Lemmings

Lemmings, created by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in 1991, is one of the defining puzzle games of its generation. The premise is deceptively simple: hordes of tiny green-haired creatures march mindlessly forward off a ledge or into danger, and your job is to guide a required percentage of them safely to the exit before time runs out.

You never control the lemmings directly. Instead, you assign jobs to individuals from a limited toolkit of skills: climbers scale walls, floaters drift down safely with umbrellas, bashers and miners tunnel horizontally or diagonally, builders lay staircases, blockers halt the marching column, and the drastic bomber self-destructs to clear obstacles. Each level hands you a fixed allotment of these skills, turning every stage into a resource-management puzzle where the trick is figuring out which lemming to convert, where, and exactly when.

The genius lies in how it escalates. Early levels teach the basics gently, but before long you face fiendish layouts riddled with traps, drops and time pressure that demand precise timing and clever thinking. Its cheerful pixel-art creatures, catchy tunes and that iconic explosion countdown gave it enormous personality. Ported to virtually every platform imaginable, Lemmings remains a genuinely great puzzle game whose core ideas still feel fresh and satisfying to solve today.

» How to Save a Crowd of Little Fools and the History of Lemmings

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▶ Longplay Walkthrough Soundtrack Manual

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Can I play Lemmings online for free?

Yes — you can play Lemmings right here in your browser for free, with no installation and no plugins, on both desktop and mobile.

Can I download Lemmings?

Yes, Lemmings is available to download here — use the Download button on this page.

What platform does Lemmings run on?

Lemmings is a MS-DOS / PC game from 1991.

When was Lemmings released?

Lemmings was released in 1991.

Who made Lemmings?

Lemmings was developed by Psygnosis.

What genre is Lemmings?

Lemmings falls under: Logic.

Are there cheats for Lemmings?

Yes, you'll find cheats and codes for Lemmings in the Cheats section on this page.

How do I save my progress in Lemmings?

Save inside the game itself — via its own menu, or F2/F3. And if you log in (free), your position is also stored in the cloud, so you can continue on another computer or phone.

Is it legal to play Lemmings online here?

You play it in your browser via an emulator. For how we handle abandonware and copyright, see our "Is it legal?" page.

How do I control Lemmings?

The controls are in the Controls section on this page. The keyboard is usually all you need — arrow keys to move and Ctrl, Alt or Space for actions.

Can I play Lemmings on mobile?

Yes — it runs right in your browser on phones and tablets too. Just tap Play, nothing to install.

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