''The Lamplighters League'' is a

turn-based tactics Turn-based tactics (TBT), or tactical turn-based (TTB), is a computer and video game genre of strategy video games that through stop-action simulates the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics in generally sm ...

video game developed by

Harebrained Schemes Harebrained Schemes, LLC is an American video game developer based in Seattle, Washington. It was co-founded in 2011 by Jordan Weisman and Mitch Gitelman. Prior to founding Harebrained Schemes, Weisman and Gitelman worked together on the '' MechC ...

and published by Paradox Interactive. The game was released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...

in October 2023. It received positive to mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment.

Story

Set in

alternate version A parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reali ...

of the 1930s, the player must assemble a team of misfits to stop an ancient cult named the Banished Court, which aims at achieving world domination.

Gameplay

While players only have access to three agents at the beginning of the game, the game will feature 10 characters at launch. Different characters have different weapons and abilities. For instance, Ana Sofia can heal her allies, while Celestine can hypnotize enemies. Other skills and perks can also be unlocked at the player's headquarters in the form of equippable cards. While these card can improve the player's combat efficiency, they may also hinder them by introducing negative traits. Characters may be stressed when they went on multiple consecutive missions. Their combat performance would be significantly impaired. Players are advised to regularly rotate their agents, allowing some to rest and rejuvenate at the league's headquarters. In each mission, players can first freely explore the level in

real time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

. In this infiltration phase, players can collect items and eliminate enemies undetected. This also allows players to place traps and place their agents in the perfect position before engaging enemies in combat. Combat in the game is turn-based, similar to games such as '' XCOM'' and ''

Gears Tactics ''Gears Tactics'' is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Splash Damage in conjunction with The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of the '' Gears of War'' franchise and a prequel to the first game. The game ...

''. Once the player defeats all enemies in an area, they will return to infiltration mode and continue to progress. While the map of each mission is handcrafted by the team, enemies and interactables are procedurally generated. The game also features a world map. Members of the Lamplighters League must try to disrupt the progress of the game's three hostile factions as they wreak havoc around the world. Agents resting in the base can also be sent on side expeditions.

Development

''The Lamplighters League'' was developed by

, the developer behind the '' Shadowrun'' trilogy and the '' BattleTech'' video games. The game was heavily inspired by

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

s published in the 1930s. Announced in March 2023, the game was released for

and

on October 3, 2023.

Reception

''The Lamplighters League'' received "generally favorable" reviews for PC from critics, but "mixed or average" reviews for Xbox Series X, according to

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website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Sales

In October 2023, Paradox Interactive announced that the commercial reception for ''The Lamplighters League'' was "too weak", leading to $22.7 million reduction in pre-tax profit. They also confirmed reports that significant layoffs had taken place at

, prior to the completion of the game.

References

;Notes ;References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamplighters League, The 2023 video games Harebrained Schemes games Paradox Interactive games Video games set in the 1930s Alternate history video games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Turn-based tactics video games Stealth video games Video games using procedural generation Single-player video games