Planet of Lana II (XS) - Review
by Lee Mehr , posted on 29 April 2026 / 1,636 Views
"What if Playdead released a platformer in a normal timeframe?" is admittedly a lacklustre marketing tagline. Following the success of the original, developer Wishfully was obviously interested in expanding upon this Earth-adjacent world. Lana may get name-checked constantly, but her planet is the center of attention. It serves not only as a ripe target for this horde of automatons but also a vehicle for her puzzle-platforming shenanigans. Largely why the original's start was so affecting stems from the robots' ravenous destruction of her idyllic village; its extensive verdure, refulgent blue waters, and cheery peoples were ripped away by aggressive, bulbous spider-bots with cages.
Things are different now. The original's conclusion now finds those robots helpful to their once-captives. This spurns on a rather intriguing dilemma: how do humans manage the equivalent of a bundled industrial & AI revolution? With such technology so readily available, now there's the danger of mass-scale ecological devastation. This is considered with a narrated prologue that clarifies the original's story – and highlights human/AI relations before it. The subtitles seem minor at first blush, but they're an incipient sign of Writer/Co-Director Klas Martin Eriksson's misguided step away from pure visual storytelling; even Lana's objective list has small, vivid paintings alongside text bluntly stating "go grab x item."
More significant than some interruptive text is a trite inciting action. After some casual exploring with a local child named Anua, Lana and her robotic monkey-cat sidekick Mui (pronounced "Moo-ee") are roped into a new adventure. Nearby miners are using the idyllic countryside as a dumping ground for their irradiated ore. After – conveniently – getting close enough to huff some of its toxic green smoke, Anua is knocked out and seemingly on death's door. To heal her, Lana & Mui must venture across this world for three special ingredients.
Both the specificity of these items and the geologically-diverse locales can't help but beg the question: how'd anyone come about to learn this concoction? Before an answer is given, you're whisked away to a frigid mountainside with Lana's standard garb plus a long-sleeved shirt. Another sort of nitpick, with some justification given the original's cohesive world. The game-y elements of dodging robots and wildlife were often clichéd, sure, but plausibly mapped onto the duo's situation. Here, it's more about hopping and bopping to different environs a few hours away from each other via a flying skiff.
Fixating on that critique is tough once your focus shifts towards puzzle-solving, though – alongside Jimmy Chan & company's painterly backdrops. The aforementioned opener serves as an expanded reminder of Lana & Mui's disparate abilities: the former is the typical protagonist of a 2.5D platformer who can move heavy crates and control certain robots; the latter can make incredible leaps, nibble on ropes, and so on; and both are equally capable of hitting switches. Past that, Lana's control scheme is the industry-standard stick movement, whereas Mui vacillates between follow/stay orders and going somewhere, commanded by the right stick's controller-cursor and context-sensitive button (RB). The design is less interested in quick reflexes and more on correct positioning for the puzzle at hand.
There are tweaks and expansions beyond the original – naturally. Though Mui still can't swim, there's a unique sea plant that shifts between sturdy lily pad on the surface and hermetically-sealed Venus flytrap beneath it. Of all the gameplay cornerstones here, underwater exploration is among the biggest pie slices. Mui's environmental influence includes overloading electric batteries or robots for Lana to then hastily bring them under her control. Those magical pulses also work with a new fauna: small fuzzballs that stick to any rocky or metal surface and can lay a trail of flammable wool. It's easy to intuit how daisy-chaining it together is like a long fuse, but slightly discomfiting that the one you're controlling has to be a sacrificial lamb to light it. A strange oversight for a game striving to be so conscious about nature that these sentient creatures are cannon fodder for a few brainteasers.
So then the issue of Lana II's weaker appeal must be asked: what about it doesn't hit, despite obvious expansions & occasional improvements? It's not as though its Ghibli-esque art or Takeshi Furukawa's soundtrack can't keep one's attention; hell, the greater variety enhances its visual & aural qualities. No, the problem stems from… something else.
Even with such variety, flouting a grander world and longer runtime (~6 hours) has to come with an assured command of pacing and structure. There are several times a puzzle sequence is bigger than your screen allows, leaving Lana and/or Mui as little thought bubbles on their respective sides, but extra space alongside the pair's somewhat-sluggish moveset drags everything out. There's a bit more pep to Lana's step, and a glide to her new slide, but it's still not fluid. She may drag her feet, but other points-of-view in this multi-threaded narrative effectively stomp on the brakes. Mui in particular maintains the same moveset, so you're just clicking the controller-cursor multiple times to reach some invisible gates and trigger a few cutscenes.
Misguided bite-sized distractions wouldn't feel so drastic were it not for an imbalance of old and new conundrums. Certain standouts like the gravity-shifting metal boxes are both challenging enough and fitting for this universe, but they're peppered between sleuthing past camera vision cones, dragging Mui on a log across water, and other previous staples that were long in the tooth already. It's unavoidable to sprinkle in some basics – even after the start – but it threatens to feel stale once crossing past a certain threshold. And since puzzle difficulty reaches its zenith relatively early, save for rare occasions, there's no consistent spark. Perhaps these critiques could also reflect my own semi-waning enthusiasm on the first as well, though with a distinct caveat: its special subtleties and cleaner pacing made it easier to paper over well-trodden material.
The bugbear with Planet of Lana II isn't to do with a singular aspect; in fact, certain particulars – music, puzzle complexity, etc. – surpass the original. The grander problem is epitomized in a rather uncommon phrase for games: it's less than the sum of its parts. As evidenced by both big and small shifts, it's less interested in recapturing the animating spirit suffused within all of its predecessors' creative decisions than in playing with a few nifty gameplay concepts and wondrous new sights. There's a constant tension to evaluating Wishfully's sequel as more a collection of elements rather than as a unified whole. For all the positive adjectives it may well deserve, "essential" isn't one of them.
Contractor by trade and writer by hobby, Lee's obnoxious criticisms have found a way to be featured across several gaming sites: N4G, VGChartz, Gaming Nexus, DarkStation, TechRaptor, and Cubed3! He started gaming in the mid-90s and has had the privilege in playing many games across a plethora of platforms. Reader warning: each click given to his articles only helps to inflate his Texas-sized ego. Proceed with caution.
VGChartz Verdict
6
Decent
This review is based on a digital copy of Planet of Lana II for the XS
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I never even got around to playing the first game yet but I always like the art style they have.
Never heard of this game of series, but I like the looks of it!
Well, at least everyone comes away with something. The winner selection is in:
1st place - WoodenPints
2nd place - hiccupthehuman
Congrats to all who participated!
It's nice to actually win something! Thanks for the review and the Lana collection now I just have to get around to playing it.
