The Lamplighters League is an interesting game that falls short due to clunky stealth sequences and repeating level design. Have you played the board game Arkham Horror or Eldritch Horror? The Lampligheters League cribs a lot from the classic board games, throwing in some XCOM-lite tactics combat with the stealth sections of Mutant Year Zero.
The game has a lot of good writing and lore, and it really takes a while for the Lovecraftian horror to actuall manifest which is nice, I dig that. The characters are fun and charming, which goes a long way to creating that scoundrel pulpy adventure that you want. The game has a DOOM meter just like the board games, as you try to keep the various factions at bay while progressing your story.
But the clunky stealth before encounters really doesn't feel good. It's hard to make it work well, and to be honest you really do need to be able to pick enemies off in the shadows if you hope to survive, especially before you start unlocking new abilities and upgrades. That makes those first few hours a slog.
I made it about half-way through a run and decided to bow out. The game uses procedural levels which means I was hitting the same style areas a lot by the 20 hour mark. If the gameplay was top notch that wouldn't bother me, but there were just enough rough edges that I decided to put this down.
If you like tactics games, and want something that feels like Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror, I would recommend playing it on Gamepass, or getting it in a sale. The Steam reviews are pretty unfair. There is a pretty good and fun B game here, but I have too many other A hits in my backlog to warrant spending more time on this. I actually need to go play XCOM 2!
The game has a lot of good writing and lore, and it really takes a while for the Lovecraftian horror to actuall manifest which is nice, I dig that. The characters are fun and charming, which goes a long way to creating that scoundrel pulpy adventure that you want. The game has a DOOM meter just like the board games, as you try to keep the various factions at bay while progressing your story.
But the clunky stealth before encounters really doesn't feel good. It's hard to make it work well, and to be honest you really do need to be able to pick enemies off in the shadows if you hope to survive, especially before you start unlocking new abilities and upgrades. That makes those first few hours a slog.
I made it about half-way through a run and decided to bow out. The game uses procedural levels which means I was hitting the same style areas a lot by the 20 hour mark. If the gameplay was top notch that wouldn't bother me, but there were just enough rough edges that I decided to put this down.
If you like tactics games, and want something that feels like Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror, I would recommend playing it on Gamepass, or getting it in a sale. The Steam reviews are pretty unfair. There is a pretty good and fun B game here, but I have too many other A hits in my backlog to warrant spending more time on this. I actually need to go play XCOM 2!