It seems we might be waiting a while to hear anything substantial about The Elder Scrolls 6 from Bethesda. To help with the anticipation, a group of devs known as NerveLabs took it upon themselves to make a new installment in the series themselves, and it's already faring quite well on Steam.
The game is called The Lantern of the Laughless Saint, and it takes a hefty amount of influence from the third Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind. It's got the mid-2000s aesthetic, the slightly strange fantasy vibe, and the heavy emphasis on exploration, along with some tongue-in-cheek humor and Myst-like esoteric lore.
"No one chooses to come to this island," the narrator says in the opening of the main trailer. "You wake from the same dream." Ominous, foreboding, and distinctly inviting.
The game's Steam store page says it's "built around exploration and connection," with the idea being you just sort of roam around to find out what's going on, or where you have to go.
"You learn the land by walking it, following rumors, reading scraps of burned history, and meeting lost souls who wandered to the ends of the Earth, following the same feverish dream of a light buried beneath the Tower," the game's description continues.
Intriguing. In a brazen bit of marketing, another trailer literally says this game exists because the devs got bored waiting for the sequel to Skyrim. "Fuck you Todd Howard," the video says. NerveLabs even shared this on the Oblivion subreddit, because what has being coy ever gotten anyone?
The Lantern of the Laughless Saint has been in early access on Steam for two days now, and the player reaction is already 86% positive.
"This game has heart and soul not seen in many releases today. It feels like the Bethesda of old," reads one fawning review. "CAN YOU DO THAT TODD, HUH????" says another.
Many buyers warn of performance problems, which are to be expected from an indie studio that's just released something in beta. But if you want those strange Morrowind vibes, this might be worth your time.
