After Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Marvel’s Midnight Suns last year, I’m champing at the bit for more of the fantastic and challenging turn-based tactics that not enough games offer. So when I recently went hands-on with Shadowrun developer Hairbrained Schemes’ The Lamplighters League, it was like stepping into a warm bath. The alternate-history 1930’s setting evokes an Indiana Jones-like adventurer’s charm filled with fedoras and tommy guns, and that felt like the perfect backdrop for the mix of diabolical stealth and strategic combat I overwhelmingly enjoyed in this admittedly small taste.
The Lamplighters League’s killer feature is how it blends realtime stealth hijinks with turn-based combat in the same vein as XCOM. Before fists and lead start flying, characters can move freely to gather recon, collect items, and take out enemies undetected, but once I was inevitably spotted, the action switched to the cover-based tactical combat you’d find in the likes of Gears Tactics. The advantage of this hybrid model is that I was allowed to sneak around, feeling like a roguish ne’er-do-well as I scouted ahead and set myself up for success in the upcoming bout. Then, by the time the turn-based shenanigans began, I was armed with the knowledge and tools I needed to win the day.
Another advantage of Lamplighters League’s realtime/turn-based hybrid model is that, because I was returned to infiltration mode after each fight, it gave me a chance to catch my breath before the next section, which meant levels were longer than your typical tactics game. It’s always bothered me that the levels in tactics games are far too short, and just when I’m getting into it I suddenly find myself back at base, customizing my squad to prepare for the next mission. By stringing together what amounts to a bunch of mini XCOM levels together with stealth sequences in between, I was able to enjoy missions for longer and spend less time looking at menus.
The Lamplighters League’s killer feature is how it blends realtime stealth hijinks with turn-based combat in the same vein as XCOM.
The tactics combat itself is about what you’d expect from genre peers, where moving from cover to cover, using special abilities, and sweating at the odds you have of landing a hit when attacking is the name of the game. A number of distinct heroes are available to rotate in and out of your party. Ingrid is a close-quarters bruiser who can kick enemies to the ground, causing them to skip their next turn, while Eddie carries two pistols and excels at controlling the battlefield from mid-range with a hail of gunfire. Meanwhile, Lateef, who is quite squishy and much more useful during the infiltration stage, can place a decoy on the battlefield to distract his attackers.
During infiltration mode, all characters switch over to a different set of skills than the ones used in combat. Lateef, who struggles in combat, suddenly becomes the MVP with the best sneaking skills and an ability that lets him knock enemies out silently before battle begins, sometimes avoiding it altogether. Meanwhile, Ingrid can punch through walls and help take out enemies not-so-silently before combat begins, and Eddie can lockpick doors and use shock mines to lure unsuspecting enemies into traps. While infiltration mode mostly serves as a break between combat sections where you’re healing up and doing recon, there’s some genuinely interesting stuff you can do during these intermissions as well, and it’s definitely satisfying to skip a combat section by setting off a particularly clever series of traps or stealth tactics to give you an edge in later parts of the level.
The charming art style and 1930’s setting is also a welcome change, as it’s something I haven’t seen in the tactics genre before. There’s just something about playing as a dolled-up femme fatale, sneaking through alleys as I prepared to get the jump on some gun-toting goons that feels very right. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a very good impression of the characters beyond their basic introductions, since I only had access to the first two levels, but if it manages to nail the story, The Lamplighters League could be something very special.
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