Pretty platformer sequel Planet of Lana II gets a pretty good Steam demo tomorrow, ahead of its surprise March release

Planet of Lana II, Wishfully’s followup to their tremendous puzzle-platformer original, punched our news mouths with a double hit of announcements last week. First, it’s got a release date of March 5th 2026, a mere three weeks from now, and second, there’s a Steam demo coming even sooner, on February 11th. An embargo lift means I’m now at liberty to share my thoughts on said demo, and can report that it’s exactly the same as the demo given to press last year, and as such, you can already read what I said about it here and here. Still, eh? Release date, eh?

In any event, I'd encourage playing the Steam version once it releases tomorrow (it'll stay available at least through the next Steam Next Fest, which runs between Feb 23rd and March 2nd). Skipping across multiple scenarios from five different points in the game, it’s a good demonstration of both how the sequel maintains Planet of Lana’s gorgeous, hand-painterly style, and how the scale of its puzzles has grown. You’re still controlling both Lana and friendly alien cat/monkey/marketable plushie Mui, except the latter is no longer afraid to venture beyond Lana’s immediate vicinity, opening up taller and wider opportunities for crate-pushing and button-prodding.

Mui’s power to hypnotise local wildlife has also been expanded to allow for direct control over thralls, something that’s crucial to the demo’s highlight: an underwater warren, patrolled by shark-life beasts, that Mui and a newly diving-trained Lana must navigate without getting chomped. This, on its own, is bigger than any individual puzzle I can recall from the original, while an especially vexing machine manipulation challenge at the demo’s end suggests that Planet of Lana II’s thinky tests will get tougher as well as larger.

I’ll still a little unsure of this, given just how well Planet of Lana judged its difficulty – rare is the puzzle game that can consistently put your brain to work without inflicting a potentially fatal case of getting stuck. I absolutely enjoyed the demo, though, both on the first go last summer and this past week. March 5th really ain’t a long wait for the whole thing, to boot.