As an aging Englishman, my early years of playing video games involved Lemmings. The very first PC I ever had as a child had Lemmings installed when it was brought into the home, and because of this one of my earliest gaming memories is making the little fellas explode while I cackled with glee. This isn’t a supervillain origin story though, and eventually I played more Lemmings on the Game Boy and actually learned how to guide my wandering hordes to the exits they longed for. Moons of Darsalon definitely has a Lemmings like quality to it, although admittedly with more actual platforming and a cool sci-fi setting.
The aim of each stage of Moons of Darsalon is simple. You are a spaceman on a rescue mission, and need to guide a set amount of lost Darsanauts to a nearby base to save them from a horrible death. You do this by jumping around the lush intergalactic environments and shouting at these stray space explorers to follow you, go left, go right or stand still. For a level or two this is easy, and you’ll only really need to worry about dripping acid that’ll harm your friends. It doesn’t take long for all sorts of aliens and hazards to show up though, which will require a range of equipment to deal with.
The first item you’ll get your hands on is a torch, which as you’d expect is good at lighting the way. Darsanauts won’t go into dark areas without light to guide them, so this is more essential than you might expect. Before long you’ll start finding lasers that can take down enemies and (often more importantly) blow up walls, a gun that can create platforms for your lost friends to walk on, and even a jetpack. This variety of kit really helps the game stay fresh from stage one to stage twenty one, and this is helped by other environmental elements you’ll encounter.
From basic switches that need standing on to doors that only open when a certain number of Darsanauts are hanging out in front of them and even teleporters, each level throws something new your way. These obstacles generally put the puzzle in the puzzle platformer that is Moons of Darsalon, and mean you have to think a bit before rushing in with your poor defenceless followers.
Even when faced with a plethora of hazards, it’s not generally that difficult to complete a level of Moons of Darsalon. The real challenge of the game comes from completing all the optional objectives of a stage to earn extra stars. These objectives come in all sorts of flavours, from time goals to ensuring not a single Darsanaut takes damage. Some stages will take a lot of attempts to master, especially if you want to complete all the side objectives in a single perfect run.
Moons of Darsalon has been out on PC for a while, but this is a review of the Switch version of the game. The game runs absolutely wonderfully on the particularly dated Nintendo hardware, which admittedly shouldn’t be too surprising given its pixel visuals but is still appreciated. It’s a perfect game to play for a short session in handheld mode too, with most stages only taking a few minutes.
I really enjoyed my time with Moons of Darsalon, but it does have some issues that hold it back. Sometimes your little buddies just get stuck on the environment in annoying ways, or don’t follow your instructions very well and it can be pretty annoying. The controls were another irritation, especially early on. Changing items with the face buttons just isn’t particularly intuitive, and when you have time pressure to worry about it’s not helpful to be pressing the wrong button.
Another sticking point for some people will be the AI generated art loading screens that are plastered across the game, which are ugly and uninspired. You can turn these off in a menu (because they were added in a bizarre and rather controversial update on PC) which is at least a positive but won’t be enough if you ethically dislike the practice.
Moons of Darsalon is a really fun puzzle platformer with an old school feel. Navigating the world with interesting tools and keeping your friends safe is a lot of fun, and the optional objectives add some extra difficulty for those who want it. The AI art and control issues won’t impress everyone, but it’s hard to deny how enjoyable this sci-fi throwback is to play over and over again to get a perfect run.
