Cover artwork I generate from the game data. I do not use publisher artwork.
Game profile
Planet of Lana
A girl and a small fluffy creature travel together through breathtakingly painted landscapes to save her captured village from an alien invasion. Environmental puzzles and quiet moments define this cinematic puzzle adventure.
Affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What kind of game this is
At its core this is Platformer / Puzzle, set in a science fiction world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. It is built around short sessions, which makes it easy to pick up for half an hour.
Difficulty stays forgiving, so progress rarely depends on your reflexes. The story matters and gives the mechanics a frame, without taking over. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Breathtakingly painted landscapes
- Companion creature core mechanic
- Cinematic puzzle adventure
This fits you if
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you enjoy being made to think
- you usually have thirty to sixty minutes and want that to be enough
- you want zero frustration and no difficulty wall
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
Look elsewhere if
- you need real difficulty to stay interested
- you want something that lasts, this is over after 5 hours
- you specifically want an open world to roam
- you want to play it side by side with someone
What it costs you in time
About 5 hours in total. That is roughly 3 evening(s), so you can realistically finish it this week.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 93 out of 100, which puts it above 95 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 48 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Platformer averages 84 points across the database, so this one sits 9 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 120 collected ratings.
Released in 2023 and 3 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2023
- Genres
- Platformer, Puzzle, Adventure
- Playtime
- approx. 5 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Relaxed, forgiving
- Story weight
- Present and relevant
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Sci-fi
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 93 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planet of Lana | 2023 | approx. 5 hrs. | 93 | Budget |
| Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf | 2026 | approx. 8 hrs. | 81 | Mid price |
| Darwin's Paradox! | 2026 | approx. 8 hrs. | 82 | Budget |
| Paradise Killer | 2020 | approx. 12 hrs. | 79 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf Shared: Platformer, Puzzle, Sci-fi, longer
- Darwin's Paradox! Shared: Platformer, Puzzle, Sci-fi, longer
- Paradise Killer Shared: Puzzle, Adventure, Sci-fi, longer
- Rue Valley Shared: Puzzle, Adventure, Sci-fi, longer
- Outer Wilds Shared: Puzzle, Adventure, Sci-fi, longer
- The Plucky Squire Shared: Platformer, Puzzle, longer