There aren’t alien robots descending from the sky in Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf. Instead, the opening of this sequel is much more somber than the first game, beginning with the exploration of a crashed spaceship and the discovery of a more human-driven enemy. Protagonist Lana and her cat-like companion Mui don’t seem like they’re standing against an impossible threat this time around. They’re older, and the world around them feels a bit smaller. But this planet is no less fantastical, and remains filled with unexplained questions. Planet of Lana II doesn’t grow much beyond the mechanically simple, 2.5D puzzle-platformer formula of its first game, but it builds on the mystique of its predecessor to deliver a wondrous story.
Taking place two years after the events of the first game, Planet of Lana II sees the titular Lana adapting to a changed world where her people and the robots that once tried to collect the entire planet’s inhabitants now live side-by-side, with the former using the latter as tireless beasts of burden. However, when the new technologically savvy Dijinghala tribe from the north starts pushing further south, their environmentally destructive practices start to negatively impact the lives of Lana and her people.
The biggest issue with Planet of Lana II’s story is that it presents two problems in its first hour, and it follows the less interesting of the two for the first three hours of the five-hour story. The escalating efforts of the Dijinghala tribe lead to them dropping a crystal that’s leaking a deadly green gas–this poisons Lana’s adoptive little sister. To cure her, Lana sets out to collect the three ingredients needed to craft medicine. That’s the inciting incident that gets her back out on the road and leaving home for another adventure.
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