The first genuine indie surprise of 2026 just landed on Steam, and it’s reviving a genre that most developers forgot existed.
Craftlings, the debut release from ARIANO Games, launched this week with a premise that sounds like pure nostalgia bait: take the classic Lemmings formula and blend it with town-building strategy. But what could have been a shallow retro cash-in turns out to be something more interesting. The game has its own identity, balancing 90s design sensibilities with modern quality-of-life improvements that make the whole package feel fresh rather than dated.
What craftlings actually is
At its core, Craftlings asks you to guide small creatures through puzzle-laden levels by manipulating their environment and optimizing their automated behaviors. If you played Lemmings in the 90s, the basic loop will feel immediately familiar. But where Lemmings focused primarily on getting creatures from point A to point B, Craftlings expands the scope to include resource gathering, production chains, and light combat encounters.
The gameplay emphasizes planning over reflexes. You’re setting up systems that the Craftlings will execute rather than micromanaging individual actions in real-time. The town-building elements add layers of strategic consideration that pure puzzle games typically lack. Where should you place production facilities? How do you route your creatures efficiently? What resources need to flow where?
Twelve levels might sound slim, but the game compensates with depth rather than breadth. Four of those levels function as tutorials, leaving eight substantial challenges that reward experimentation and careful observation. There are no time limits pressuring you forward, but poor planning can absolutely lock you out of completion. The difficulty curve respects players enough to let them fail meaningfully.
The 90s influence without the 90s friction
ARIANO Games clearly studied what made classics like Lemmings memorable, but they also understood what made those games frustrating by modern standards. The audiovisual presentation evokes nostalgia without being slavishly retro. The pacing allows contemplation rather than demanding constant attention. The feedback systems help players understand what’s working and what isn’t.
Craftlings quick facts:
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Platform | Steam (PC exclusive at launch) |
| Price | $14.99 |
| Levels | 12 (including 4 tutorials) |
| Multiplayer | None (single-player only) |
| Sandbox/Editor | Not included at launch |
| Developer | ARIANO Games |
The chill vibes deserve mention. Too many strategy games equate difficulty with stress, piling on time pressure and punishment mechanics that exhaust rather than engage. Craftlings takes the opposite approach. You can sit with a level, think through your options, and experiment without feeling like the game is punishing you for not moving fast enough.
That said, the game isn’t a pushover. The challenge emerges from the puzzle design rather than artificial pressure. Optimizing production chains and creature pathing demands genuine strategic thinking. Combat encounters, while not the primary focus, add wrinkles that prevent the gameplay from becoming purely abstract optimization.
What’s missing and what might come
The launch package has notable gaps. No sandbox mode means you’re working through the developer’s designed levels rather than creating your own challenges. No level editor limits community content possibilities. No multiplayer keeps the experience strictly solo.
Whether these omissions matter depends on what you want from the game. Twelve carefully crafted levels with replayability through score chasing and rating optimization might be plenty for $15. Players hoping for endless content generation tools will need to look elsewhere, at least for now.
Platform availability also remains limited. Steam exclusivity at launch makes sense for a small indie studio managing resources, but the game’s design seems perfectly suited for portable play. A Switch 2 version would find a natural audience among players who appreciate thoughtful puzzle-strategy experiences during commutes or travel.
Why this genre deserves revival
The Lemmings-style puzzle strategy genre essentially died after the 90s. Occasional spiritual successors appeared, but nothing captured mainstream attention the way the original franchise did. Most modern strategy games moved toward either grand-scale complexity or simplified mobile monetization. The middle ground that Lemmings occupied, accessible but deep, relaxing but challenging, largely disappeared.
Craftlings demonstrates that this design space still has life. The core appeal of watching systems you’ve designed execute successfully hasn’t diminished. The satisfaction of optimizing a production chain or finding the elegant solution to a routing problem remains potent. Modern development tools allow small teams to polish these experiences in ways that weren’t possible when Lemmings defined the genre.
Whether Craftlings finds a substantial audience will say something about whether this revival has commercial legs. The game’s $15 price point sets reasonable expectations. The scope feels appropriate for a debut release. The execution suggests a developer who understands both their inspirations and their limitations.
ARIANO Games built something worth playing. The question now is whether enough players remember what they’ve been missing to notice.
Does the Lemmings-style puzzle strategy genre deserve a full revival, or is Craftlings scratching an itch that only older players still feel?
