When discussing indie games in today’s gaming sphere, there seems to be one design type that tends to pop up more often than most. That is the story-driven puzzle platform genre popularized in the early 2010s with the likes of Limbo and Braid. Now it seems like most indie games take their design from these earlier examples, which is great and showcases how timeless these games were, but it also showcases a form of fatigue when this is what we are getting. Now that doesn’t mean that all games designed like this are bland; sometimes they can do new and exciting things, the most recent example being The Artful Escape, which takes a similar design to Limbo, but it’s stylized like an 80s rock opera. Then you have the game in question here, which takes the Limbo design and makes par with what it sets out to do, that game being Planet of Lana which recently dropped on Game Pass.
Now I will start by saying the opening chapter had an emotional grip that got my attention early on. You play as a young girl named Lana, whose peaceful planet is being invaded by machine-like aliens, and your entire village, including your twin sister, is captured. This was a good hook to get me invested early on and motivated me to continue with the story. But soon after, I realized what this game was: “Bright Limbo.” Meaning it’s Limbo but not in greyscale, the same instant death monsters, and the same physic-based puzzles, the only difference is you have a tiny cat-like thing tagging along with you. But it adds some interesting partner-based puzzles, which most of my time involved sitting the animal down somewhere so you can advance.
The game is short in length. I was able to clock in about four hours before I hit credits, which I viewed as a good thing because I did find that the story was paced well through the majority of the time, I spent with it. The only times I felt the pacing coming to a halt was during some of the more annoying puzzle aspects near the tail end of the game; that and some stealth sections were just like in similar games, the moment you are spotted, its back to square one at the start of the sequence.
Now it may sound like I wouldn’t say I liked this game, but I thought it was always okay and good at its best. The art style is what I will take away from this game because it’s so vibrant and colorful, especially playing on an OLED screen. It does help make the colors pop. Throughout most of my time with the game, I got a lot of Ghibli vibes, primarily those from Nausicaä. I like how most of the story is showcased through visual movements and emotions; the only form of dialogue is an in-game language, which reminded me a lot of Ico throughout my time with the game. Though I will say the story was also a vital part of the game, mainly because it did play with my expectations a little, I thought I could figure out critical events before they happened. Still, the opposite happened instead, so props to the writers for playing with genre expectations.
But that still doesn’t pave over my main issues with the game. I was pretty borough most of the down moments in the game; my moments involved just holding the stick to the right and occasionally pressing the jump or grab button, then a moment later be in a scripted chase sequence where one screw up and back to the start of the sequence. It began to frustrate me with specific design choices, but none of them were dealbreakers that stopped me from playing the game.
So, can I recommend this game after all that has been said? Well, if the type of genre interests you, then I recommend picking it up. As mentioned, it is on Game Pass, so it’s not doing any harm if you are subscribed to that. Try this game out and see if you like it. There will be people who love this game, and I can respect that, but as someone who grew up when these were a large majority of the indie games we were getting, this one started to make me feel a little burned out. There was enough here that kept me going to see the end, but it will likely be an experience that goes in one ear and comes out the other. But if you want a relaxing afternoon game, this is the best new option you have.
Score: 7 out of 10
Reviewed on Xbox Series X