TL;DR

Lonely Player is the longest Anomaly Commission in Illusion Town, set inside Clement Academy.
You must invite 8 Wandering Puppets by completing their unique mini-games — all at night between 8 PM and 6 AM.
Before hunting puppets, complete three prep tasks: wake all 5 Peepys, get the Empathy Eye Drops, and collect the Cheese Camera.
Enter the school by jumping the back fence — the main entrance is blocked.
Do not fire the Cheese Camera early. It is a one-use tool and will break the quest if used at the wrong moment.
After inviting all 8 puppets, head to the Auditorium to finish the commission.

Table of Contents

What Is the Lonely Player Anomaly Commission in NTE?

Lonely Player is an Anomaly Commission in Neverness to Everness set in Illusion Town — the high school district inside Hethereau. It takes place at Clement Academy, a school packed with hidden anomalies that only appear after dark.

This is the longest and most layered anomaly in Illusion Town. It chains together five Peepy cracks, a recollection puzzle, a piano sequence, and eight different Wandering Puppet encounters, each with its own mini-game. The whole thing depends on a key item called the Cheese Camera. Do the steps in the wrong order or fire the camera too early, and the quest can stall entirely.

Take it step by step, follow the sequence, and it all falls into place.

How To Start the Lonely Player Anomaly Commission

Open your Anomaly Commission menu from the world map. Find Lonely Player listed under Illusion Town and press Track Anomaly. The map pins a pink zone around Clement Academy.

Set your in-game clock to morning — around 08:00 — before you arrive. Most NPC triggers and prep tasks only activate during the daytime window between 07:00 and 17:00. Puppet hunting happens at night, but the setup work comes first.

Do not enter through the school’s front gate. The teacher will turn you away. Walk around to the back of the campus and jump over the fence to enter the courtyard. That is the only way in.

Prep Task 1 – Wake All 5 Peepys

Before you can access the full quest, you need to wake Peepy at five different wall cracks around the school grounds. Each crack looks like a thin opening in a wall that appears to “breathe.” Walk up to each one and choose Knock three times. Peepy will appear and you can skip the dialogue between visits.

Crack 1: Just inside the school grounds after you jump the back fence. Look for it on the brick wall near the back exit.
Crack 2: Behind the row of vending machines next to the running track.
Crack 3: On the wall bordering the track-and-field area, close to the basketball court.
Crack 4: Further along the school perimeter on a wall with a large hole in it.
Crack 5: On the rooftop. Climb the school building and hop across the air-conditioning units and water tanks to reach the brick chimney structure at the top.

Waking all five Peepys is important later — Peepy will help you solve the cup-and-ball puzzle in the Cooking Class puppet encounter. If you skip this step, you will have to track the ball yourself without help. You can read more about Peepy in the Peepy Sunglasses and all Peepy locations guide.

Prep Task 2 – Get the Empathy Eye Drops

Head to the field and find the Student Who Lost Their Diary. Talk to her. She needs help locating her diary using a special item called Empathy Eye Drops.

To find the diary, look toward the row of buildings and take the road to the right of the building with the stairs. Follow it to a small garden with trees. On a bench inside the garden, you will find the Lost Diary. Pick it up.

Do not leave immediately. Change the in-game time to past 8 PM (20:00) to trigger nighttime. A Wandering Puppet will appear near the tree in the garden — this is the Garden Puppet, your very first encounter. When you approach it, it goes invisible.

To catch the Garden Puppet, you have three options:

Stand completely still and wait for the puppet to walk into you.
Watch the floor for footprint imprints showing where it is moving.
Turn up your volume and follow the sound of the footsteps — the loudest area is where the puppet is.

Once you are close enough, press the Invite Puppet button. Then return the diary to the student. She gives you the Empathy Eye Drops as a thank-you. This item lets you see from the perspective of invisible puppets — you will need it for the Gym Puppet encounter.

Prep Task 3 – Get the Cheese Camera

Getting the Cheese Camera takes three separate meetings with the Occult Club Student across different times of day. The full walkthrough for this is covered in the Occult Club Student location and right answer guide, but here is the short version:

Go to the Occult Clubroom (look for the large purple rug) and speak to the student. Select About Cheese.
Advance to around 19:00 and meet him on the school rooftop.
Wait until the next morning and meet him at the basketball court. Answer his final question correctly, and he hands over the Cheese Camera.

Equip the Cheese Camera from your inventory right away, but do not press the trigger yet. It is a one-use item. Firing it before a puppet is on screen will desync the encounter and freeze your quest progress. If you do accidentally use it too early, walk to the school lockers and wait — the puppet will eventually reset and you can continue without restarting from the beginning.

Also Get The Guide Item

Before hunting puppets, you also need to collect The Guide — a floating finger anomaly near the track field. Here is how:

Find the Troubled Student near the track. She is standing close to The Guide object and wants directions to the Occult Club. Choose I’ll show you the way.
Walk slowly so she keeps pace. Lead her into the school and up to the Occult Clubroom on the first floor.
Return to the track and speak to The Guide again. Choose the Lost Student dialogue option to claim the item and equip it.
With The Guide equipped, approach the Student Who Lost Their Diary again. Use the recollection mechanic — when you see a chalkboard and a doll covering its face, tell her: “I don’t see the diary, but there seems to be a doll that keeps covering its face.” The next vision shows a circular planter with a wooden bench — confirm with “I see it!” to complete this step.

All 8 Wandering Puppet Locations in NTE

Puppets only appear between 8 PM and 6 AM. If a puzzle fails or a puppet does not show up, check the time first. Change to 8 PM and try again.

Puppet 1 – Garden Puppet

Location: Small garden near the building with stairs, accessed via the road to the right of that building.

The puppet is invisible. It wanders around the garden near the bench where you found the diary. Stand still, watch for footprints on the ground, or listen for footstep sounds to track it. When it bumps into you or you close in, press Invite Puppet. This one comes before you even have the Empathy Eye Drops — you just need patience.

Puppet 2 – Gym Puppet

Location: Gym building, accessed from the furthest door near the Student Who Lost Their Diary’s position. Five puppets cluster by the door when you arrive — that is how you know it is the right entrance.

When you try to enter, an invisible barrier blocks the way. Attack it to reveal a puppet. The goal here is to find all the invisible puppets hidden around the gym using your Empathy Eye Drops. Equip the eye drops and use them to switch to the puppet’s perspective and locate them. There are puppets at these spots inside the gym:

Near the basketball trolleys (two puppets)
By the exit door (one puppet)
On the upper ledge overlooking the court (one puppet)
On the stage (two puppets)

Use the eye drops each time you need to locate a hidden puppet. Once you have found and invited the gym puppet, exit and move on.

Puppet 3 – Running Track Puppet

Location: Running track outside the school.

This is a racing challenge. Find the puppet at the track and press Start Race. The goal is to keep the puppet inside your camera frame for the entire race. If you look away or the puppet leaves your view, it will immediately teleport to the finish line and win. This is about camera control, not speed — keep the puppet in frame from start to finish and you win the race.

Puppet 4 – Basketball Court Puppet

Location: Basketball court, southwest of the runner’s start point.

This is the easiest puppet encounter. The puppet floats around the basketball court. You do not need to chase it. Just be patient and wait until it drifts into the space between the two fields. Once it is in position, press Invite Puppet. No special tools needed here.

Puppet 5 – Hallway Puppet

Location: Hallway in the school building, accessed from the door near the Student Who Lost Their Diary’s location.

This is where the Cheese Camera is used. When you reach the doorway, you can see a puppet in the distance. As you walk closer, the puppet collapses and disappears. You will get knocked back repeatedly by a strong invisible wind force in the hallway — this is the puppet moving at high speed.

When you are at the doorway and the wind is pushing you, use the Cheese Camera. It freezes time around the puppet, stops the wind, and makes the puppet visible and catchable. You only get one shot. Interact with the revealed puppet to invite it.

Puppet 6 – Music Room Puppet

Location: 3F of the school building, next to the stairs — look for the music room on the third floor.

Find the puppet near the music room and interact with it. To unlock the next area, go to the pillar next to the piano. It plays a short melody. You must repeat the same notes back in the correct order on the piano. Listen to the full sequence before you start pressing anything. The tune is fixed for each session, so take a moment to memorize it. Once you replay it correctly, the next door opens. If the puzzle breaks due to timing, change to 8 PM and redo from the first note.

Puppet 7 – Classroom Puppet

Location: Building to the southeast, accessed from the school hallway.

As you approach this puppet, it keeps moving and disappearing. Follow it into the classroom at the end of the hallway. Go through the door at the back to change rooms. Each time you go through the back door, the class changes and a puppet appears somewhere different inside. Here is the sequence:

First room: puppet on the table. Interact with it.
Use the door to switch class again. Puppet is on the cabinet. Pick it up.
Switch class again. Open the locker in the corner. Puppet is inside.
Switch class again. Puppet is hidden behind a vase. Attack the vase to break it and claim the puppet.
Go through the back door one more time to reach a storage room.

Puppet 8 – Cooking Class Puppet

Location: Northwest building, 3F — the cooking class.

This puppet challenges you to a cup-and-ball game. Three cups shuffle and hide a ball. You need to track which cup hides it. You can try to follow the cups yourself — or, if you woke all five Peepys earlier, you can ask Peepy for help. Peepy will tell you exactly which cup holds the ball without you having to track the shuffle yourself. This is why the Peepy prep step matters. Pick the right cup and invite the puppet to finish this encounter.

Final Step – The Auditorium Puppet

After inviting all eight Wandering Puppets, head to the Auditorium. A Wandering Puppet is on the stage. Walk in and observe it. It will move around the audience chairs. Wait until it stops moving and settles into a chair, then approach it slowly. Interact with the final puppet to complete the Lonely Player Anomaly Commission. The commission clears from your active list and your rewards arrive in your inventory.

Tips for the Lonely Player Commission

Do all prep before hunting puppets. Wake all five Peepys, get the Empathy Eye Drops, and collect the Cheese Camera first. Skipping any of these makes later puzzles much harder.
Never fire the Cheese Camera early. Wait until the hallway puppet encounter. If you accidentally use it, stand at the school lockers and wait for the puppet to reset before continuing.
All puppets are night-only. They only appear between 8 PM and 6 AM. If a puppet or puzzle is not working, check the time and adjust it if needed.
Listen during the piano puzzle. The melody plays in full before you can repeat it. Do not start pressing keys until you have heard the whole sequence.
Peepy makes the cooking class easy. If you knocked on all five cracks and woke all the Peepys, the cup-and-ball puzzle is solved for you. Skip the stressful tracking and just ask Peepy.
The race is about your camera, not your speed. During the track puppet race, keep the puppet inside your camera frame. Losing sight instantly ends the race in the puppet’s favor.

More NTE Guides

Where To Play NTE

Neverness to Everness is available on PC, Android, and PlayStation. Download it on Android through the Google Play Store or get it on console through the PlayStation Store.

Final Thoughts

The Lonely Player Anomaly Commission is one of the best quests in NTE. It is long, layered, and full of variety — invisible puppet tracking, a camera timing challenge, a piano puzzle, a classroom that keeps shifting, and a final quiet moment in the Auditorium. Do the prep work first, keep the Cheese Camera safe until the hallway encounter, and tackle each puppet one at a time. Work through it all and you will walk away with one of the most memorable quest completions in Illusion Town.