On the Level was going to be a feature on Blocker Trap where I wrote about individual levels that caught my eye and captured my heart. This was the only one I ever did, though. Originally published February 12, 2023. It has been minorly edited to accommodate my basic-ass guerrilla HTML "skills".
One of the things that makes Lemmings my favorite game of all time is the sheer number of ways it’s able to transcend the sum of its parts. The core Lemmings games feature only eight tasks: climbers, floaters, bombers, blockers, builders, bashers, miners, and diggers. Yet those skills, even within their strict parameters, can in combination navigate a surprisingly diverse range of level layouts. There are other aspects of the game that facilitate this, such as how not adhering to a strict grid- or tile-based layout allows for more interesting architecture and topography, but it’s the constant discovery of new things these eight simple jobs are capable of that really puts it over the top.
Some of my favorite levels in Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings, like “How do I dig up the way?” and “Down, along, up. In that order“, rewire your brain by turning the use of each task as you’ve become accustomed to understanding it on its ear, so that something that initially looks impossible, like reaching the exit in the latter example with only five builders, becomes obvious. This tradition continued in robust fan-made level packs, with levels like “Quarry of Jewels” in Dodochacalo’s DoveLems and the one I’m paying tribute to today: “A Matter of Pragmatism”, from the 2013 level pack PimoLems, by a creator named Pieuw.
“A Matter of Pragmatism” is pretty easy even within its difficulty rank. With such a finite number of tasks given to you, it doesn’t take long to work out how you’re going to get the lemmings home safely. But a level doesn’t have to be a brain-buster to be great. One of my top compliments to pay a level is that it is elegant. Many levels achieve this through crack timing, tested and tweaked and rebuilt until the difference between victory and defeat comes down to just a few seconds or a handful of frames—and a lot of the levels leading up to this one go that route. “Diving Area”, only two levels prior, features a basher that intersects with a digger just in time to free the latter of its duties. “Rule of Three” is not hard, but the degree of precision required is a thing of beauty. Those are just examples within PimoLems. We could be here all day if we mentioned all the levels across all of classic-style Lemmings that do this.
“A Matter of Pragmatism”, however, is not elegant in a timing way. But that actually makes it easier to appreciate, because you don’t have to spend time coming down off a suspense high before you’re able to access your more critical faculties. You can see it right then and there.
When you look at a blocker doing its job, both its arms are outstretched. You can see it in the Lemmings 2 Classic Tribe icon below. Yet typically, it only uses one of those arms to turn lemmings around. You probably haven’t ever thought much about this. But “A Matter of Pragmatism” is a great level, because to beat it, you have to think about that.
Another thing that makes “A Matter of Pragmatism” great is the symmetry. Look at it up top there. It’s beautiful. There’s a lot of care and thought put into it. It’s aesthetically pleasing. But the symmetry alone is not the great part. What makes it even better is that in the course of completing the level, you end up adding to that symmetry yourself.
You can tell pretty quickly that you’re going to need to stick a blocker on the rhomboid ledges on each side. That only leaves you with one more blocker, though. How is one lemming going to do the job of two? Because that one already has two tools to work with.
Lemmings are notorious for being able to fit through any gap no matter how narrow. If it’s even one pixel wide, they can squeeze their little blue varmint bodies through it. Even though it looks like a tight fit, there’s a way for a climber to get to the space in the middle. And once it’s at the middle, it’s going to start digging. It will dig until reaches the two lower rhomboids that are almost touching. When it’s flush with the tops of those platforms, the digger will stop digging and start blocking. Per the traditional rules of Lemmings, it will not be relieved of its duty until either it is detonated or the ground beneath its feet is removed. And it doesn’t look like there’s going to be much of a way to manage the latter today.
So there it will stand. The rare blocker who uses both its arms to shepherd two different groups to safety. One blocker doing a job one would normally think to assign to two.
In a word: pragmatic.
There have been a handful of moments in my life where an experience cracked my brain open like an egg and I never looked at anything the same way ever after. Solving this level for the first time was one of those. For some reason, however, before sitting down to play and write this, I remembered it being titled “A Matter of Perspective”. I personally think of remembering someone’s name or something’s title as a way of honoring them/it, so for something I’ve thought about at least once a week since my first encounter with it nearly ten years ago, it’s a little unusual for me to have misremembered its title. Unlikely I’ll ever do so again, though.
I’ll probably talk more about NeoLemmix when I beat PimoLems. In many ways it’s the ideal way to play Lemmings in the 21st century, but I think there are also some behaviors it encourages that kind of get away from what Lemmings is when it’s at its best. We’ll build that bridge when we get to that pit, though. 💘