Planet of Lana II launched on 5th March 2026. The puzzle-platformer follows on from the beautiful first game, with its cinematic focus crafted by the indie team Wishfully in Sweden. It’s available now on PC and all consoles.
In this one, players must guide the character Lana as she traverses her home planet two years after an alien invasion. It’s the planet Novo, it looks amazing, and with a beautiful score to go with it you can have a lot of chilled fun here.
Beauty Galore in Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf
Planet of Lana (2023) is a beauty of a game, but we did some of its puzzles a little bit simplistic. What Children of the Leaf does very well is build on its predecessor, adding in new gameplay features to make the gameplay more engaging.
Whilst the sequel is the same sort of game, there are enough new ideas and flourishes here to make it a frequently captivating experience.
This includes a more immersive and complex plot, with separate chapters as you explore the planet Novo with a cat-like pet called Mui. As you take in the spectacular views (and the art direction really is something in Planet of Lane II), you go about solving puzzles and exploring Novo.
To note, this type of genre isn’t a traditional 2D platformer type deal. Enjoying the vibes and solving puzzles is the main structure to this genre, the brilliant epitome of which remains Playdead’s phenomenal INSIDE (2016).
Where some gamers may baulk with Planet of Lana II is the stop-start nature.
You rarely get a freeflowing run of gameplay as you constantly come up against puzzles to solve. This may frustrate some players, it really depends on what sort of thing you like. For us, we really just enjoy that sense of basking in the moment. Enjoying the artistic experience, the music, and just how relaxing Wishfully has made this game.
There’s about three to four hours of gameplay here, too.
We’ve seen the usual complaints about that in the gaming press (including with Nintendo Life’s 9/10 review). This issue continues to baffle us when it’s brough up. The game is £15. It’s an indie game. Indie games are renowned for being much shorter than AAA titles. We don’t get why this keeps being raised as a point.
Anyway, away from that and here we have a lovely, not 100% perfect, but very enjoyable and inspired title that builds on the original impressively. We think it’s fabulous.
A Look Behind the Planet of Lana II Score by Takeshi Furukawa
The Japanese-American composer Takeshi Furukawa worked on the soundtrack (he did the first game’s one, too). He’s from Tokyo but was raised in Los Angeles, where he studied music at university after being inspired by John Williams’ music.
Furukawa’s work here on Planet of Lana II is consistently glorious, offering a neoclassical batch of soothing/rousing compositions. Well worth a listen across the whole thing.
Really fantastic stuff and complex, too, with two hours of material to cover across the game’s playtime.
That’s a heck of lot of creative requirement, but Furukawa never hesitates and always delivers fantastic pieces across each new area of Lana experience.
ADDENDUM ALERT! A Tribute to Planet of Lana Menu Screens
Finally, we want to note the ART of video game menu screens. Often you can just leave a game on its start screen and enjoy what the developers have created, with Planet of Lana II being no exception. Look at that!
Compare this to the original game’s menu screen and it’s a style Wishfully has mastered. You could leave either on for an hour or two of relaxation time.
We might do a full feature on this at a later date, rounding up our favourite menu screens. It’s not often we see them properly celebrated and we think it’s Wishfully who has pushed on to to do the important deed.
