The Lamplighters League

68%
Game Brain Score Based on 750 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
The Lamplighters League Game Cover
Thrilling in all the right ways, The Lamplighters League is a love letter to the adventure genre in film. It’s a love letter to rogues and scoundrels that made those stories an essential part of our cultural history.
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The Lamplighters League is a pulp adventure game where players sneak, steal, and shoot their way through missions. The Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the exclusive Nocturne playable character, a digital art book, and the original soundtrack. Nocturne is a mysterious skirmisher with teleportation abilities and shocking attacks, adding an extra layer of strategy to gameplay.

  • PC
  • Play​station 5
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Cloud
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
  • Xbox Game Pass
  • x_box_cloud_gaming
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

68%
Audience ScoreBased on 750 reviews
story166 positive mentions
optimization30 negative mentions
  • The game features a charming 1930s pulp-noir setting with engaging characters and excellent voice acting.
  • The blend of real-time stealth and turn-based combat creates a unique gameplay experience that encourages strategic thinking.
  • The character abilities and card mechanics allow for diverse team compositions and interesting tactical combinations.
  • The game suffers from performance issues, including stuttering and lag, particularly during real-time segments.
  • There is a lack of variety in mission maps, leading to repetitive gameplay as many missions reuse the same environments.
  • The doomsday clock mechanic can feel overly punishing, limiting the player's ability to explore and recruit new characters.
  • story706 mentions

    The story in "The Lamplighters League" is described as engaging and intriguing, featuring a mix of classic tropes and unique character arcs that enhance the gameplay experience. While some players appreciate the depth of character interactions and the atmospheric setting, others find the overall narrative somewhat shallow and repetitive, particularly due to the reuse of mission maps and a lack of significant plot progression. Despite these criticisms, the game is noted for its strong voice acting and immersive world, making it enjoyable for fans of the genre.

    • “The story is interesting and engaging.”
    • “The art style is great, the plot is fantastic and the characters and voice acting sharp and immersive.”
    • “The theme and the story are quite well done, unique, engaging, and well written.”
    • “The story is nonexistent.”
    • “The characters sadly do not add much to the story.”
    • “Instead, they give a lot of decent backstory, but after you understand the end game goals of the game, the game just follows a pattern until the end.”
  • gameplay277 mentions

    The gameplay is a blend of turn-based tactics and real-time stealth mechanics, offering a rewarding experience with meaningful choices and engaging character interactions. While many players appreciate the strategic depth and unique mechanics, some criticize the clunky controls, bugs, and repetitive elements that can detract from the overall enjoyment. Overall, the game is praised for its captivating world and characters, though it may require patience to navigate its learning curve and technical issues.

    • “Very rewarding gameplay and tons of meaningful choices.”
    • “The gameplay is a ton of fun, and the characters are really well written.”
    • “The lamplighters league's approach to mixing real-time and turn-based tactical gameplay is enjoyable, and its charming misfits make banter a delight.”
    • “Clunky mechanics and controls make this a no for me.”
    • “The gameplay gets stale very quickly.”
    • “The mechanics are horrible, the movement is atrocious, stealth is virtually non-existent and generally during battle one is overwhelmingly out-gunned and out-manned.”
  • graphics116 mentions

    The graphics of "Lamplighter's League" are characterized by a unique art style that blends 1930s aesthetics with comic book influences, creating a colorful and immersive atmosphere. However, players report performance issues, with many experiencing low frame rates and graphical glitches even on high-end systems, which detracts from the overall experience. While the visuals are generally appreciated for their charm and thematic consistency, they are not considered AAA quality, leading to mixed feelings about the game's graphical execution.

    • “The graphics, the atmosphere, the lore.”
    • “It is oozing with theme, the graphical style works wonderfully, and the details and lore weaved into the world are fantastic.”
    • “The art style is great, the plot is fantastic and the characters and voice acting sharp and immersive.”
    • “This game is remarkably hard to run at playable framerates on anything but the finest graphics cards; with my 1070ti my frames peak at 50 and generally hover in the mid-30s on basically minimum settings.”
    • “While I would describe Lamplighters League’s graphics as 'fine', they’re certainly not AAA quality.”
    • “Semi-frequent graphical glitches and stuttering are annoying, but mostly fine on my mid-range machine.”
  • optimization84 mentions

    The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant performance issues such as stuttering, lag during loading screens, and graphical glitches, even on high-end systems. While some find the game playable despite these issues, others feel that the lack of optimization detracts from the overall experience, particularly during intense gameplay moments. Overall, it appears that the game requires further optimization to enhance performance and reduce technical frustrations.

    • “While there were some performance hiccups and balancing issues (difficulty ramps up quickly and then towards the end, it sporadically gets easier and harder), they didn't overshadow the game's captivating lore and memorable characters.”
    • “Performance of the game could be better (turn off motion blur!), but I feel like it has the setting pretty nailed, and there are lots of ways to progress your agents to make the game interesting.”
    • “On the less than stellar side - the game needs some optimization still (some stutters and jank with the camera here and there), but overall no crashes yet on my rig anyhow.”
    • “The biggest problem is likely the stuttering and extremely poor UI.”
    • “Performance is atrocious.”
    • “The game seems pretty badly optimized, with lots of stuttering and freezes whenever there's a lot of movement going on in real-time mode (especially with pathing, I think).”
  • music83 mentions

    The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising its period-appropriate jazz soundtrack that enhances the 1930s setting and overall atmosphere. The soundtrack is described as fantastic, cinematic, and immersive, effectively supporting the game's narrative and gameplay moments. Additionally, the voice acting complements the music, contributing to a rich audio experience that players find engaging and enjoyable.

    • “The music is perfection, lifting you up when you win, ramping up the tension in key moments while a subdued melody swells at the base.”
    • “The highlights are the excellent soundtrack, great voice acting, and clever backstory.”
    • “Music is jazzy, smooth, bouncing, and dramatic in all the right places.”
    • “The sound, music, and voiceovers are lacking.”
    • “The music is just rife with the beauty of the treasure hunting genre, which is one of my favorites.”
    • “The music is jazzy, smooth, bouncing, and dramatic in all the right places.”
  • stability35 mentions

    The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting a largely bug-free experience, while others have encountered significant glitches, crashes, and performance issues. Many users noted problems with controls, visual feedback, and optimization, particularly during chaotic scenes, leading to frustration. Overall, while some players found the game playable, a notable portion described it as buggy and unoptimized, suggesting that improvements are needed.

    • “I know it got a bad rap at launch but this played well, was bug free, and a good solid 30-40 hours of playtime.”
    • “Has been nearly bug free for me; I only had one incident with being able to equip an item to Ingrid before she was capable of having a second item. However, that's been it.”
    • “I have encountered only a single bug throughout my playthrough, so my experience was pretty much bug free.”
    • “There are so many reviews saying it's buggy or laggy or problematic.”
    • “Lots of performance issues, crashes, bugs, glitches.”
    • “It runs terribly, while looking ugly, and is a broken and buggy mess.”
  • atmosphere34 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive quality, enhanced by excellent graphics, a captivating soundtrack, and top-notch voice acting. Reviewers highlight the game's ability to evoke a strong sense of setting, particularly reminiscent of the 1920s-1930s pulp era, with comparisons to classic adventure themes like Jules Verne and Indiana Jones. Overall, the combination of engaging lore, solid gameplay mechanics, and a well-executed narrative contributes to an incredible and memorable atmosphere.

    • “The atmosphere is incredible, the voice acting is top notch, and the tactics are fun to play.”
    • “The presentation is on point, the story fun, the atmosphere incredible, and the card mechanics blend seamlessly with the other systems.”
    • “I am not sure when I have encountered such a devoted atmosphere in a game lately.”
    • “They really nailed the Jules Verne / Indiana Jones atmosphere.”
    • “I personally like this game, its setting and the atmosphere being shaped by an eldritch background.”
  • replayability31 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while it offers a decent amount of variety through random elements and different team compositions, some players find it lacking compared to more polished titles. The potential for future updates and character recruitment adds to replay value, but concerns about repetitive gameplay and limited strategic choices may dampen the experience for some. Ultimately, those who enjoy the theme and mechanics may find enough fun to warrant multiple playthroughs.

    • “It's kinda short and has lots of random elements, so it has a lot of replay value.”
    • “It's not perfect everywhere, but if you enjoy the theme and don't mind thinking about your agents' actions each turn, looking for synergies, there is a lot of fun to be had and a decent amount of replayability in different team makeups.”
    • “The undrawn hand is somewhat RNG-dependent when it comes to what cards you draw at the end of a mission, which can understandably frustrate some players; but that just adds more replay value in my book.”
    • “There are more polished games with better replay value out there.”
    • “Minus the ease of the game, my major gripes with MYZ was that there was almost no replay value (missions all very 'level specific' and there weren't very many of them. Full game completion in under 24 hours) and the game was astoundingly easy if you had a little patience.”
    • “The gameplay loop is at risk for being repetitive and with no serious choices or dialogue options, it makes the replayability a bit of a letdown as well.”
  • grinding29 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and repetitive, often detracting from the overall enjoyment. Players note that the gameplay loop feels clunky and slow, with a lack of meaningful upgrades and rewards, making encounters feel drawn out and frustrating. While some find value in the game despite these issues, many recommend using cheats to alleviate the boredom during particularly grindy sections.

    • “Game is so tedious and it sucks the fun out of it pretty quickly.”
    • “The primary gameplay loop is parts repetitive, parts clunky, and parts plain tedious.”
    • “This is simultaneously extremely tedious due to a total lack of useful tools for luring enemies, extremely punishing since getting fully detected by this enemy will trigger combat with the entire area, and totally unrewarding once you do kill them.”
  • character development8 mentions

    Character development in the game is highlighted by its unique and compelling character designs, particularly Lady Zorana Nicastro, who embodies a dark and intriguing aesthetic. The engaging dialogues and relatable protagonists contribute to a grounded experience, despite some limitations in environmental and mission variety. Overall, the character design and development are praised for enhancing the game's immersive and thrilling gameplay.

    • “Yet, the character designs, aesthetic, dialogues, addictively thrilling base gameplay loop, and fantastic orchestral soundtrack by Jon Everist allow me to accept these flaws as flaws that really only serve to give the game character and make it feel more grounded and relatable, just like its own protagonists.”
    • “It’s not got the environmental and mission variety of an X-Com, but the character design is excellent and the tactics are really crunchy and enjoyable.”
    • “X-Com-style tactical combat and light base/upgrade management by way of Shadowrun: Hong Kong, 30s adventure serials, Indiana Jones, Call of Cthulhu, and with a dash of Overwatch character design.”
    • “House Nicastro, run by Lady Zorana Nicastro, is essentially a character design that embodies the medieval torture device known as 'the iron maiden'—a metallic sarcophagus with spikes designed to inflict maximum pain over extended periods.”
    • “The character development feels shallow and uninspired, lacking the depth and complexity that would make the characters truly engaging.”
    • “The characters seem to lack meaningful growth or change throughout the game, making it difficult to connect with their journeys.”
  • humor8 mentions

    The game features a strong sense of humor, highlighted by witty dialogue and impressive voice acting, particularly from the character Lord Wolfram Strum, whose portrayal is both comedic and memorable. Players appreciate the cleverness of the humor, which enhances the overall experience.

    • “The voice acting and dialogue is absolutely witty and funny.”
    • “Witty dialogue offers humor along the way.”
    • “The humor throughout the game is awesome.”
  • emotional6 mentions

    Reviews indicate a lack of emotional engagement, with players feeling that the tutorial and final missions fail to deliver a fair or impactful experience. The absence of closure and emotional depth in key moments detracts from the overall narrative, leaving some players disappointed while others appreciate the game's lighter, more wholesome elements.

  • monetization6 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as predatory and reminiscent of a cash grab, especially given the lack of advertising and significant layoffs prior to release. Reviewers suggest that players seeking a tactical experience should consider alternatives like Jagged Alliance 3, which offers better value without exploitative practices.

    • “If you are looking for a tactical game with a strategic layer, go check Jagged Alliance 3. It's cheaper, much better, and without predatory monetization.”
    • “Feels like a cash grab rather than a passion project.”
    • “Not drumming up much advertising fanfare, laying off 80% of the staff months before the game came out, calling it a failure not even a week after it gets released... it's suspicious.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

63% average critic score

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Play time

24hMedian play time
36hAverage play time
18-90hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs

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