The Lamplighters League is a desperate turn-based race to save the world

17.08.2023 - 15:27 / thesixthaxis.com

As loveable as they often are in movies, rogues and scoundrels really don’t make for the best heroes. When you’re up against world-ending dangers, you really want someone stoic, steadfast and competent like a Captain America, not a ruffian who you’re not entirely sure you can put your faith into (unless they’re being played by Harrison Ford, that is). Unfortunately, that’s all that you’ve got at your disposal when putting together The Lamplighter’s League and sending motley assortments of underqualified agents on missions to stop the Banished Court.

Three nefarious factions are all pulling toward world domination in this pulpy alternate version of the 1930s, with the three Scions of Nicastro, Marteu and Strum all employing a menagerie of standard goons and drawing upon more supernatural forces from the Other Side to bring their plans to fruition.

All that stands in their way is the assortment of misfits that are recruited into the Lamplighters League, a team that you’ll lead into the XCOM-like plate spinning of needing to counteract the Banished Court’s schemes before time runs out. Each week presents new missions and things to do on the world map, whether it’s assigning an agent to a simple investigation mission that rewards you with key resources, or leading a team on a combat mission to try and rewind the ever-ticking doomsday clocks.

From playing the game’s opening a few months back, there’s capacity here for lengthy narrative missions that feature a blend of real-time navigation for exploration and setting up for ambushes and the opening round of combat, and smaller, more straightforward bouts of beating up baddies.

Whether it’s a Sabotage that aims to destroy Dimensional Drills, a Theft mission to try and recover stolen artifacts, Hijacking to divert Banished Court supply lines, or a multi-stage Heist mission, there’s always a blend of real-time Infiltration before leading into combat.

The real time Infiltration is the first step on a successful mission, as it gives you the chance to explore, loot the surroundings, and position yourself as well as possible for the inevitable fight that will come later in the level. You can lead your trio as a group of splinter one character off at a time, giving you a better chance not to be spotted, and to put your team in cover, but there’s also the chance to perform takedowns and shock enemies to disable them, before launching into an ambush.

While they slot into overarching categories as Bruisers, Sneaks and Saboteurs, each of the 10 named heroes is actually really rather distinct. Their archetypes define what they can do while exploring levels in real time, but then they have character-specific weapons, attacks and abilities that come to the fore when in combat.

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