Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf [REVIEW] – A Beautiful and Ambitious Sequel 

It is completely normal to worry that a sequel to a beloved release might lose the magic of the original, but Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf manages to take everything that made the first adventure feel so special and cranks the ambition right up. If you missed out on the first game, don’t panic: there is a really handy opening sequence that gets you up to speed on who everyone is, and as for returning players, you will definitely feel a strong emotional pull from this brilliant adventure right from the start. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf kicks off on a wonderfully cheerful note, acting as a clever and playful tutorial where you take control of Lana alongside her incredibly cute and trusty animal companion, Mui. You’ll mess about and explore with Lana’s younger sister, which is a lovely way to familiarise yourself with the movement controls… until things take a dark turn. A strange and unfamiliar craft drops some mysterious debris into the environment, and when Lana’s sister gets too close to it, she falls severely ill. This sets up a highly personal rescue mission: you need to travel the world to gather specific ingredients for a cure or risk losing your sister. 

What is genuinely brilliant about this setup is how Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf tells a gripping, emotional story without uttering a single word of English. There is no text to read and no dialogue boxes to click through, but instead, everything is communicated through a fictional dialect, highly expressive character animations, and the subtle details of the environments. You are left to read between the lines, picking up on voice inflections to figure out exactly how the characters are feeling. And believe me, as you hunt for the medicine, you will uncover a broader, simmering background conflict, with neighbouring civilisations messing with advanced machinery they do not fully understand and putting the natural world and technology on a dangerous collision course. It’s tantalising stuff that helps make the storytelling of the world feel utterly engrossing from start to end. 

When it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay, the core loop is still a highly enjoyable mix of linear platforming, stealth, and puzzle-solving. You are mostly moving from left to right, figuring out how to get past the next massive obstacle, but Lana’s toolkit has been massively upgraded this time around. For starters, you have far more immediate and intuitive control over Mui, with the little creature easily directed to drop ropes, hit switches, or scurry up to out-of-reach ledges. It all feels incredibly fluid and adds another layer to exploration throughout the game. 

“Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is exactly what you want from a sequel: it takes a solid foundation, keeps the heart and soul completely intact, and layers on smarter, more varied mechanics to make for a beautiful puzzle adventure.“

The real game-changers, however, are the brand-new interaction systems. Lana can now actively hijack certain pieces of technology, whilst in some puzzles, Mui will need to temporarily disable a hostile robot so Lana can nip in, re-program it, and then use that very same machine to shift heavy crates or act as a decoy for other enemies.  

Mui has also learned how to temporarily take over the minds of the local wildlife, which is a wonderfully clever addition that constantly keeps you doing something different. For instance, you might find yourself controlling a speedy little fish that can shoot ink to blind underwater security cameras and slip past electric sea creatures, but later on, you might commandeer a fluffy little beast that leaves a trail of sticky, flammable thread as it rolls around.  

It offers even more diverse and creative ways to interact with the world and its puzzles, with Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf having plenty of creative little tricks up its sleeve to ensure it never grows tiring. These new elements mean the puzzles are much larger and far more layered than before, but the difficulty curve is spot on – the game is great at teaching you a new mechanic, letting you feel like a genius for mastering it, and then completely pulling the rug out to force you to look at the problem from a fresh angle. It’s brilliant game design that perfectly demonstrates just how much the game has evolved when compared to its predecessor.  

Check out some screenshots down below: 

That being said, this sense of ambition can work against the game at times. Because the puzzles are so much more involved and have so many mechanics at play, the later stages often require you to juggle controlling Lana, giving orders to Mui, and managing possessed animals or hacked machines all at the exact same time… yeah, it can be tough. When the puzzle timing gets tight, this multitasking can feel a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy all whilst riding a unicycle, and it occasionally leads to slightly annoying failures simply because there are too many moving parts to keep track of at once. Or maybe it’s a skill issue, who knows? 

Clocking in at around seven hours, it is a meatier experience than its predecessor, yet it never overstays its welcome. A massive part of why the playtime flies by is just how gorgeous everything looks, with the hand-drawn art style once again genuinely breathtaking. You will wander through vibrant, colourful tropical spots, brave harsh snowstorms across mountain peaks, and explore deep, atmospheric caves, with every new biome a visual treat that really brings the world to life. 

Developer: Wishfully 
Publisher: Thunderful 
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch  
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2997230/Planet_of_Lana_II/