Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle adventure game, coming to Xbox & PC in Spring 2023.
Storyline
Planet of Lana is set on the planet Novo. A planet that used to be a peaceful paradise with a balance between human, nature and animal that has now become something else entirely. A hostile robot army descends onto the world. Lana, a young girl native to the planet, is caught up in the invasion with her sister. As they attempt to flee, Lana’s sister is caught by the attackers. With no other option, Lana heads for safety. Alone and afraid, she finds herself at the mercy of the now hostile Novo wilderness. However, she soon meets Mui, a cute cat-like creature who consoles her and they quickly befriend each other. Strengthened by this sudden show of companionship, Lana embarks on a journey across her world to find and save her sister and unravel the mysterious origin of the cold machine invaders, with Mui at her side.
But this is not just a story about war. This is a story about a vibrant, beautiful planet and the journey, which you will embark on, to keep it that way.
Gameplay
The studio promises the game to be a story with a grand sci-fi-centric story, taking its protagonist across galaxies that should keep the gameplay and pacing exciting. Players will take the young girl and her companion on an adventure that will see her up against robots and alien creatures. Simultaneously, they’ll be tested with puzzles and the option to approach potentially dangerous situations in a variety of ways.
Features
- Companion based game play
- Solve puzzles with various challenges and exciting twists
- Carefully navigate treacherous situations by using wit and being nimble
- Use your reflexes and overcome difficult action sequences
- Discover a thrilling story that continues across galaxies and over centuries
Planet Novo
The first biome in Planet of Lana is filled with lush forests, expansive fields of grass, rocky cliff sides and a few cavernous areas dug deep into the stone. During their time in this area, Lana and Mui will begin to get to know one another. Your gameplay possibilities expand as their relationship does, allowing Lana to direct Mui to certain areas, or to accomplish tasks Lana cannot. Planet Novo has various expansive landscapes. All with their own challenges and puzzles. So not only will this pair be navigating this landscape and figuring out environmental puzzles together, but they will also have to tackle some tense encounters with the robot invaders.
Mui
How will Mui, your new companion, join you on your adventures? She will naturally follow you, but there are also commands you can give her. She may look like a cat, but you can think of Mui’s behaviour closer to that of a dog. You can ask her to stay in place, to follow you, and you can also direct her to particular places. The stay and follow commands are both mapped to the B button on your Xbox controller. A tap will make Mui stay in one spot, while holding the button down will get her to follow you.
Mui is a lot smaller than Lana, so there are places she can crawl into that Lana cannot. Mui is also really nimble, so she can even jump across large gaps or up to high places with ease. When directing Mui to a specific point, holding down the RT trigger will bring up an on-screen UI that signals where you are pointing to in the game world. You can move it around freely with the analogue stick and it will also smartly snap to particular points of interest, too. Once you have chosen a spot for Mui to get to, simply press the A button and she will dash over there.
Lana and Mui Together
There are times where Lana and Mui will be briefly separated while figuring out a particular puzzle. You may need to head onward in order to move something blocking Mui’s path, or Mui may need to keep a button held down somewhere which opens a door or hatch containing something you need. You’ll often have these mini environmental puzzles where Lana and Mui are in different places, using their abilities in order to progress to the next part of the game. When this happens an animated icon dynamically pops up, showing you which direction Mui is located in and what her status is. For example, if she is sitting or moving towards you.
What’s something else dogs and cats do? Bite, of course! There are times where Lana will need Mui to use her teeth to chew through bits of rope or other materials. When there’s a contextual action that Mui can perform, a prompt to press Y button will dynamically pop up. Mui may chew through some rope, push objects down to you, or other similar actions. In this example from the demo, she can chew through the rope that is holding up a drawbridge.
These examples are just a few of the scenarios you will find across your journey through Novo with Lana and Mui. As your adventure progresses and their relationship grows, new abilities will be available to both characters. Your odyssey will also take you across the varied and beautiful landscape of this wondrous planet, from the lush green hills you’ve seen here today, to the deep blue expanse of the sea, swamps, old forgotten shipwrecks and finally into the golden sands of the desert lands.
Final Words
So, do you think you will purchase this game when it comes out and embark on the thrilling adventure, filled with puzzles and a fun story, that this game has to offer to you?
