Lemmings 2: The Tribes

About Lemmings 2: The Tribes

Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993) is DMA Design's sequel that split the lemmings into twelve tribes, added over forty new skills and asked players to save at least one lemming per level.

Lemmings 2: The Tribes in Depth

Twelve themed worlds, each belonging to a tribe such as the Highland, Cavelem or Circus lemmings, contain ten levels of obstacles, traps and hazards. As before, the player guides lemmings from their entrance to an exit within a time limit by assigning a limited pool of skills to the autonomous creatures. But there is no longer a quota: delivering just one lemming opens the next level. Each tribe starts its world with sixty lemmings and survivors carry over between levels, so because some later levels need several lemmings working together, earlier ones may need replaying to save more. Gold, silver or bronze medals reward the number rescued.

Alongside the original eight skills come 43 new ones, either one-off commands or permanent abilities. Runner and Icarus Wings improve mobility, Builder and Planter add terrain, Miner and Bazooker remove it, and Blocker and Attractor affect nearby lemmings. A new, unlimited fan tool is controlled directly to blow lemmings using skills like Ballooner and Surfer and to power mechanisms. Players can pause, "nuke" all lemmings to restart a hopeless level, and now fast forward. The tribes differ in looks but not in play, with no skill exclusive to one tribe, except the Classic tribe, which keeps the original Blocker. Compute! called it "perfection improved upon".

Making Lemmings 2: The Tribes

DMA Design developed it with Psygnosis, which programmer Brian Watson said played a more involved role in "helping with the game design and production". There was considerable pressure to repeat the original's crossover success, and lead programmer David Jones gave more thought to porting it to many platforms. Mike Dailly said the tribes were meant to create a more open-ended structure, giving players "at least some choice" when stuck and making the game last longer. It was a commercial success, though not as popular as the original nor ported as widely, and critics widely considered it better than the first game, praising its puzzles, animations, music for each tribe and friendly interface.