
Harebrained Schemes, the devs behind Battletech and the Shadowrun Trilogy, showed off their new turn-based strategy game at GDC 2023: The Lamplighters League. I had the chance to play a brief demo at an ID@Xbox event in San Francisco, then sit down with Executive Producer Mitch Gitelman and Game Director Chris Rogers to discuss the game in-depth as they played a late-game stage.
The Lamplighters League gameplay will look familiar to fans of XCOM-style gameplay, but there are some distinct differences. You recruit "characters, not units," as Gitelman explained it, and it has unique card and stress mechanics that extra complexity to the gameplay. But the most exciting addition is its "real-time infiltration" system.