In what looks to be an incredibly beautiful game, independent developer Wishfully Studios and publisher Thunderful Publishing attended the recent Summer Game Fest with a new announcement in hand – Planet of Lana. The debut title from the Swedish studio, this is set to be a cinematic puzzle adventure which strives to offer “stunning hand-painted visuals, “an unforgettable story” and an “epic soundtrack”.
Unfortunately, you will be waiting a little while to play Planet of Lana, with expectations to release it on the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC in late 2022.
Planet of Lana is set on an alien world, and tells the story of Lana and her loyal animal companion Mui as they embark on a rescue mission to save her sister. The tale is weaved through the lends of a cinematic side-scrolling gameplay format, inviting players to explore a “colourful world full of stunning environments, strange creatures and dangerous machines”.
Gameplay wise, Wishfully Studios are pitching this as an “adventure filled with daring platforming, engaging puzzles, tense stealth sequences and a companion mechanic that connects Lana and Mui, allowing for unique gameplay and story moments using their abilities in tandem”.
The visual style is what drew my eyes to the game at first, with Wishfully Studios aiming to combine “hand-drawn artwork, complex parallax layering and subtle use of 3D graphics to give the look of an interactive painting”. On high-end PCs and the Xbox Series X – Planet of Lana will run at a native resolution of 4K at 60fps – so here’s hoping it will be a treat for both the eyes and the mind.
Expect to hear more about Planet of Lana in the coming months.
