NerveLabs · Steam Early Access

The Lantern of the Laughless Saint Guide

The Lantern of the Laughless Saint guide: quest walkthroughs, spell crafting, races, skills and co-op answers, each traced to an official or on-video source.

The Lantern of the Laughless Saint official trailer Official Trailer
Quests50+
Equippable Items100+
Release2026-08-17
DeveloperNerveLabs
GenreOpen-World RPG
PlayersSolo or Online Co-op
Price$19.99 USD

From the Tower

Patch Notes

The Island

What is The Lantern of the Laughless Saint?

The Lantern of the Laughless Saint is an open-world RPG by NerveLabs, released into Steam Early Access on 17 August 2026 for Windows PC at $19.99 USD. It is openly modelled on Morrowind — skills rise by using them, directions arrive in conversation instead of on a compass, and spell crafting and alchemy are real systems rather than menu dressing. The store page claims 50+ quests, 60+ unique enemies and over 100 equippable items.

You wash up on an island crowned by a silent Tower, drawn there by a dream you cannot remember having. Beneath it is a theatre with an empty stage. Every islander whose life you repair or ruin takes a seat in that audience — and the house fills either way. The whole campaign is playable in co-op, including split screen.

Screenshots

The town of Magdal Rest on the shore, with the Tower rising behind it
Magdal Rest, with the Tower visible inland
A player holding a greatsword on a jungle path at dusk
Exploring with a Tarnished Greatsword equipped
An Uruhan bearman standing on a wooden jetty beside a rowing boat
An Uruhan on the jetty by the arrival boat
A large red moon with a face in a night sky above rocky terrain
The red moon over the island at night

Get Started in 5 Steps

  1. Do Nuisance first. The merchant Peaches gives you a free sword, a full set of armour off two weak skeletons, and a shack of your own.
  2. Get taught magic. You cannot cast anything until an NPC teaches you — find the jinn near the well and finish The Lost Tome.
  3. Stop spending points on skills you already use. Everything improves through use, so spend where progress is slow and read the side perk trees.
  4. Grab a real weapon. The Fisherman's Friend deals 55 damage against 40 for a generic sword, and it is reachable early.
  5. Treat rumours as quest markers. If someone names a place, that is the objective — see the beginner guide and the island map.

Fill the Seats

Start Here

Full Guide Index

Guides

  • Laughless Saint Alchemy Guide — Where to buy alchemy supplies, what the mortar and pestle does, training costs, and the Update 7 change that finally shows discovered effects in the UI.
  • Laughless Saint Amphitheater Explained — The Amphitheater fills its seats whether you succeed or fail. How choices, kindness and cruelty change who sits in your audience for the finale.
  • Laughless Saint Beginner Guide and Tips — Ten things worth knowing in your first hours: skills rise by use, side perk trees matter, blessings can hurt you, and failure still counts as progress.
  • Laughless Saint Blessings Guide — Blessings are permanent and not always upgrades. Stone reduces magicka regen by 50%. Confirmed blessings, their real effects, and how to earn them from quests.
  • Laughless Saint Builds: How to Plan One — Builds here are shaped by use, not locked at creation. How to plan a fighter, caster or thief given use-based skills and changeable races.
  • Laughless Saint Fast Travel and Return Spells — There is no map-click fast travel. Movement relies on Anchor and Recall spells, plus fortify skill effects strong enough to cross the map.
  • Laughless Saint Co-op: How Many Players? — The whole game is playable in co-op. What Steam confirms about online and shared-screen play, who owns the save, and what the player limit evidence says.
  • Laughless Saint Console Commands — Two console commands are officially documented in patch notes: changeappearance and resetcamera. What they do and why we do not list unverified ones.
  • Laughless Saint Fishing: Rod and Skill — Fishing is a tracked skill with a rod you buy from a vendor. What is confirmed, why the rod shows red, and the knife that boosts swimming.
  • Games Like Laughless Saint (Morrowind RPGs) — Why this game is compared to Morrowind, what it borrows structurally, and which other RPGs scratch the same itch of systems that overlap.
  • Laughless Saint: How to Cast Spells — You cannot cast anything until a jinn teaches you the basics. Here is who teaches magic in Magdal Rest, how to get your first tome, and how casting works.
  • Magdal Rest: Starting Town Guide — Everything in the first town: who gives quests, where the tavern, alchemist, shop and shack are, and the landmarks the game expects you to navigate by.
  • Laughless Saint Magic Schools Explained — The game splits magic into psionics, channeling and sorcery. What is confirmed about each school, how they level, and what is still undocumented.
  • Laughless Saint Lockpicking Guide — Doors are gated by lockpicking level, and one early door needs level 60. How to get past locks you cannot pick, including the craftable Unlock spell.
  • NerveLabs: The Studio Behind the Game — Who NerveLabs are, their patch cadence during early access, their other game VectorBall, and how to reach them with bug reports.
  • Laughless Saint Mods: Current Status — There is no official mod support or Workshop listing for the game yet. What that means in practice during early access, and what to watch for.
  • Laughless Saint Map and Locations — Confirmed locations on the island: Magdal Rest, the Tower, the Tsaffon ruins, Blind Grotto, the charcoal burner, the shipwreck and the southern island.
  • Laughless Saint NPCs and Characters — Who is who on the island: Peaches, Bog, Bronwyn, Ramba, Hyrum, Chiani, Bartolomaeus and the rest, with where to find them and what they want.
  • Laughless Saint Perks List — Perk points come on level up and the trees are large. Confirmed perks and their effects, including the +100 carry capacity node hiding in the pickpocket tree.
  • Laughless Saint on PS5, Xbox and GOG? — The game is Windows PC on Steam only. No PS5, Xbox, Mac, Linux or GOG release has been announced. What the store data actually says.
  • Laughless Saint Price and Launch Discount — The game costs $19.99 USD and launched with a 10% discount. What early access pricing means for a later price rise, and where to buy it.
  • Locked Out Quest: Hyrum Door — Hyrum door needs lockpicking 60, which you will not have. Use the chimney instead, find the key on the table, and meet the cursed intruder inside.
  • Dark Water Quest and Spongestone Location — The talking well curses you with Dark Water Taint. How to get the quest from Bog, what the alchemist tells you, and exactly where to find Spongestone.
  • Mentoring Magic: Where Is Bartolomaeus? — Deliver a book to a wizard south of the tower. The route runs through the Tower itself, and you should buy the Anchor spell before you leave.
  • Moon in the Man: Break the Moonface Curse — The full Moon in the Man chain: charcoal, a blank tome, the snail that stole a voice, Chiani, and the hermit Detta journal on the southern island.
  • Nuisance Quest: How to Get Your Shack — The Nuisance quest gives you a player home in Magdal Rest. Where to find Peaches, how to recover his cart, and where the shack with the stool actually is.
  • Right Where I Found It: Ramba Quest — Return three stolen items, then decide what to do with a stolen identity. Full route, the three pickpocket targets, and the Remembrance of Past blessing.
  • Rust in Peace: Serpentine Grease Location — A knight has rusted solid. Find serpent oil in the dripping barrel at the shipwreck, free him, and take a 68-damage greatsword with +20 arcane.
  • The Lost Tome Quest: Learn Magic — The Lost Tome is the gate to using magic at all. Where the jinn lives in Magdal Rest, where the madman took the tome, and what you get for returning it.
  • Laughless Saint Races and Bonuses — Every race we can verify from the character creation screen, with their stat bonuses and lore, plus how to change race after starting using the mirror.
  • Laughless Saint Skills List and How They Level — Skills rise by using them, not by spending points. The confirmed skill list, how levelling feeds your attributes, and where to actually spend your points.
  • Laughless Saint Spell Crafting Guide — Spell crafting is a toolbox, not a damage upgrade screen. How the system works, which effects are confirmed, and the rebalance history you should know.
  • Laughless Saint Split Screen on PC — Split screen and shared screen co-op are both supported on PC. What Steam confirms, the controller caveat, and the patches aimed at small screens.
  • Laughless Saint Steam Deck Compatibility — Valve has not rated the game for Steam Deck yet — it is Unknown, not Unsupported. What that means and which specs and settings matter most.
  • Laughless Saint Walkthrough: Quest Index — Every quest we have documented with a verified route, in a sensible order, from the starter shack to the Tower delivery run.
  • Fisherman Friend and Early Unique Weapons — The Fisherman Friend knife deals 55 damage with +10 swimming and is reachable near the start. Exact route via the Blind Grotto, plus damage comparisons.

FAQ

Is it "Laughless Saint" or "Loveless Saint"?

It is The Lantern of the Laughless Saint — laughless, meaning without laughter. "Loveless Saint" is a common mishearing, and at least one walkthrough narrator says it out loud by mistake. You will also see "Lantern of a Laughless Saint" and just "Laughless Saint", which all refer to the same NerveLabs game.

Is this an Elder Scrolls or Morrowind game?

No. It is an independent game by NerveLabs with no connection to Bethesda or the Elder Scrolls series. The confusion is understandable: the developers describe it as "inspired by Morrowind", it uses use-based skills and spell crafting, and Update 7 even describes marking the map in a "TES3-style way". But it is an original setting with its own island, Tower and Amphitheater.

Does the game have codes or promo codes?

No. This is a paid single-player and co-op RPG on Steam, not a live-service or mobile game, and it has no promo code system. Any site offering "Laughless Saint codes" is describing a feature the game does not have.

See the full FAQ →

How This Site Works

The Empty Stage is an independent, unofficial fan resource for The Lantern of the Laughless Saint players — not affiliated with NerveLabs.