Planet of Lana, A Visual Journey

Go on a journey in the beautiful planet of Novo

Planet of Lana Brings You On a Sci-Fi Expedition

Welcome To An Off-Earth Odyssey

Imagine living on a picturesque and peaceful planet, living your best life with your family. Everything is all well and good, as it should be. But suddenly, the peace is shattered by the arrival of hostile androids set to take over your planet—on top of that, your sister gets kidnapped by said robots. Oh boy.

Planet of Lana is a sci-fi puzzle-platformer of the sidescrolling variety where you accompany the titular Lana (yes, Lana is actually the protagonist) and her cute cat-like sidekick Mui on a journey to rescue Lana’s sister, Elo, who was kidnapped by an invading robot army. While journeying through the colorful planet of Novo to find her, Lana also stumbles upon the various mysteries and the hidden past that the planet has been hiding all this time.

The gameplay features various puzzles that sometimes make use of your adorable companion. Mui, with its small, round body, can be directed by Lana to access places that are otherwise out of reach and open up new paths to traverse. Also being a mythical creature of some sort, Mui can actually take control and tame some of the hostile creatures that plague the planet. With that said, Lana and Mui lack any combat abilities due to being a child (Lana) and a strange tiny creature (Mui) and therefore must carefully navigate dangerous situations using the power of stealth and innate reflexes.

It takes inspiration from two other indie game hits, Playdead’s LIMBO and Inside, who are also side-scrolling puzzle platformers, and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, Director Stjärnljus said in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun at the ID@Xbox showcase. "That's been kind of like a guiding star from the beginning in terms of tonality with this serious, emotional story, but [also] still, like, a fun quirkiness to it, and really this sense of exploring another world, which we really want."

Inspired By Studio Ghibli and Another World

Small indie game studio Wishfully, the makers of Planet of Lana, hail from Sweden. Director Adam Stjärnljus founded the studio with his wife, Maria, to work on the game. The project on Planet of Lana—and subsequently, the creation of Wishfully—started with an image and an idea that Stjärnljus drew all the way back in 2017. He knew he wanted to start a career in game development and to start it off, to create a game that he himself wanted to play.

Besides the previously mentioned LIMBO and Inside, Stjärnljus was also inspired by “epic sidescroller adventures'' he enjoyed as a young boy, namely Another World (Out of this World), Oddworld Abe’s Odyssey, and Flashback. “I wanted to take good bits from those games and add the mechanic of a dog-like companion. And for the world, I wanted to create something the complete opposite to the dark and gloomy backdrops that are so prevalent in many game experiences. I envisioned a colorful sci-fi world that still had a serious, grown-up tonality,” he said in an interview with GameDeveloper back in 2021. Artistically, Stjärnljus is influenced by Studio Ghibli works, and the Zelda games such as Breath of the Wild and Wind Waker.

With those ideas in mind, he hand-painted an image on Photoshop. The resulting image became the catalyst of Planet of Lana, and that very image is still their “guiding star style-wise since then.”

A Treat For The Eyes And The Ears

Planet of Lana is a feast for the eyes and the ears, with its stunning visuals reminiscent of Ghibli and Zelda and an original soundtrack by renowned individuals composer and conductor Takeshi Furukawa and singer-songwriter Siobhan Wilson. The pieces are hand-tailored to the game, essentially a part of the narrative and the lore, says Furukawa in a behind-the-scenes video on the music.

Just from the reveal trailer itself, you are instantly transported into the beautiful paradise that is the planet of Novo, which starts out peaceful and idyllic—until it’s not. Sentient robot androids and large hostile creatures suddenly pose a threat to your otherwise harmonious life, and it’s up to you to make it what it once was.

As the description on the game says, “But this is not a story about war. This is a story about a vibrant, beautiful planet –and the journey to keep it that way.”

Planet of Lana is available on PC (Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Xbox PC Game Pass), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and the PlayStation 4.