Lamplighters League is a strategy game that makes failing fun

pcgamesn.com:

I’ve played the first two levels for this Lamplighters League gameplay preview a lot, as the newest turn-based strategy game from Harebrained Schemes promises to deliver a diverse and pulpy adventure. It’s one that consistently throws you back in the action with a fighting chance no matter what you do. In XCOM, you can screw up to the point where you’d lose an entire squad, but Lamplighters League wants you to solve the problems of your mistakes on the fly, instead of punishing you for them.

I got my first hands-on with the game at GDC, for an earlier Lamplighters League preview where I spoke with the developers and tried out the opening sections. It was instantly apparent that Lamplighters League, when it comes to PC Game Pass, is going to be a hit. So when I was given the chance to play through the first two levels, and from the comfort of my own home, I decided I was going to try and break the game in as many ways as possible. The thing is, I couldn’t.

Having both real-time stealth planning and turn-based action means Lamplighters League gives you a lot of choice in how you approach each mission, and the variety of agents you can put on your team just makes that all the more complex. But Harebrained has accounted for this with a wide variety of tools that really make failing fun.

On multiple runs, I’d choose one character to run headlong into combat, then I’d become more stealthy and lead with a different character while placing everyone in ideal, defensible positions. Both of these strategies worked, sometimes one more than the other, as Lamplighters League has enough variety in its level design and character abilities to account for whatever you choose.

This doesn’t make Lamplighters League too easy, but instead