He recognizes racism and sexism and tries to right those wrongs, but doesn’t stop to address his own privilege. Again, Miles complicates the trope as he actively seeks the help of those around him. The help he receives come from people of different genders, sexualities and races, but Miles himself falls right into the classic detective image. Still, there’s something to be said about the main character being a white, heterosexual man. Importantly, there are LGBTQ characters, as well as Black characters, who do survive, who are not murdered because of discrimination. It’s an interesting spin on a narrative stereotype. Further, he isn’t murdered because of his sexuality, but rather his involvement as a detective on a crime scene. Despite his death, William is still a prominent character within the game. Even with his body gone, he continues to be Miles’s partner as a narrator. It’s not often that a game allows a puzzle to be solved by punching a racist. For example, Miles asks his wife to persuade an officer to leave his station, but when she goes and tries to flirt, the officer assumes she’s trying to lure him to an ally to be mugged by “a gang of sambos.” Miles punches the officer in anger. Interestingly, when she does aid Miles during his investigation, she’s often accused to being up to no good. Adelaide isn’t a detective, yet she helps her husband in many ways throughout the game. Miles Fordham, the private investigator and main character of the game, is white, but his wife Adelaide is a Black woman working as a hairdresser. It’s unfortunate that someone was almost killed by being interred, but how sad is it when the attack was in retaliation for the many people she’s harmed in the past? It doesn’t shrug it as a thing of its time rather, Lamplight City uses those uncomfortable moments to show the horrors of bad people.
But the game doesn’t present examples of racism or sexism without making a statement about them. Set in 1844, Lamplight City works to highlight the racial and sexual discrimination prevalent during the time. The game isn’t afraid to show any of these hardships, and it’s a great game because of it. It addresses the discrimination women faced in pursuing math and science it highlights the common struggle of Black people in a world that still considers them to be the Other and it focuses on the life of people in the LGBTQ community who must hide their sexuality to not be harassed, or worse. Even when it does, it attempts to turn them on their heads. Lamplight City is a murder mystery, and as such it runs the risk of falling into classic murder tropes. As the culprit of the crime is revealed, the player must decide whether Duprée’s own racism outweigh the crime against her. As the case continues, it’s revealed that Duprée, a white woman, isn’t exactly an innocent person, as she mistreats and abuses her Black servants.
The prime suspect, Albert Martin, is a Black man who is accused of using voodoo to put Duprée in a trance. Doctors thought she died from cardiac arrest days prior to her funeral, but when they heard a knock coming from inside her casket, they were shocked to find she was very much alive.
In the first full case in Lamplight City, a woman named Madam Duprée almost dies by being buried alive.