The Lamplighters League Blends Stealth, XCOM Combat, and a Ritzy 1930’s Aesthetic
After last year’s Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Marvel’s Midnight Sons, I’ve been wanting more fantastic, challenging turn-based tactics that not enough games have offered. I am thinking. So when the Shadowrun developer recently joined The Lamplighters League in Hairbrained Schemes, it was like stepping into a warm bath. His 1930s setting in Alternate History evokes the charm of an Indiana Jones adventurer filled with fedoras and tommy guns. It felt like the perfect backdrop for a mix of devilish stealth and strategic combat.
Lamplighters League’s killer feature, in the same vein as XCOM, is how it blends real-time stealth hijinks with turn-based combat. Before my fists and leads start flying, my character is free to move and scout, collect items, and take down enemies undetected, but inevitably once I’m spotted, the action is Switched to cover-based tactical combat found in Gears and the like.Tactics. The advantage of this hybrid model is that as I scouted before and set myself up to succeed in my next match, I was allowed to sneak around while feeling like a nead-well of rogues. By the time turn-based pranks began, I had the knowledge and tools I needed to win the day.
Another benefit of Lamplighter’s League’s real-time/turn-based hybrid model is that after each battle, you were put back in infiltration mode, giving you a chance to catch your breath before the next section. This meant that the levels were longer than the usual tactical games. It’s always bothered me that the levels in tactical games are too short, and when I get into the game, I suddenly find myself back at base and customizing my squad in preparation for the next mission. The XCOM levels combined with the stealth sequences in between allowed us to enjoy the missions longer and spend less time looking at menus.
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The tactical combat itself is what you’d expect from its peers in the genre, where moving from cover to cover, using special abilities, and sweating the odds of landing a hit on attack is the name of the game. A variety of heroes are available to move in and out of the party. Ingrid is a close-range bruiser that can kick enemies to the ground, causing them to skip their next turn. Eddie, on the other hand, has his two pistols and is adept at firing from mid-range and controlling the battlefield. On the other hand, Latif, who is very soft and much more helpful during the infiltration stage, can place decoys on the battlefield to distract attackers.
During infiltration mode, all characters switch to a different set of skills than those used in combat. Latif struggles in combat, making him an MVP with his best sneaking skills and the ability to silently knock out enemies before combat begins, sometimes evading them entirely. Ingrid, on the other hand, is able to smash through walls and quietly take out enemies before combat begins. Eddie can lockpick doors and use Shock his mine to lure unsuspecting enemies into traps. Infiltration mode primarily serves as a break between combat sections where you heal and scout, but there are also some very interesting things you can do during these breaks, especially launching clever attacks and skipping combat sections. It’s definitely satisfying to use a series of trapping or stealth tactics to gain the upper hand later in the level.
The charming art style and 1930s setting are also a welcome change, something we’ve never seen before in the tactical genre. Puppet-like Femme plays as Fatal, and something is felt as he sneaks through the alleyways, preparing to pounce on gun-toting thugs. Unfortunately, I only had access to the first two levels of him, so I didn’t get a very good impression of the character beyond the basic introduction, but if the story can be done well, The The Lamplighters League can be something very special.
