Planet of a Lana is a 2D cinematic puzzle platformer with a focus on companion based gameplay. Set in a side-scrolling environment the player controls the titular Lana who lives in a simple village. She enjoys playing with a friend, but the village is suddenly attacked by an alien invasion. Lana is the only one who manages to escape and tries to get her friend back. Very soon she meets a small creature that joins her and the two often need to work together to overcome challenges.
Lara speaks an unknown language, so the story is mostly told through her actions, short cinematic sequences and events happening in the background. She has no means of attack and has to rely on stealth and other skills to progress. While there is some action platforming involved, most of the game focuses on figuring out puzzles with elements in the environment such as platforms, levers and electronic devices. The companion creature is also very important. Separate actions are used to tell it to stay put or follow. Lana can also point and tell it where to go. While it is afraid of water, it can jump higher than Lara and can be told to push switches.
Platforming includes running, hanging from ledges, climbing and swinging from vines. Lana is also able to crawl and hide in bushes. Later on additional skills become available letting her operate devices and the little creature learns how to control certain enemies. Getting spotted usually leads to instant death, but the scene is restarted right away. Drawing the attention of enemies is also an element that needs to be used. Some puzzles are more thorough and require careful examination of the environment for clues, but most of them are environment based. There are twelve chapters in total.
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