Recent reviews by Wilbur Walsh

First things first: I played tactics games since the 1990s, I beat the newest XCOM/XCOM2 and JA3 on the highest difficulty settings on ironman. That's not boast, but give you a little background on my experience as a player and how to judge my very positive review:

So let me first say, back when the game was released, everybody was playing BGIII. As was I and I totally overlooked this beautiful (yet unfortunately a little unpolished) gem of a game. I thought BGIII was my game of the year 2023, but this game is a very, very strong contender.

If you buy this and expect a run-of-the-mill XCOM-clone you WILL be bitterly disappointed. Yes, there is a world strategy layer, but compared to XCOM there's no base building. Yes, it's mainly a turn-based tactics game, but it additionally has a little bit of real-time stealth gameplay, which in itself is fine and workable, but could be fleshed out more. Don't expect to be able totally stealth missions, you are not supposed to. But thinning out the herd before smashing it in TBT-G is satisfying enough.

It is a turn-based tactics game first and foremost. But it somehow plays totally different to XCOM to me. You don't have your standard JOE/JANE DOE characters which get assigned a class with generic powers or abilities. Instead, you get fleshed out unique agents, each with its own unique set of skills and powers. Where as in XCOM you often MIN/MAX different classes for best outcome, here the biggest question is, which agent
suits your preferences and compliments your team of 3/4 agents, with which you battle your enemies in the field. So, once you start the turn-based combat every encounter produces a new puzzle for you to solve: How to kill/beat the most enemies each round given the abilities of your agents most effectively (there basically is no hunkering down, you have to take the initiative). In XCOM I found myself playing very defensively, whereas here you almost have to play aggressively. For me it's a very welcome change of pace.

As I said, strategically your only choices, since there is no base building, are what missions to take, so you can hold out and do the critical missions to progress the story. Yes, there is not only ONE doom clock but THREE, one for each opposing faction. What I don't get, is the complains about the clocks being unfair. If your strategy game is lacking, or it is too stressful for you, play the game on a custom difficulty level with lower difficulty settings for the strategy layer and higher for the combat? The game is supposed to be hard und you are supposed to feel like the time is running out. Would you rather prefer an Indiana Jones/Super-Hero crossover movie, where the heroes have all the time in the world, or rather one where the stakes are high?
It will be close, and sometimes you will be facing the question, whether to do two prepare missions before the actual critical heist mission or take your time, but for me that's part of the fun.
Let me assure you, that unless you totally ♥♥♥♥ up in the strategy layer, the game is (easily?) beatable at the highest difficulty level.

And there is my next point: I also don't understand the griping about the difficulty level in general. Yes, at the highest level, the game throws tons of enemies at you, but if you are careful and recon the levels/set pieces and try to thin the herd first, you should rarely run into total wipes, especially if you are familiar with other turn-based games. (Tip: Save between the set pieces during the missions).

I believe the most difficult thing is, to choose the right team to do the job. And here comes the next awesome thing, that makes this game stick out of the crowd of XCOM-Clones. It has a mechanic called undrawn hand. The undrawn hand are Cards with certain passive or active abilities that you get for finishing missions and can permanently assign to you agents. You can build massively overpowered synergies in-agent and team-wise. (At the end of the game, Ingrid was running around the field batting every enemy death like the hammer of Thor!) At the beginning you start with 3 agents; you can recruit more during your play. Each agent skills can be upgraded, so choose your team wisely! This makes the game exciting and fresh every time. You can also recruit 3 allies, which I highly recommend doing, who upgrade your stats for you whole team or give you very strong items.
Only if you combine all three: team-synergies, agent upgrades and the right allies upgrades you will be able to beat the game. The learning/difficulty curve for me was very steep at the beginning of the game, but once you field 3/4 fully upgraded agents with good and high-level undrawn hand cards and good items, you will be nearly unbeatable. Just remember that you are supposed to use everything in your arsenal during the missions (especially in the beginning)!

What I really love about this game, is the 1930s setting, the world-building (through Notes), the phenomenal soundtrack and Incredibles-like art style of the game. I just love it; it goes together so well and is fresh a new for a XCOM veteran like me. It actually draws me in and makes the stakes so much higher for me personally.

At the end let me clarify what I meant with unpolished in the first paragraph: I actually did not run into any bugs (game breaking or otherwise). Please consider that I just recently bought the game in the Steam Summer Sale, so it was all patched up and I keep my system up-to-date with newest HW & SW. With unpolished I meant, that you can feel, that some corners where cut to either budget restrains or the pressure to release. The LL interactions could be animated more, the stealth could be fleshed out more, the levels could be more varied. Better animated cutscenes (like the intro) would have made the game feel more special than it already is. I believe if Paradox would have given Harebrained more resources or alternatively more time to finish the game, it would have benefitted the reception greatly (less bugs at release, more polish, better release window). It's a real shame Harebrained and Paradox hat a falling out and there won't be any successor to Lamplighters League. I need more of the good stuff.

All in all, I have to say, that I really love this game and prefer it to the newer XCOMs and JAIII. Reading the reviews, I started the game expecting a challenge. a bug fest and mediocre gameplay, but was totally surprised by how good this game can be. I was totally sucked in by the world building and intriguing and at times very difficult gameplay. I had to face difficult decisions and there were many close calls, especially at the beginning, but when finishing this game in week 40 with 4 totally upgraded agents I was wiping the floor with the Banished court. My campaign lasted around 35 hours and I was grinning the whole time! I can wholly recommend this game to any tactic aficionado out there!

TLDR; game good, much buy!

PS: For beginners I can recommend the "Beginners Guide" in steam works, it helped me in the beginning to understand the gameplay mechanics, since the game itself is a little bit stingy on information.

PPS: English isn't my mother tongue, so if you find weird grammar, syntax, typos, or otherwise, good for you! ;)

Regars, WW

Very good gamplay loop, interessting story, very nice set pieces, in short simply brilliant.

Best RPG of the decade.

First of all let me say, that I've played through every season of Telltale's Walking Dead, so I was pretty invested in the story so far. And boy, the final season did not dissappoint!
Even as a stand-alone season/game it delivers and plays really good. The overhaul of the graphic style did wonders for the game imho.
But if you are invested in Clementine's story the game doesn't pull any punches and the last chapter is an emotional rollercoaster that will stay with you for while!
I can fully recommend this game!

If you are a fan of Thief, I would recommend you this game despite it flaws.

Excellent remake of Half-Life. Anyone who hasn't played the classic, should have a look at Black Mesa and see why Half-Life is still considered one of the best Shooters of all-time.

Hands down the best Total War yet! :)

Of all the game adaptations of the ALIEN universe, this comes closest to the feel of dispair and horror of the original movies.
Gameplay is solid and if you play on an harder difficulty than medium you will feel the horror that is a xenomorph on a ship.
For enhanced "soil yourself"-effect play this game with headphones in complete darkness. ;)

Great little adventure game! Puzzles are not very hard, but the athmosphere of the game is superb. And it's also very informative!