The original Planet of Lana was brilliant. It wasn't an overly difficult puzzle platformer, and while it lacked any understandable dialogue, the beautiful presentation told a rich story that made for an excellent five-hour adventure. When word got out that a sequel was coming, it was welcome but unexpected, since the original game ended at a natural place with no cliffhangers. We played a demo of Planet of Lana II: Children Of The Leaf before the latest Steam Next Fest and came away with a renewed sense of interest.

The demo doesn't feature one specific level but five different snippets of various chapters, all of which are present to highlight specific gameplay mechanics. The first takes place in the game's third chapter and is meant to show off the platforming. The segment takes place on a snowy mountaintop, and your standard assortment of moves from the first game is present, such as ducking and running. You can jump on jagged walls to scale them, which is something new for the sequel. The segment ends with a tricky platforming segment where you need to time your movements against strong mountain winds. The segments all have one difficult thing before a section ends. What you see is neat, with the only drawback being a longer than usual bit of downtime if you happen to die.

The next segment takes place in the same snowy environment but this time near an enemy outpost. This is meant to show off stealth, which comes into play when you try to avoid robotic spotlights by hiding in the snow. Later on, you manipulate a few switches to change the focus of a spotlight and mess with another switch to open a remote door. This was something from the first game, so this segment is further confirmation that the gameplay mechanic returns in the sequel.

The third segment takes place near an ocean, and swimming is the focus. Getting your companion to travel with you is the first part of the overall puzzle to solve, while the other part is being able to carve out a route that allows you to reach plants that refill your air. The best part of the section comes from an entirely new mechanic: controlling other creatures. This section lets you control a little fish whose lets you get past a larger sea creature that emits electricity. While this section ends the moment you reach the gate that the sea creature is protecting, you get the feeling that creature possession is a bigger part of the game. That assumption is confirmed in the next section, which focuses on platforming again. This time, you control a creature that can store large amounts of water in his mouth and dump it out when necessary. You need to use that ability to grow some plants to climb on, and then the section comes to an end.

The final segment of the demo takes place on an enemy base and shows off the cooperative play that occurs when both characters are forced to separate. You got a bit of this in the first game, but there's more to it than asking your companion to hit a switch. There's a section where you need to figure out a combination to open a container, and there are segments where you manipulate crates to activate pressure switches. Those segments are fascinating since you need to control the crate, manipulate its gravitational force, and move it to the correct position. Like the other puzzles, it isn't difficult, but it is clever.

There's enough in the Planet of Lana II: Children Of The Leaf demo that fans of the first game will get excited again. Just about everything that made the first title captivating returns in the sequel, while the new possession mechanic opens up a slew of possibilities that make puzzle-solving and platforming more intriguing. We have no solid release date for Planet of Lana II at the time of this writing, but we're really looking forward to checking out the full game when it does drop in 2026.