Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf Review – We Were Here Together

When the first Planet of Lana started, we were introduced to a familiar yet alien planet without really any context. Simply left to interpret the language that protagonist Lana spoke with her sister, Elo, but immediately recognised the threat of the mysterious machines. Sneaking through the village, nearly evading capture while not knowing about the fate of her family and neighbors, was a strong way to kickstart the adventure, and told without any subtitles, players were left to interpret conversations as they chose.

Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf takes a vastly different approach, starting with Lana explaining what happened in the first game (bet you didn’t know the planet actually had a name), after which we jump forward two years. What follows isn’t a manic chase, but something more subtle and assured, specifically Lana navigating the same wreckage. While a great primer for the game’s platforming and puzzle-solving, especially when regaining control of Mui, it’s also interspersed more heavily with subtitle-less cutscenes and expands further on the characters and their discoveries.

It’s something I return to when really examining the sequel as a whole. I wasn’t expecting a massive departure from the first game’s mechanics and general gameplay loop, more so some significant evolutions to the presentation and overall flow. Planet of Lana 2 isn’t exactly that, but it does offer numerous improvements in other areas, even more puzzle-solving that’s as seamless as it is occasionally head-scratching, and a gorgeous hand-painted art style. And honestly, that’s enough for how much it ultimately offers.

"Lana has grown faster in the past two years, which is reflected in her platforming, although it can still sometimes feel like she’s falling short of a critical jump and at risk of falling to an early grave. If anything, the levels feel more intricate now, boasting more unique sequences that leverage alternating between Lana and Mui."

As noted before, it’s two years later, and Lana is seeking to learn more about humanity and the Machines. While the circumstances are less dire as she makes her way through the village, it showcases how much everything has changed over the years, and how Machines are employed to help in daily tasks. Of course, as Lana has grown bolder – and exemplified her capability, as seen in the first game – it feels like there’s some distance between her and Elo, the latter still believing she needs to protect her. Lana, naturally, disagrees.

So when a child suddenly falls sick due to a mysterious ore dumped by the Dijinghala, tensions rise even higher. Elo ventures forth with the rest of the village guard to ultimately deal with them, while Lana and Mui have a more tertiary task – obtaining ingredients for medicine. As uninteresting as that initially sounds, however, their search takes them across multiple different biomes, including snow-covered mountain passes (which lead to high security bases) and tropical coasts with ample opportunity for swimming. And since this is a Planet of Lana game, you can rest assured that things will only escalate.

Honestly, I kind of like how multiple threads are unfolding at once. While the first game primarily showcased Lana and Mui, the second offers brief updates on what other central characters are up to in the meantime. Granted, the opening hour or so does break the gameplay flow a tad too often with its cutscenes, but after that set-up, it’s relatively smooth sailing.

Not that the world has grown any less dangerous, as indicated by the rise of the Dijinghala, a faction of humans who are mining for…something in the planet. Fortunately, Lana has grown faster in the past two years, which is reflected in her platforming, although it can still sometimes feel like she’s falling short of a critical jump and at risk of falling to an early grave. If anything, the levels feel more intricate now, boasting more unique sequences that leverage alternating between Lana and Mui.

"However, the pacing does feel a bit bogged down at times with the sheer number of puzzles. It was a complaint I had with the first game, and while Planet of Lana 2 does a better job at minimizing that feeling, it can still occasionally pop up."

For example, while traipsing through the Dijinghala’s mountain base, you’ll encounter a relatively harmless nest of creatures that Mui can control. Using their threads, it’s possible to create pathways to burn any thick webbing or cause living platforms to momentarily retract. This can then come into play later when dealing with a mining robot that’s attracted to glowing ore. One particularly slick sequence involves attracting the robot with the ore, controlling a creature to deposit some threading, and then ensuring it makes it all the way to your destination without being shot by a sentry turret.

Except you eventually need it to be shot to ignite the thread. It’s not the toughest puzzle solution to sus out – which could apply to many such situations in Children of the Leaf – but it does mix up the overall gameplay flow more than the previous game. Some puzzles also rely heavily on nailing the actual execution instead of just assembling the pieces in the right order, so there are still plenty of triumphant moments to be had when everything goes according to plan.

Besides igniting threads, dodging (and shutting down) turrets, sneaking around to avoid detection, and rendering lethal ores inert by commanding Mui to sit on top of them, you’ll also have to do a lot of swimming as Lana when you’re not remotely controlling drones to transport them to higher places. There’s also a decent number of tense platforming-heavy sequences, like escaping from a cavern that’s quickly filling with toxic gas while climbing aboard a giant moving drill.

However, the pacing does feel a bit bogged down at times with the sheer number of puzzles. It was a complaint I had with the first game, and while Planet of Lana 2 does a better job at minimizing that feeling, it can still occasionally pop up. Some puzzles also feel just about as contrived, if not more so, owing to their increased complexity, which may sometimes take you out of the experience.

"Even if it didn’t immediately “wow” me like its predecessor, I can’t deny that this is a well-crafted puzzle-platforming experience, which excels at constantly driving me forward, waiting to see what the next area holds (and hoping that I don’t accidentally get Lana or Mui killed)."

Thankfully, the overall atmosphere, attention to detail and presentation will bring you right back. Even if you’ve experienced the most gorgeous narrative platformers of the past several years, Planet of Lana 2’s style still feels distinct. The colors radiate as much while traversing across the coast as they become more subdued and ominous while swimming deep underwater or spelunking in caverns. Then there’s the music, which remains as sweeping and emotional as ever thanks to composer Takeshi Furukawa, the sound design and the voice acting. Even if it’s in a made-up language, the tone of each character’s voice is more than enough to convey their mood and general thoughts. Seeing Lana, who yelled excitedly through the opening Chapter, becoming more deflated and sad after her friend falls sick, just highlights how much the little details matter.

That said, it’s easy to walk into Planet of Lana 2 and feel an overwhelming sense of deja vu for the original. Some will appreciate this because the first game remains a strong, cinematic platformer, and seeing the sequel benefit from a much larger scale and more varied gameplay is a good thing. However, you could also lament that it’s fundamentally similar without any major leaps in the storytelling format or even a killer hook that really sets it apart, aside from the narrative style and visuals.

Frankly, I’m somewhere in the middle but leaning towards appreciating Children of the Leaf for everything that it does well (and there is plenty). Even if it didn’t immediately “wow” me like its predecessor, I can’t deny that this is a well-crafted puzzle-platforming experience, which excels at constantly driving me forward, waiting to see what the next area holds (and hoping that I don’t accidentally get Lana or Mui killed).

This game was reviewed on the PC.