Lamplight City Review – Case Closed

Solve five intriguing cases with a little help from your dead partner in a steampunk point-and-click adventure game.

Lamplight City
Grundislav Games
Price: $14.99
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Mac, Linux
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.

When a simple burglary case takes a turn for the worse, Detective Miles Fordham’s partner Bill is killed. Miles is kicked out of the police force as a result, but it’s even worse than that—he hears Bill’s voice all the time. Miles becomes a private investigator, taking on cases no one else can solve, while searching for clues that will help him track down the burglar and give his dead friend closure.

Lamplight City is a point-and-click adventure game, but it streamlines the traditional inventory system. Instead of choosing items to use, you’ll use the relevant item automatically when you examine the area in question, although these types of puzzles are few in number. More often, evidence will open up new dialogue options. Choosing how to interact with suspects and witnesses effectively replaces typical adventure game puzzles, and I quite liked this direction.

Depending on your choices, you can make characters angry and close off potential leads. This opens up one of the most interesting aspects of Lamplight City. Detective games often have two outcomes: you either find the right culprit or you get a game over. That isn’t the case here. In Lamplight City, evidence will lead you to multiple suspects and you can choose who to accuse. This makes sure you’re never completely stuck—as long as you accept the consequences. If you’ve lost a lead or can’t figure out how to find the true culprit, there’s usually an easier suspect to accuse instead. And if you close off all your leads, you can declare the case unsolvable. Either way, the story will take your decision into account and you’ll move on to the next case.

There are five cases, as well as the prologue, each with a new cast of characters. The cases are largely separate, which surprised me because of the game’s emphasis on choice and consequences. However, the more I played, the more I could see the influence of my decisions—a few returning characters, the way people treated Miles, and certain scenes that played out differently because of the choices I made. Even without major consequences, however, the individual cases all had their own twists and compelling stories that kept me invested in the outcome.

The progression of the overarching narrative held my interest even more. Bill’s role is delightful just for how it factors into the gameplay—investigating every object in the room is much more entertaining when you get commentary from a sarcastic ghost—but it’s also critical to the story. Miles dealing with the strain of hearing his dead partner’s voice affects his relationship with his wife, and I found myself really pulling for things to work out for all of them. Lamplight City also deserves credit for working in issues of race, class, and sexuality in a way that doesn’t feel forced, but rather as much a part of the world as the concerns over the rapidly-expanding steam technology. Lamplight City creates a believable steampunk world, a strong core cast of characters, and an unfolding story that might be more interesting than even the detective work itself.

The Final Word
If you enjoy mysteries and detective stories, it’s hard to go wrong with Lamplight City. While the puzzles might not be as challenging as in other games in the genre, the narrative takes center stage and provides a memorable experience.

MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great