The Lamplighters League

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.

70%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

optimization, stability

73% User Score Based on 1,014 reviews

Critic Score 68%Based on 14 reviews

Platforms

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About

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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,028 reviews

story219 positive mentions

optimization42 negative mentions

The game features a charming 1930s pulp adventure aesthetic with engaging characters and a fun storyline.
The turn-based combat is enjoyable, allowing for strategic gameplay with unique character abilities and synergies.
The voice acting and music are high quality, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.

The game suffers from performance issues, including long loading times and occasional crashes.
Stealth mechanics can feel clunky and often lead to frustrating gameplay experiences, especially as enemies become immune to takedowns.
The doomsday clock mechanic can be punishing, limiting player choices and making it difficult to explore all content in a single playthrough.

story
1,103 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
78%
2%
The story of "The Lamplighters League" is described as engaging yet somewhat shallow, with a mix of intriguing characters and a basic plot that revolves around a supernatural conflict in an alternate 1930s setting. While the narrative features well-written dialogue and character interactions that enhance the experience, many players feel that the repetitive mission structure and lack of depth in the overarching story detract from its potential. Overall, the game offers a fun and captivating atmosphere, but it struggles with pacing and mission variety, leading to a sense of grind as players progress through the campaign.
- “The story in Lamplighters League was the best part about it, and the reason to push through some of its more bland elements.”
- “The art style is very stylish, looks unique, and combos very well with the story, vibe, and gameplay of Lamplighter's League.”
- “The story is interesting, the banished court factions are interesting.”
- “The story is quite boring, the game engine is unoptimized, but the worst is the overall gameplay, so repetitive and unsatisfying (tons of frustrating mechanics).”
- “As it features a pretty large cast, even with everything being fully voiced, the writing is a little 2-dimensional, and beyond the basic premise itself there isn't much 'story' worth exploring.”
- “The final mission is underwhelming with no real emotional punch and no real closure.”
gameplay
381 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
63%
7%
The gameplay of "The Lamplighters League" is a blend of turn-based tactics reminiscent of XCOM and real-time stealth mechanics, offering a unique experience with a variety of characters and abilities. However, many players find the gameplay repetitive and marred by bugs, clunky mechanics, and unoptimized performance, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. While the game has its charm and engaging elements, it struggles with balance and consistency, leading to mixed reviews on its execution.
- “Gameplay is where this game really shines, with about a dozen unique characters with their own personalities, abilities, and passives.”
- “It is a phenomenal experience that combines a charming setting with surprisingly in-depth gameplay mechanics.”
- “The gameplay really blew me away in terms of variety as I was expecting something a lot more watered down.”
- “Can't recommend, the art is good (visuals, character design, music), the story is quite boring, the game engine is unoptimized, but the worst is the overall gameplay, so repetitive and unsatisfying (tons of frustrating mechanics).”
- “A buggy mess with undercooked stealth mechanics, a lot of enemy spam and unnecessary RNG when it comes to recruitment and such.”
- “The gameplay gets stale very quickly.”
graphics
189 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
57%
4%
The graphics of "Lamplighter's League" are characterized by a charming, cartoonish art style that effectively complements its 1930s aesthetic, drawing comparisons to classic adventure films. While many players appreciate the unique visuals and overall presentation, concerns about optimization and performance issues, such as stuttering and low frame rates on various hardware, have been frequently noted. Overall, the game's graphics are seen as appealing but not without technical drawbacks, impacting the experience for some players.
- “The visuals and the atmosphere are brilliant.”
- “The graphics are cartoonish but in a good way and that should let the game hold up longer style-wise and not feel as dated in 10+ years.”
- “This game is a gem: amazing graphics, challenging survivor mode, smart mechanics in/out fights, entertaining dialogues, and tough choices to make.”
- “Why a game that has Megadrive graphics needs PS5 RAM even at the lowest settings is anyone’s guess.”
- “First, the optimization is utterly bad - you would think that for a game looking this stylized, without using any advanced graphical tech, it should run like butter even on older machines.”
- “While I would describe Lamplighters League’s graphics as 'fine', they’re certainly not AAA quality.”
music
128 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
73%
25%
2%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising its high quality, period-appropriate style, and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere. The soundtrack, often described as jazzy and immersive, complements the game's 1930s setting and is noted for its emotional impact during gameplay. While some players wished for more variety, the consensus is that the music, along with strong voice acting, significantly contributes to the game's charm and appeal.
- “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.”
- “In terms of atmosphere and music, the game exudes the 30's vibe that is much beloved due to noir, jazz age that clicks with almost every connoisseur of prohibition era, Thompson SMGs and fedoras.”
- “Great atmosphere, flawless period soundtrack, good voice work, unique characters, solid combat system, and a fairly straightforward, but well-executed narrative.”
- “I just wish they had a bit more music variety.”
- “Especially the soundtrack.”
- “The music?”
optimization
112 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
51%
38%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players reporting frequent stuttering, poor performance, and various technical issues, even on high-end systems. While some found the game playable despite these issues, the overall consensus is that the optimization is lacking and detracts from the experience, making it difficult to recommend without reservations.
- “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.”
- “First, the optimization is utterly bad - you would think that for a game looking this stylized, without using any advanced graphical tech, it should run like butter even on older machines.”
- “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).”
- “Performance is atrocious.”
stability
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting significant bugs and glitches, particularly at launch. While some users have experienced smoother gameplay in recent updates, others continue to encounter performance issues, including crashes, clunky controls, and graphical glitches. Overall, the game is seen as needing further optimization and polish to improve its stability.
- “I know it got a bad rap at launch, but this played well, was bug-free, and provided a solid 30-40 hours of playtime.”
- “I have encountered only a single bug throughout my playthrough, so my experience was pretty much bug-free.”
- “It 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.”
- “A buggy mess with undercooked stealth mechanics, a lot of enemy spam and unnecessary RNG when it comes to recruitment and such.”
- “Unfortunately, it's really buggy and the controls for mouse and keyboard are awful.”
- “It runs terribly, while looking ugly, and is a broken and buggy mess.”
atmosphere
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
77%
17%
6%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its brilliant visuals, immersive sound design, and strong thematic elements reminiscent of the 1920s-1930s pulp era, including noir and jazz influences. Reviewers highlight the engaging vibe, top-notch voice acting, and well-executed narrative that collectively create a captivating experience, despite some gameplay shortcomings. Overall, the atmosphere is described as rich and enjoyable, making it a standout feature of the game.
- “The atmosphere, the music, the vibe is very enjoyable and nice.”
- “In terms of atmosphere and music, the game exudes the 30's vibe that is much beloved due to noir, jazz age that clicks with almost every connoisseur of the prohibition era, Thompson SMGs, and fedoras.”
- “The atmosphere is incredible, the voice acting is top notch, and the tactics are fun to play.”
- “The game was not perfect; the 'stealth' portion was clunky, the battles not terribly exciting, and it felt unnecessarily heavy and slow for some reason, but it oozed atmosphere. I am confident Harebrained could have improved it, at least supported it long enough to make those of us who put our trust in their (and Paradox's) track record not feel entirely duped.”
- “I am not sure when I have encountered such a devoted atmosphere in a game lately.”
- “I personally like this game; its setting and the atmosphere are shaped by an eldritch background.”
grinding
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, with many expressing frustration over the slow pacing and lack of meaningful rewards during gameplay. While combat can be enjoyable, the journey between battles often feels laborious, detracting from the overall experience. Many reviewers suggest that the game could benefit from improvements to streamline progression and reduce the grind.
- “The primary gameplay loop is parts repetitive, parts clunky, and parts plain tedious.”
- “Game is so tedious and it sucks the fun out of it pretty quickly.”
- “If you have played that game, you will know that the matrix sections are easily the worst part of the game, being tedious at best, but often just frustrating and exhausting.”
replayability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
67%
8%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the random elements and strategic team compositions that encourage multiple playthroughs, others find the limited character options and short campaign detract from long-term engagement. The balance between a solid campaign and replay value is noted as a struggle, with some players expressing frustration over the lack of meaningful choices and the potential for repetitive gameplay. Future updates with additional characters may enhance replayability, but currently, opinions vary widely on its overall value.
- “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.”
- “It adds immense replayability, as each decision feels meaningful.”
- “There is near enough no real replay value in this game, other than to try and see if any other characters have broken combos, so do keep that in mind before you drop full price.”
- “Minus the ease of the game, my major gripes with it were 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.”
character development
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
Character development in the game is highlighted through its strong character designs and engaging dialogues, which contribute to a grounded and relatable experience. While some players find the overall story lacking and the gameplay repetitive, those who appreciate character depth and sass, reminiscent of titles like XCOM, may find it appealing. The aesthetic and orchestral soundtrack further enhance the characters, making them memorable despite the game's flaws.
- “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.”
- “If you are the kind of person who really loved XCOM but wish it had more character development and sass - this is the game for you.”
- “It’s not got the environmental and mission variety of an XCOM, but the character design is excellent and the tactics are really crunchy and enjoyable.”
- “Can't recommend, the art is good (visuals, character design, music), the story is quite boring, the game engine is unoptimized, but the worst is the overall gameplay, so repetitive and unsatisfying (tons of frustrating mechanics).”
- “House Nicastro, run by Lady Zorana Nicastro, who, as a character design, is essentially the medieval torture device called 'the iron maiden' personified.”
- “The character development feels shallow and uninspired, lacking depth and meaningful progression.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features exceptional voice acting and witty dialogue that consistently deliver humor, surpassing many AAA titles. Players particularly enjoy the comedic portrayal of characters, such as Lord Wolfram Strum, whose exaggerated impressions add to the game's charm. Overall, the humor is a standout aspect, enhancing the gaming experience.
- “I was surprised to see (and hear) really great and funny voice overs, much better than I have seen in a lot of AAA titles.”
- “The voice acting and dialogue is absolutely witty and funny.”
- “The humor throughout the game is awesome.”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The monetization of the game has been criticized as feeling like a cash grab, especially in light of the company's internal issues and lack of advertising. Reviewers suggest that the game lacks the necessary support and updates, making it less appealing compared to other titles that offer better value without predatory practices. Overall, the game's financial strategy has led to disappointment among players who believe it deserves more recognition.
- “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, a release window of which is surrounded on all sides by heavy hitting highly anticipated AAA titles... it's sus as heck.”
emotional
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players find the narrative compelling and resonant, blending mystery and nostalgia, others feel let down by the lack of emotional impact in key moments, particularly the final mission, which leaves them feeling unsatisfied and disconnected. Overall, the game appeals more to those seeking a wholesome adventure rather than a deeply emotional experience.
- “It effortlessly weaves together elements of mystery, adventure, and nostalgia into a compelling narrative that is emotionally resonant.”

68%Critics’ scoreBased on 14 critic reviews

Buy The Lamplighters League

28h Median play time

36h Average play time

18-65h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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The Lamplighters League

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