Gameplay
Lemmings game is divided into a number of levels, grouped into four difficulty categories. Each level includes some or all of the following elements: entrance points (at least one per level), exits (at least one per level), destructible landscape elements such as rocks or soil, indestructible elements such as steel plates, and obstacles including chasms, high walls, large drops, pools of water or lava, and booby traps.
The goal is to guide at least a certain percentage of the green-haired, blue-robed lemmings from the entrance to the exit by clearing or creating a safe passage through the landscape for the lemmings to use. Unless assigned a special task, each lemming will walk in one direction ignoring any other lemming in its way (except "Blockers"), falling off any edges and turning around if they hit an obstacle they cannot pass. A lemming can die in a number of ways: falling from a great height, falling into water or lava, disappearing off the top, bottom or side of the level map, being caught in a trap or fire, or being assigned the Bomber skill.
To successfully complete the level, the player must assign certain lemmings specific skills. Which skills and how many uses of each are available to the player varies from level to level, and the player must carefully assign which skills will have to be used in order to successfully guide the lemmings. There are eight skills that can be assigned:
| Skill | Description | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Climber | Climbs vertical surfaces, falling if it hits an overhang. | Permanent – a lemming assigned this skill will use it when necessary for the rest of its lifetime. |
| Floater | Uses an umbrella as a parachute in order to fall safely from heights. | |
| Bomber | Continues whatever it is doing for five seconds (indicated by a countdown timer above the lemming's head) and then explodes, destroying itself and any destructible landscape in close proximity. Surrounding lemmings, traps, etc. are not destroyed. | Cannot be cancelled after assignment. Using this skill destroys the lemming. If the lemming is killed another way or reaches the exit before the timer counts down it will not explode. Lemming can still be given new skills but timer will continue to count down. |
| Blocker | Stands still with arms outstretched, preventing other lemmings from passing. Any lemming that hits a blocker reverses direction. | Until the landscape under the lemming's feet is destroyed (or the lemming is destroyed by the Bomber skill). Unlike Builder, Basher, Miner or Digger, this skill cannot be cancelled by assigning another skill. |
| Builder | Builds a rising stairway of up to twelve bricks. The last three bricks make a sound when placed, giving the player a warning that it may be time to assign the skill again in order to continue building, or assign the lemming another skill. | Until the lemming runs out of bricks, hits its head on the ceiling, hits an obstacle meaning that it cannot continue building, or is changed to a Blocker, Basher, Miner or Digger. |
| Basher | Digs horizontally. | Until the lemming emerges into the open air, hits indestructible material, falls or is changed to a Blocker, Builder or a different digging skill. |
| Miner | Digs diagonally downwards. | |
| Digger | Digs directly downwards. |
While the player is able to pause the game to inspect the level and status of the lemmings, skills can only be assigned in real-time. The lemmings are initially released at a rate predetermined by the level (from 1 to 99), but the player can increase this to a faster rate, and later decrease it down to, but not lower than, the initial rate. The player also has the option to "nuke" all the remaining lemmings on the screen, converting them all to Bombers, either to abort a level when in a no-win situation or to remove any Blockers that remain after the remaining lemmings have been rescued.
The four difficulty groups – "Fun", "Tricky", "Taxing" and "Mayhem" – are used to organize the levels to reflect their overall difficulty. This rating reflects several factors, including the number of obstacles the player has to surpass, the limitation on the number of types of skills available to assign, the minimum rate of lemming release, and the percentage of lemmings that must be saved.
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