HBS games all feel like phone games but really long and on your PC to me. They were decent when there was no competition, but they're basically impossible to play now with actually good games coming out.
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Turn-Based Tactics The Lamplighters League - turn-based tactics in pulp 1930s setting from Harebrained Schemes
- Thread starter StrongBelwas
- Start date
Modron
Arcane
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- May 5, 2012
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- 10,153
List please.
I'd play Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous over HBS games any day.
If you're more into the tactical side of them, then games like Troubleshooter and King Arthur: Knight's Tale are good. There are others.
Finally, if you just wanted to read the visual novel provided by the HBS Shadowrun games, I recommend you hang yourself, storyfag.
Blutwurstritter
Learned
The simplicity and the focus on story-telling worked well for the HBS games and I like unpretentious games that are closer to point-click-adventures once in a while. The HBS games actually made me pick up a few novels and now I'd like to see more use of the setting in games. But I'll try your recommendation
Didn't do nothing, I still like the games.
Still, the Shadowrun setting is great and a fleshed-out rpg would be welcome.
lycanwarrior
Scholar
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Pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition
100%. I love Shadowrun, but the HBS games didn't come close to scratching the itch for what I had in mind. Actually, Dragonfall kinda sorta came close in a few ways, but still.
Hell, I'd even take a FPS sort of thing a la CP2077 with a Shadowrun skin over the HBS games.
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- 11,997
Tacticool Renaissance games over the last three-and-a-half years:
- Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children
- Wasteland 3, RPG Codex GotY 2020
- The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk
- Urtuk
- Solasta
- King Arthur: Knight's Tale
- Jagged Alliance 3
Age of IncandescenceColony Ship
Shadowfang
Arcane
I got and played all the HBS Shadowrun games and enjoyed them.
They were very RPG lite, very unchalleging to the point hybrid builds were the way to go, and the writing while good enough started to include a lot of cringe with Dragonfall and Hong Kong.
Like mediocrepoet was saying, i welcomed those games because we were starving for similar games. We were, in my opinion, at the end of the age of decline and could not be very picky.
I crossed HBS name when they released battletech though. I regreat backing it and i never finished it. Since then, i don't expect them to release an enjoyable game to me ever again. And fortunately i don't have to.
Despite everything, we are living on a very good gaming era. We don't even have to crowdfund them into existence anymore. I am very grateful for these times where i get to be picky and turn my back on games for the slightest flaw i find them to have.
I can, and will, replay the HBS games out of nostalgia or to try new things but i have to say that i would not even touch them if they were released today.
They were very RPG lite, very unchalleging to the point hybrid builds were the way to go, and the writing while good enough started to include a lot of cringe with Dragonfall and Hong Kong.
Like mediocrepoet was saying, i welcomed those games because we were starving for similar games. We were, in my opinion, at the end of the age of decline and could not be very picky.
I crossed HBS name when they released battletech though. I regreat backing it and i never finished it. Since then, i don't expect them to release an enjoyable game to me ever again. And fortunately i don't have to.
Despite everything, we are living on a very good gaming era. We don't even have to crowdfund them into existence anymore. I am very grateful for these times where i get to be picky and turn my back on games for the slightest flaw i find them to have.
I can, and will, replay the HBS games out of nostalgia or to try new things but i have to say that i would not even touch them if they were released today.
cyborgboy95
News Cyborg
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- Aug 24, 2019
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- 2,782
Strig
Learned
The turn-based combat seems just about ok, but everything before looked horrible. Like an extremely retarded version of Commandos. What even is this nonsense?
cyborgboy95
News Cyborg
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- Aug 24, 2019
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- 2,782
Even Steam users notice the AI seem weak in the comment section of this video and the last one on Steam, the visual isn't much better
Zeriel
Arcane
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- Jun 17, 2012
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- 13,506
Definitive answer https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1167750/view/3642887094702773697Genre: Adventure, RPG, Strategy.trpg, belongs in the tactical gaming subforum
I don't see the word "RPG" anywhere in this game's description. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Still in the right section, though.
I don't count Steam genre tags.
Right forum now.
"Unique artistic direction" is a stretch though.
If they have to say it's exciting, it isn't exciting. I know this is just ad copy, but damn, that kind of thing immediately blares to me it's shit from the get-go.
Definitive answer https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1167750/view/3642887094702773697Genre: Adventure, RPG, Strategy.trpg, belongs in the tactical gaming subforum
I don't see the word "RPG" anywhere in this game's description. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Still in the right section, though.
I don't count Steam genre tags.
Right forum now.
"Unique artistic direction" is a stretch though.
If they have to say it's exciting, it isn't exciting. I know this is just ad copy, but damn, that kind of thing immediately blares to me it's shit from the get-go.
I mean wtf use is a game that isn't exciting?
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- Jan 28, 2011
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- 97,621
cyborgboy95
News Cyborg
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- Aug 24, 2019
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- 2,782
The Lamplighters League Free Demo out now!
Hello everyone!
We're happy to announce that you can now play The Lamplighters League Demo, and experience the first chapter of the story for free!
A few important notes:
- The demo will be available until a few hours before the release on October 3rd
- You can play the Demo on Steam Deck!
But that's not it!
We are also very happy to announce that various influencers are streaming Lamplighters League today after 19:00 CEST, check them out:
- LIRIK[www.twitch.tv]
- CohhCarnage[www.twitch.tv]
- Quill18[www.twitch.tv]
- Northernlion[www.twitch.tv]
- ZeratoR[www.twitch.tv]
- Chiches Extra
- Steinwallen[www.twitch.tv]
- Writing_Bull[www.twitch.tv]
- Sacriel[www.twitch.tv]
Don't hesitate to try it out now and let us know what you think about the game! And don't forget to check out amazing YouTube for more content.
Lemming42
Arcane
Playing the demo and yeah, the game is weird as fuck. Maybe it's just me, but it seems obvious that the best way to play is to avoid being detected, and thus stay in real-time mode as long as possible... which means you're depriving yourself of the turn-based combat the game is actually about. It's bizarre.
It's kind of fun to ration your real-time abilities and they make you think really carefully before taking anyone out, at least.
It's kind of fun to ration your real-time abilities and they make you think really carefully before taking anyone out, at least.
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2020
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- 2,222
Mkay, trying this out now...
First off, the cuck energy is trully oozing out of every pore of this game. From the get go you are introduced to the duo of a hot blond chick (which I have no doubt will come out as a dyke over the course of the game as this is HBS release in 2023) who can breach brick walls with her fist an a north African twink that I wanted to punch in the face after knowing him for about two seconds. You get it guyz? A stronk wahmin melee fighter and a "male" cat thief who can climb walls and shit but requires muscle to protect him - what a brave way to subvert gender stereotypes.
The controls are OKish, in the realtime mode you can control the whole group through WASD, you can also split the group and use characters individualy, which is often neccessary to solve various problems (climb over the wall with the twink to open door, go in with stronk female to breach a wall etc).
The stealth is again OKish, nothing complex, enemies have a detection radius that can be broken by hiding behind cover etc. You can do a limited number of steath takedowns per mission, which is IMO a very controversial mechanic - the devs made stealth a possibility, but at the same time are putting in this artificial limitation in an attempt to force combat. The tutorial mission in the demo is pretty jaring in this regard, since you are basically forced into combat out of nowhere when the situation could be easily solved by stealth - not cool tbh fam. Shit design.
"Ah fuck bro, I am behind an enemy guard but I already used up all of my stealth takedowns, time to go loud I guess."
Combat is literally nu-XCOM 2AP + some abilities type of shit. Nothing of interest to see here.
The devs however sure love them some shitty nu-XCOM combat. So much so in fact that in order to make you fight it is not possible to climb over a wall which is barely as tall as your characters to avoid an "alert" guard that cannot be sneaked by.
You know what? There might even be a fucking table right next to the said wall, but hey - you cant climb over that either. Cant have you miss all this awesome 2AP shit.
Oh by the way, you cant hide bodies. Enemies get alerted when they see them, so... yeah.
Anyway, the demo doesnt show the strategic/management/map travel stuff the game is supposed to have so all I can comment on is the tactical stuff. Is it the worst thing ever? No. It is a somewhat low effort nu-XCOM clone with basic stealth system that the devs apparently dont want you to use much. Combat is bland as fuck, this could have been much better off as an Invisible Inc clone instead, but that would require a bit more investment in the level desing and that is too hard I guess. Is it worth 50 bucks? Fuck no.
First off, the cuck energy is trully oozing out of every pore of this game. From the get go you are introduced to the duo of a hot blond chick (which I have no doubt will come out as a dyke over the course of the game as this is HBS release in 2023) who can breach brick walls with her fist an a north African twink that I wanted to punch in the face after knowing him for about two seconds. You get it guyz? A stronk wahmin melee fighter and a "male" cat thief who can climb walls and shit but requires muscle to protect him - what a brave way to subvert gender stereotypes.
The controls are OKish, in the realtime mode you can control the whole group through WASD, you can also split the group and use characters individualy, which is often neccessary to solve various problems (climb over the wall with the twink to open door, go in with stronk female to breach a wall etc).
The stealth is again OKish, nothing complex, enemies have a detection radius that can be broken by hiding behind cover etc. You can do a limited number of steath takedowns per mission, which is IMO a very controversial mechanic - the devs made stealth a possibility, but at the same time are putting in this artificial limitation in an attempt to force combat. The tutorial mission in the demo is pretty jaring in this regard, since you are basically forced into combat out of nowhere when the situation could be easily solved by stealth - not cool tbh fam. Shit design.
"Ah fuck bro, I am behind an enemy guard but I already used up all of my stealth takedowns, time to go loud I guess."
Combat is literally nu-XCOM 2AP + some abilities type of shit. Nothing of interest to see here.
The devs however sure love them some shitty nu-XCOM combat. So much so in fact that in order to make you fight it is not possible to climb over a wall which is barely as tall as your characters to avoid an "alert" guard that cannot be sneaked by.
You know what? There might even be a fucking table right next to the said wall, but hey - you cant climb over that either. Cant have you miss all this awesome 2AP shit.
Oh by the way, you cant hide bodies. Enemies get alerted when they see them, so... yeah.
Anyway, the demo doesnt show the strategic/management/map travel stuff the game is supposed to have so all I can comment on is the tactical stuff. Is it the worst thing ever? No. It is a somewhat low effort nu-XCOM clone with basic stealth system that the devs apparently dont want you to use much. Combat is bland as fuck, this could have been much better off as an Invisible Inc clone instead, but that would require a bit more investment in the level desing and that is too hard I guess. Is it worth 50 bucks? Fuck no.
Last edited:
Hellraiser
Arcane
Mutant Year Zero did a similar dumb thing regarding both the real time "stealth" and using stealth weapon kills to get better openings. On higher difficulty the game was too reliant on you getting that opening with stealth kills right, at least until the mid-game.
IMO either go the XCOM 2 way and use it only as a positioning/opening tool with fully turn-based movement, or make the game revolve around it like Invisible Inc. does and again with fully turn-based movement. Otherwise you get clunky shit.
Also journos think this game is middling.
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-lamplighters-league-review/
Literally worse than Starfield.
HBS can't design tactical systems worth shit, so not surprising. They had known tabletop IPs in the past as a basis and even then the gameplay results were meh, no surprise a truly original thing ended up even worse.
Lemming42
Arcane
What's so annoying about this one is that it's sort of brushing against being good at times. The stealth vs turn based stuff isn't necessarily doomed to failure. It's actually quite a good idea - Commandos, but you can turn it into XCOM at any given moment.
But both aspects kinda suck - the real-time stuff is totally inane because enemy AI is terrible and you have no abilities other than a limited number of knockouts (you can't even fucking crouch, it's done automatically when the game decides you ought to be crouching), and the turn-based stuff is pretty much the most standard-issue nuXCOM-clone slop imaginable. Then worse, both styles end up jarring against each other, rather than working together. So instead of two great sub-games intertwining together, you have two shit sub-games that are actively at odds with each other and which the game keeps forcing you to switch between against your will for bullshit reasons.
Like, imagine Commandos, but the penalty for being detected is to be forced into fun turn-based combat. That's a good idea for a game, on paper. It's a great idea, actually.
But both aspects kinda suck - the real-time stuff is totally inane because enemy AI is terrible and you have no abilities other than a limited number of knockouts (you can't even fucking crouch, it's done automatically when the game decides you ought to be crouching), and the turn-based stuff is pretty much the most standard-issue nuXCOM-clone slop imaginable. Then worse, both styles end up jarring against each other, rather than working together. So instead of two great sub-games intertwining together, you have two shit sub-games that are actively at odds with each other and which the game keeps forcing you to switch between against your will for bullshit reasons.
Like, imagine Commandos, but the penalty for being detected is to be forced into fun turn-based combat. That's a good idea for a game, on paper. It's a great idea, actually.
lycanwarrior
Scholar
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
- Messages
- 1,249
I'm okay for limiting stealth kills with patroling enemies and enemies become triggered after a few radio silence situations. Hell, even Batman Arkham series had a good one that main antagonist taunts his henchmen via radio while we eliminate them one by one. MGSV did good with enemies addapting your play style also.
But artificial limits are not the way...
But artificial limits are not the way...
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