fishing village. Only Lana makes it out, so she sets off on a trek to figure out where her sister has gone and effect a rescue.

Quite early on she meets Mui, who much like all the other fauna on her world is a black blob vaguely resembling an animal. Mui is the real MVP of the team, able to jump seemingly infinite heights and distances, go where they're told and even operate buttons/bite pieces of rope so they fall for Lana to climb. Lana is really just holding Mui back most of the time; other than Mui's aversion to water requiring them to be ferried across on a raft like the royalty they are.

The main gameplay is puzzle-solving, with some light platforming to facilitate it. The machines provide some danger, patrolling in ways which require either stealth or a way to use the environment to remove them since neither Lana or Mui has any ability to fight. I found the puzzles difficult enough to provide a sense of pride and accomplishment without holding up the momentum of the game, though some of the 'boss' puzzles are definitely a jump in difficulty, requiring you to carefully consider the area surrounding them for hints.

Overall a great entry to the genre which makes some interesting additions to set itself apart, well worth picking up if it looks at all interesting.