Planet of Lana II is coming to Xbox next week

Wishfully Studios is releasing Planet of Lana II as a multiplatform title on March 5, 2026, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. The puzzle-platformer sequel is highlighted in Microsoft's weekly roundup of upcoming digital releases for Xbox consoles and PC, according to the official Xbox Wire blog.

The original Planet of Lana launched in May 2023. It wore its influences openly. The game channeled the wordless storytelling of titles like Inside and Another World. Players guided a young girl named Lana and her cat-like companion, Mui, through a lush sci-fi landscape filled with robotic invaders. It was a brief, beautiful game that relied heavily on companion-based puzzle solving and stealth.

The core loop of the first game involved directing Mui to chew through alien cables, hypnotize local wildlife, or sit on pressure plates. It was a gentle take on the genre. Unlike the brutal, sudden deaths found in Heart of Darkness or Limbo, the penalties for failure were light. The checkpoints were generous. It was a game designed to be experienced rather than conquered.

Takeshi Furukawa and the cinematic platformer

Cinematic platformers have a specific rhythm. You walk to the right, admire the hand-painted parallax scrolling, and inevitably get chased by something mechanical with glowing red eyes. The genre traces its roots back to Eric Chahi's Another World in 1991 and continues through modern spiritual successors like Playdead's Limbo. Wishfully nailed that pacing the first time around. The studio also managed to make the companion mechanics feel natural rather than like an extended escort mission.

A massive part of that atmosphere came from the audio. The original game had a sweeping orchestral score by Takeshi Furukawa. Furukawa previously composed the music for The Last Guardian, another game heavily focused on the bond between a human and a strange animal companion. The music elevated what could have been a standard indie platformer into something that felt like a high-budget animated film. If the sequel retains that level of audio production, it will be a treat for the ears.

The original took a year to hit PlayStation

Microsoft announced this release through its own channels. That means the marketing focuses entirely on the Xbox ecosystem. History provides some useful context here. The first game launched as an Xbox console exclusive and a day-one Game Pass addition. It stayed there for nearly a year before Thunderful Publishing brought it to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 in April 2024.

Microsoft's weekly release roundups rarely mention competing platforms, but very few independent games remain exclusive to a single console ecosystem forever.

The weekly discoverability grind

The Xbox Wire post outlines several other independent titles arriving during the first week of March. Microsoft updates this list every Friday to highlight smaller digital releases that might otherwise get buried on the storefront. The modern digital storefront is incredibly crowded. Hundreds of games launch every week across Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.

Programs like the weekly Xbox Wire roundup are one of the few ways smaller titles get guaranteed visibility in front of a massive audience. The cinematic platformer genre does not see a massive volume of releases compared to roguelikes or survival crafters. When a studio proves they can handle the delicate balance of animation, puzzle design, and atmosphere, a follow-up is always worth watching. We will see if Wishfully can capture that same quiet magic a second time.