The Lamplighters League

I feel bad giving this game a thumbs down, but the bad points just pilled up too much in my playtime. Let me start with the good. The game has a nice art style in a steampunk world. Characters are fun both in the gameplay but also is fun to see them interacting with each other with fully voiced-overs. The tactical gameplay is fun but imbalanced. I also got a mixed opinion about a mechanic, and that is the real-time gameplay. How it work? Well imagine if something like X-Com gives you the opportunity to move your characters in real-time before entering turn-base combat. During this time you can circle around enemies, trigger some traps, knock some enemies out thanks to some specific class skills, positioning characters to ambush enemies. The good part is that you can do all that, the bad side is that later in the game enemies become powerful enough to resist know-downs, traps barely do any damage, ambushing is hard to pull because some maps are full of enemies. So, while it starts of like a neat system, it becomes tedious, to the point where you spend as much time in real-time as you do with the TBS combat. Now for the bad. Starting with the tactical combat itself. While I did mentioned that it is fun there are aspects to it which give that frustrating moments. The main factor is the balance which is also the reason I quit. At some point I hit onto a mission full of enemies which use poison attacks and illusions, not only that, they also had way too much HP/Armor. So, I found my chars getting DOTed while enemies used illusions, this meant that from 5 enemies I was immediately surrounded by 15 since those illusions triggered when they got damaged. And they were immune to real-time KO-s. But up until that mission, all was alright and difficulty was nice and stable. Anyway, my second most hated point was the Doomsday timers. As the name suggests, they are countdowns to an instant game over, and there are 3 of them. They can be set back, but with 3 of them, you set one of them back only to then wake up with the others ticking down. It turns the game into a race, forcing you to focus on 3-4 characters since you gotta plan out how to keep those damn clocks in check. This also means you cannot grind to your heart’s desire. This leads to the fact that you cannot really test run different team combos especially when difficulty rises as you progress (measured in weeks). And while equipment and Skill Points are shared, there is one aspect which is not, the Undrawn Hand. That is a big deal, because some cards are OP if you pair them right. There are also minor issues. The most common one being chars not playing animations when attacking, and I got no idea what triggers it. Another minor issue but more annoying is the camera. In real-time you are zoomed in on the chosen char way too much and if you want to see more of the map you gotta use recon mode. Next is the camera in combat, if you gotta pick a target which is opposite the your current one you gotta cycle through targets to see them. Multy target attacks are annoying, since you gotta cycle through targets to get the ones you want, and have fun with this when you got 5 or more targets on screen (also the targeting resets after you confirm another target). One last thing I had, was performance BUT only for loading and saving, they were too damn long and I have the game on a SSD, but on the bright side I had no issues with frames or crashes. If you are looking for X-Com alternatives, then sure, this game is alright if you overlook the stuff I mentioned, but for me the frustrating parts pilled up way too much. However, even if it might be right up your alley, it sure as hell not worth 50 bucks.

The Lamplighters League feels like an interesting blend of XCOM-style tactical combat and adventure-driven exploration. At its core, it’s a turn-based tactics game, but what makes it stand out is how it handles the downtime between fights. Before entering combat mode, you’re free to explore the mission areas in real time using WASD movement, which gives the game a welcome sense of freedom and adventure rather than feeling like a constant string of tactical encounters. Exploration is genuinely rewarding. Taking the time to thoroughly search each mission map often leads to useful resources that can be brought back to camp and invested into upgrades. Whether it’s improving your characters, enhancing weapons, or unlocking other benefits, there’s a good incentive to poke around instead of rushing objectives. The squad system also adds a nice layer of strategy outside combat. You can move around as a full group or split off and use a single character to scout ahead. Better yet, each character has unique exploration abilities, which makes your team composition matter beyond combat encounters. For example, one of the characters I’ve unlocked can climb ropes to access elevated areas or open doors blocked from the inside, creating alternative routes and opportunities for stealthier approaches. Combat itself will feel familiar to anyone who enjoys XCOM-style gameplay. The characters each bring their own combat styles and abilities to the table, although most of the roster leans heavily on firearms. That said, some of these supposed sharpshooters have hilariously questionable aim at times, expect the occasional frustrating miss that makes you reeeeaaallly question their credentials. What makes the gameplay more interesting is how much the environment reacts to what’s happening around it. There’s a nice layer of environmental interaction that adds extra tactical depth to encounters. Wet surfaces, for example, can be used to your advantage by placing electric traps to amplify damage, while fire spreads naturally through grassy areas, creating opportunities to control space or flush enemies out. It’s the kind of system that rewards experimentation and makes fights feel more dynamic rather than simply relying on positioning and percentages. Narratively, the game has been surprisingly engaging so far. You’re fighting against a cult bent on controlling the world and eventually wiping out humanity through the power of a mysterious tower. To gain access to it, you must recover four fragments of a key, giving the story a globe-trotting, pulp-adventure feel. The whole setup carries strong Indiana Jones energy, mixed with dark cult themes and mystery. Visually, The Lamplighters League absolutely nails its atmosphere. The art style feels like a blend of comic book aesthetics and noir influences, creating a stylish world full of personality. Combined with its adventurous tone, the presentation gives the game a unique identity that separates it from more traditional tactical strategy games. One mechanic worth mentioning is the time-sensitive mission structure. You can’t complete every mission, so choices matter. The game revolves around three factions, each with their own threat timer that progresses as time passes and missions are completed. If one of these timers fills up, it’s game over, or at least, that seems to be the case. It creates a constant sense of pressure and forces you to prioritize. It reminded me a little of Persona 5’s time-management systems, although I should admit I haven’t actually played Persona, so take that comparison lightly. Performance is probably the weakest aspect of the experience so far. The game suffers from occasional stutters, especially when loading into maps, and my GPU fans sometimes ramp up unexpectedly. Thankfully, outside of those moments, performance has been mostly stable and hasn’t significantly impacted my enjoyment. Overall, The Lamplighters League has been a really enjoyable surprise. Its mix of tactical combat, rewarding exploration, unique squad mechanics, and stylish presentation gives it a lot of personality. While technical hiccups hold it back a little, the atmosphere and gameplay loop have made for a pretty great experience so far. PS: Wish that you could quickly save by pressing F5.

The mix of real-time stealth and turn-based tactics makes for a solid gameplay loop, and each character brings useful abilities to the team. While the strategic layer can feel repetitive and the pacing isn't always consistent, the missions themselves are enjoyable enough to keep things moving. It's not the genre's best, but there's a fun tactical game underneath the rough edges.

It's still BSOD'ing in 2026. I'll give it a next shot in 2029

Very solid game; not sure why it didn't sell better. Maybe the stealth/realtime part turns some people off; which I can understand but personally not something that has stopped me from enjoying the turn-based part of the game which is the reason I bought it for. Heavily Xcom inspired, which is a good thing of course; yet very different; it's more story and character focused so it wont have the same near-infinite replayability like Xcom does, but hey; not every game needs that to be good and enjoyable. The tactics part of the game is actually very deep; the strategy part perhaps not so much. I'm a veteran TBS player and am currently trying to 100% the game (which requires a playthrough on the highest difficulty) so dear reader of my review; you're welcome to my lil let's play channel; here's a link to a trailer of my playthrough with some very funny moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0NdIXPAZB0

Has been on my radar for a while, actaully got around to trying it and i have to say it's a pleasure to play. Oozing personality, a fantastic indiana jones mixed with Hellboy vibe to it. Combat is a pleasure as you have a realtime scout mode and the turn based combat mode. Voice acting and banter is very fitting. Soundtrack has some fantasticly fitting bangers The card perk system is a great way to encourage using all operatives and is another intereesting layer. Controls take a little getting used to but do persevere. The only downside so far is that you cannot sell equipment. Not a big deal as i found myself dipping into my consumable reserves pretty often but i have a few tier 1 nonconsumables just laying there now i have Tier 2.

战棋游戏，玩法结合了《XCOM》和《突变元年》。 优化贼差，卡得一B，我还以为是自己机子烂，B站看流程视频，一样卡，释然了。 存档和读档的时候尤其严重，制作组又似乎没有B数，都卡成这吊样了，还要在读档界面放动画，第一关读档时候的飞机螺旋桨卡成PPT了，活该这工作室被废掉…… 读档结束后有那么几秒钟无法操作，但敌人行动正常，而且会重复播放新敌人的特写…… 游戏没有快速存读档按钮，自动存档似乎也只在每场任务开头，让人不由得发出“何意味”的疑问。 如果不是因为打折，勉强还能玩，不然早退款了。

I absolutely LOVE this game! I realize that turn-based strategy games are the ones I enjoy the most and Lamplighters Leagues is one of the best of the ones I have played. I like the fact that you have so many characters to choose from with specialized abilities, and each scenario is different. This is the game that definitely needs a sequel and the developers should keep making games like this.

This game deserved to do so much better. It's a shame it received no support after launch.

While the game was not commercially successful, it definitely scratched my x-com itch. Great characters and challenging gameplay. While not nearly as "deep" as X-com, it was a blast to play this game.