Order of the Sinking Star
"Your reward for solving a perfect puzzle: another one."
About
From the director of Braid and The Witness, this is a puzzle adventure set in a mysterious realm. Players navigate a large, nonlinear world, solving over a thousand hand-crafted puzzles. The core mechanics evolve as you play, with different regions of the world introducing entirely new rule sets, often compared to Sokoban-style block-pushing challenges. The game is played from a top-down perspective and features multiple playable characters, each tied to the unfolding central mystery.
Verdict
Order of the Sinking Star is a colossal achievement, a puzzle game of staggering scale and ingenuity. Jonathan Blow's team has built a world where every corner holds a new challenge, each one a masterclass in introducing and twisting mechanics. While the overarching story can feel obscure and the interface has some rough edges, these are footnotes in an epic of pure problem-solving. It's a dense, brilliant title that will be studied by designers for years to come.
You'll like it if …
- +You worship at the altar of complex puzzle games like The Witness or Stephen's Sausage Roll.
- +The idea of a single game providing hundreds of hours of brain-teasing content is a huge plus.
- +That 'eureka' flash of insight is the main reason you play games.
You'll dislike it if …
- −You need a strong, clearly-told story to pull you through a long game.
- −Slow, deliberate thinking frustrates you more than it satisfies.
- −A lack of mouse support or a few clunky UI elements are deal-breakers.
Breakdown
- +Exceptional puzzle design delivers consistent, rewarding 'eureka' moments.
- +The nonlinear world allows players to switch between different puzzle areas if they get stuck.
- +A wide variety of mechanics are introduced and evolved, keeping the challenges fresh.
- +Difficulty is well-balanced, challenging players without being unnecessarily obscure.
- −Movement can feel slightly delayed or clunky, a holdover from the game's demo.
- −Some puzzles suffer from a lack of visual clarity due to camera angles or color choices.
- +The sheer scale is immense, with over 1000 puzzles promising hundreds of hours of gameplay.
- +Four major regions function almost as separate games, each with entirely unique mechanics.
- +Puzzles are deeply interconnected, encouraging exploration and backtracking to find solutions.
- −The vast amount of content, while a strength, can feel intimidating to start.
- +Voice acting is generally considered high quality.
- +The mystery unfolds gradually through exploration, appealing to some players.
- −The story is often described as confusing, generic, or difficult to follow.
- −Characters can come across as annoying rather than compelling.
- −Many players find the narrative secondary to the point of ignoring it for the puzzles.
- +A beautiful and colorful art style brings the surreal world to life.
- +The soundtrack and general sound design are well-regarded.
- +Performance is smooth for most players on recommended hardware.
- −The game is surprisingly demanding for a puzzle title.
- −Lacks proper support for ultrawide monitors, resulting in black bars.
- +The overall experience is highly polished, reflecting a long and careful development cycle.
- +Performance and stability are significantly improved from the public demo.
- −The game lacks mouse support, forcing controller or keyboard-only play.
- −The UI for listening to audio logs is clumsy, with no central menu or playback controls.
- −Subtitles do not always indicate which character is speaking.
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