Today’s Niche Games Spotlight is Moons of Darsalon, a clever Lemmings meets Starship Troopers “save them all” platformer by one developer.

In Moons of Darsalon, you lead a team of darsanauts who got stuck on mining missions on the various moons of the planet Darsalon. As you navigate the treacherous levels, you’ll have to find a safe path for your darsanauts. There’s a playable demo for the game available as well.

It’s also worth pointing out the game is the culmination of eight years of work from lone developer and electronic DJ Daniel Manzano (aka Dr. Kucho!), who is based in Madrid, Spain. If you’re a fan of chunky and blurry polygons and sprites, check out his other games, most especially the Darsalon prequel Pilots of Darsalon.

Finding, navigating, and even in some cases create new paths with the ground maker gun isn’t all you have to do in your mission. You’ll also have to fight off enemies with yoru laser gun and a variety of other tools like your jet pack, air and ground vehicles, and more.

Here’s a rundown on the game, plus its latest trailer:

Teams of darsanauts got lost during their mining missions on the different moons of the planet Darsalon. You need to complete several rescue missions in which you will have to lead them to the closest base station.

They will use their own AI to follow you and to obey your commands. On your way to the base you will have to protect them from dangers and enemies using your laser gun, jet pack, pilot ground and air vehicles, destroy terrain, and even make new paths with the ground maker gun.

Features:

• Advanced platformer AI including dynamic terrain detection, jump force calculation, light sensitivity, inter-NPC communication.
• Voice Commands to control companion NPCs.
• Dynamic ground destruction and creation.
• Full Interactive and realistic Liquid physics.
• Realistic off road vehicle physics.
• 8 bit music based on MOS 6581 (SID) chip from 1982.
• 8 bit speech synthesis.
• Unique render pipeline that combines modern lightning, 2D sprites and 3D models pixelated in real time consistently and with a restricted color palette for an authentic retro feel.
• CRT filter.

This is Niche Spotlight. In this column, we regularly introduce new games to our fans, so please leave feedback and let us know if there’s a game you want us to cover! If you’re a developer and want your game showcased on Niche Spotlight, please contact us!