Planet of Lana | hits Game Pass this month

Planet of Lana, the hand-painted puzzle-platformer, is out on Game Pass on 23 May. There’s also a new trailer to have a look at.

In development for around five year, painterly sci-fi platformer Planet of Lana finally has a release date: it’s now to appear on PC and Xbox Game Pass on 23 May.

The debut title from Swedish studio Wishfully, Planet of Lana is a side-scrolling action-adventure with echoes of such classics as Another World, Flashback and Prince of Persia, with a smattering of Ico-style puzzling thrown in for good measure.

You take on the role of Lana, whose leafy home planet has been invaded by an army of robotic, spider-like beings. When Lana’s older sister is kidnapped by said invaders, Lana sets off across the verdant landscape, a faithful critter named Mui tagging along for the journey.

So begins a 2D adventure that takes in lots of climbing and stealth – those spider-like invaders pack a nasty laser zap which you’ll need to avoid – plus some neat environmental puzzles, where Mui can be commanded to scuttle through tight gaps and activate switches.

Here, have a trailer:

“We are so pleased to finally be able to reveal that Planet of Lana is coming to PC and Xbox on May 23rd,” Wishfully director Adam Stjärnljus said in an accompanying press release. “Thank you to everyone who has shown such love and support for our game over the last few years. We can’t wait for you to land in the magical world we’ve worked so hard to create and experience this adventure for yourselves.”

We caught up with Stjärnljus at Gamescom last year, where he talked about the game’s inspiration – a single image of Lana, dwarfed by a vast alien landscape – and the major coup of securing Takeshi Furukawa (The Last Guardian) as composer. We got some hands-on time with the game, too, and can confirm that it’s well worth getting excited about.