Demo Play Thursday - Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf, from developers Wishfully Studios.

I hadn't heard of this series before so i hadn't played it. with it being a sequel, there's always the concern that you need to have played the first game to fully understand what's going on. but with this demo, that's not important as the developers have given us somewhat of a unique demo, or at the very least a style of demo i have rarely come across.

In the Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf DEMO, instead of spending a lot of time at a specific point in the game, we're treated to 5 segments from the game. the first four focus more on the game's puzzle platforming mechanics and are set outside but the final one has us using that knowledge and more in an indoor setting.

i thought it looked great and the music was nice too. the puzzle platforming wasn't too hard to work out either. often, things of interest are slightly highlighted by light. what also helps is that the section you're in is often small so there aren't too many factors to worry about. but as this demo isn't from the start of the game, there were a couple of times where it took a bit of time to work out what to do. i have to imagine those who played the first game and those who start this game from the beginning will have a greater understanding as to what both characters can do. as i didn't, there was a fair bit of trial and error and process of elimination. for me, it wasn't troublesome as the game has a very quick restart and very generous check pointing. but i wonder if an easy difficulty could be introduced that would offer more hints as to how to interact with the world. for example, i didn't realise my companion could use their powers and become/take over other animals but a prompt, perhaps shown as a memory, would've helped a lot.

I did enjoy my time playing Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf. the difficulty felt right and the characters and world were interesting. the demo ended with a trailer showing much more of the game. but i do come away with little to no idea what the game's story is all about but i don't think that detracts from the experience. i'd recommend trying this demo if you're interested in the game.