The Lantern of the Laughless Saint Beginner Guide

Begin by treating dialogue, rumors, and written clues as navigation tools. The official description presents this as an exploration-led RPG rather than a checklist of map icons, and most quests can have more than one resolution.

This first edition deliberately avoids fabricated quest steps. It tells you what the developer officially lists and how to approach that structure until route-level evidence is collected.

What is in the Early Access build?

The official Steam page lists:

• more than 50 quests;
• more than 60 unique enemies;
• more than 100 equippable items;
• spell crafting and alchemy;
• fishing;
• a fully completable main quest;
• solo play and full co-op.

The developer estimates that a completionist run without guides can take more than 30–40 hours. Treat that as a developer projection, not a guaranteed playtime for every player.

A practical first 30 minutes

This route combines the official exploration pitch with what several launch-window creators actually did. It is deliberately goal-based rather than a fragile list of button prompts.

Orient before chasing the Tower

Read the opening dialogue and identify the settlement, the Tower, and any named services. A long first look at 19:01–20:13 hears the opening NPC point toward a trader, seer, alchemy supplier, and magic teacher. Names and availability may change, but the useful habit is stable: use the opening conversation to build a service list.

Make a small readiness kit

Before following a distant clue, look for:

• a light source for dark interiors;
• one healing option;
• one main weapon you intend to practice;
• one fallback for enemies that defeat your preferred spacing;
• one empty manual save slot.

This is not a shopping list with guaranteed prices. Launch footage shows traders, loose equipment, and varied early routes, but inventories and costs are patch-sensitive.

Test the build near safety

Use a nearby low-risk encounter to learn reach, speed, stamina or resource pressure, and the save flow. If you want a ranged character, confirm the bow’s current controls and ammunition behavior yourself. If you want magic, do not spend as if every historical spell cost is still current.

Choose one clue trail

Write down a place, direction, landmark, and person. Follow that thread until new evidence tells you to turn. The goal is not to clear the whole journal; it is to understand how this world communicates.

Your first-session method

1. Read before you leave

Record place names, people, objects, and directions from conversations. When a quest has no obvious marker, the wording itself may be the route.

2. Keep one manual trail

Choose one lead and follow it until the evidence changes. Mixing several rumors at once makes it hard to remember which clue belongs to which destination.

3. Save before choices

The official description says most quests can resolve through mercy, violence, compromise, or deceit. A save before a decision lets you understand the consequence without pretending one answer is universally “best.”

4. Test systems without assuming formulas

Spell crafting and alchemy are officially present, but this guide does not publish exact recipes, costs, or “best” combinations until they are captured from the current build.

5. Expect Early Access changes

NerveLabs targets updates every one to two weeks during Early Access. Check patch notes when a quest route, spell effect, or multiplayer behavior differs from an older guide.

A reusable clue journal

When the game gives prose instead of a map pin, record the clue in four fields:

Field	What to write	Why it helps
Speaker	Who gave the information	Lets you return when the state changes
Direction	North, coast, hill, floor, road, or another relation	Converts prose into a navigable instruction
Landmark	Tower, ruin, shop, shore, statue, bridge	Gives you something visible to verify
Condition	Time, item, prior conversation, choice	Prevents assuming every route is always open

If one field is missing, treat that as a question to answer through dialogue or exploration—not permission to invent a coordinate.

What launch-window players repeatedly found useful

The supplied community videos converge on a few practical habits, even though their exact bugs and balance observations are build-specific:

• Talk through the opening settlement before rushing the Tower. One long first look reaches the same conclusion at 1:52:44: take time, talk to NPCs, and follow the settlement’s clues.
• Save often and keep more than one slot. Several launch-day creators lost time to crashes or awkward states; the first-impressions stream explicitly checks autosaves after a crash.
• Use the written direction, not an assumed quest marker. A long playthrough summarizes the quest style at 4:41:47: directions may name a shoreline, compass direction, landmark, or floor rather than pinning a destination.
• Let your intended skills grow through use, then spend level-up points deliberately. The 146γ stream describes skill use, extra points at level-up, and perk selection in the tested build.

These are field-tested habits, not a step-by-step walkthrough. Exact key bindings, save behavior, quest state, and balance can change with patches.

Watch the opening methods

Is the main story finishable?

Yes, according to the developer’s current Early Access description. “Completable” does not mean final: the full version is expected to add more enemies, areas, equipment, quests, and polish.

Continue with the combat and skills field guide, the co-op guide, the spell crafting and alchemy status guide, or the Reddit and forum reaction roundup if you are deciding whether to buy during Early Access.