It's been six years since starlight adam drew in Photoshop the image of a girl and a small alien animal silhouetted against a lush natural landscape, trying to stare at a robot with an aesthetic similar to that of the spiders found in many houses: black in color, with a large body , thin legs. The surprising thing is that Planet of Lana has remained totally coherent with that initial concept, so strong and powerful that led Stjärnljus towards the founding of Desire studies and the development of the adventure starring Lana and Mui.
It's a stripped-down video game, Planet of Lana, without abstruse collectibles, optional locations to explore, or tons of weapons. Lana is a defenseless girl, but thanks to her collaboration with little Mui she manages to overcome all the challenges that arise in Novo, a world kissed by a wonderful sun on which abundant vegetation grows. There is no shortage of homages to classic experiences in the cinematic adventure genre - Another World above all - but Planet of Lana manages to stand out and stand out thanks to the incredible care put by the team into the design of every aspect of the game.
We talk about it in detail in ours. Lana's Planet Review.
An unexpected meeting
The young girl's journey Wool begins in a bustling human settlement on the mysterious planet Novo. The girl chases her older sister, Aug, and thus we learn the rudiments of movement: running, jumping, crouching. Leaving the town built on the edge of the water, the two see mysterious ships falling from space: one of them kidnaps Elo and other human beings, and Lana, desperate, begins to chase the robot that captured her sister.
The premises and plot development of Planet of Lana are far from original in the world of science fiction (video games and otherwise), but the story methods keep the player's interest alive throughout the adventure, equal to about five hours. There is only one type of collectible, of special interest to those who want to delve into the history of the origins of the planet Novo; Furthermore, the entry of a particular character will soon lead story and gameplay in unexpected directions. This is Mui, a little animal similar to a black kitten who, initially imprisoned by robots and then freed by Lana, will prove to be an incomparable ally in the pursuit of the automatons that kidnapped Elo, revealing the mysteries of the planet and surviving their traps. .
Traversing the expanses of Novo, without object descriptions or long lines of dialogue, players can intuit many things about the planet, the purpose of robots, and the role of humans. We really enjoyed it final crescendo, exciting and capable of exalting both protagonists of Planet of Lana, with their skills and peculiarities.
The language of collaboration
The gameplay of Planet of Lana is based on the dialogue between Lana's human abilities (climbing, running, jumping, hiding) and Mui's animal ones. Their communication occurs through Lana's verbal commands; In this sense, the Wishfully developers have created a ad hoc languagesimple and intuitively understandable. However, it is quite strange to see Mui manage perfectly alone in the first lines after his release by Lana, and then become a kind of puppet that does nothing but follow the protagonist's orders: the choice is understandable in terms of provide full control. for the player, called upon to solve puzzles that require precise management of the movements of both Lana and Mui, but which, in practice, is dissonant with the way in which the small animal, brave and perfectly capable of managing on his own, is presented in the initial stages.
Beyond these considerations, Planet of Lana presents a very successful puzzle alternation based on logic, time management, observation skills and movement in space. Only on a couple of occasions did we get stuck for a few minutes, but for the rest of the adventure we were amazed by Wishfully's ability to gently provide clues to players, without even directly spoon-feeding them. Choosing to insert gods helps control at the beginning of each puzzle and in the middle stages of more complex ones, so as to eliminate any possible sense of frustration and encourage experimentation. As the hours pass, Lana and Mui acquire new abilities, which allow different interactions with the environment and with the animals that inhabit the planet Novo and continually renew an experience of perfect duration, wisely proportioned in its different components.
Like any cinematic adventure worth its salt, Planet of Lana is aalternation of full and empty spaces, with sequences of exciting gameplay and walks capable of making us understand the past and present of a green and wonderful world, in which the human being seems more like a parenthesis than a constant presence, and with an invasion of the War of the Worlds as a backdrop for Lana and Mui's continued march.
Under an alien sun
We said at the beginning that Planet of Lana has been developed in a totally coherent way with respect to its initial idea, admirably condensed into a work of art that can still be used today to "decompose" the distinctive elements of the adventure, both from the visual point of view and gameplay. The relationship between Lana and Mui is constantly at the center of the scene, even in the phases in which the two are forced to separate; Planet Novo is aesthetically unforgettable, halfway between the essential beauty of Another World and the exuberance of a Studio Ghibli film. The elements of the different levels of the scenario never interfere with the visibility of what is happening on the screen and, in fact, help to focus attention on the components useful to solve the puzzles and understand the events of the story, never illustrated with words , but always confident in what the environment and the interaction with the inhabitants (and invaders) of the planet manage to express non-verbally.
This does not mean that words are not important, on the contrary. The obsessive study he does is palpable. Lead Sound Designer Francesco Ameglio and by the audio equipment, capable of giving centrality to the communication between Lana and Mui in any situation: if there is a robot nearby, the girl's orders will be a simple whisper, broken by sobs in some moments of special excitement; If, on the other hand, there is no danger in sight, Lana's voice will be strident and Mui's sweet verses will resonate fearlessly in the spaces the two of them cross. Whether they are plains, caves or more markedly anthropized environments, the scenarios drawn by Wishfully are always capable of surprising with their beauty and coherence in the artistic direction, also thanks to the accompaniment of the magnificent music by Takeshi Furukawa (former composer of The Last Guardian soundtrack).
This picture of excellence is completed with a technical sector practically free of setbacks or imperfections, with a Enviable cleanliness in the interpretation of the characters' movements. and its interactions with the elements present in the environment. There is one Translation to Spanish, naturally limited only to command prompts (since there is no translation of the few dialogues present). We would like to point out the absence, for the moment, of accessibility and control reconfiguration options: the developers have communicated that everything will be added later.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (35) 8.3 your votePlanet of Lana is visibly the result of a work of synthesis, of subtraction: far from being a product superabundant in its various elements, it points to the essence, to the care of the elements that allow a narrative adventure to aim for excellence. Extremely refined from an aesthetic and sonic point of view, the Wishfully video game is reactive, precise and interesting in the construction of the puzzles. The story is certainly not among the most original of the genre, but it is told impeccably, also thanks to the timely management of the elements present in the scenarios and a particularly successful choice of direction. We recommend Planet of Lana without reservation.
PRO
- Excellent puzzle construction
- Visually spectacular
- Extraordinary care in sound design.
- Lana and Mui are a simply fantastic couple of protagonists
AGAINST
- It's not a particularly original story.
- Accessibility and control reconfiguration options are currently absent, but should arrive later
