Order of the Sinking Star by creator of Braid gets October release date announcement

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Arc Games and Thekla have announced that Order of the Sinking Star, a new adventure and puzzle game directed by Jonathan Blow, will launch on October 8. Blow is known for developing Braid and The Witness. The upcoming title marks the culmination of nearly a decade of development, which began after the release of The Witness in 2016. Order of the Sinking Star combines a narrative adventure with extensive puzzle challenges. The game introduces various mechanics that gradually increase in complexity as players explore its worlds and uncover its characters. Arc Games states that the title will feature over one thousand handcrafted puzzles, dozens of distinct mechanics, and hundreds of hours of content. Its nonlinear structure allows players to set aside difficult puzzles and explore other regions before returning to them.

The ambitious scale of the project is partly due to a collaboration with several puzzle game specialists. These include Alan Hazelden (Skipping Stones, Lonely Homes, Mirror Isles), Sean Barrett (Promesst), Jonah Ostroff (Heroes of Sokoban), Zach Polansky (Enigmash), Patrick Traynor (Patrick’s Parabox), and Marc Ten Bosch (Miegakure). Blow described this approach as a “game design collider,” where ideas from different developers merge to create new interaction possibilities. Thekla’s founder emphasized that this collaboration was essential for pushing the project beyond what a traditional development approach could achieve. In Order of the Sinking Star, players control a group of heroes, each possessing unique abilities. Initially, different mechanics are presented individually, but they later interact, allowing for the combination of rules, skills, and systems from various worlds into more complex challenges. This game distinguishes itself from The Witness through its adventure structure and the way puzzles are integrated into the game world. Instead of presenting primarily abstract challenges, Order of the Sinking Star offers an experience where exploration, characters, and puzzle-solving form a coherent framework.

Steam Deck Compatible Puzzle Adventure Order of the Sinking Star Arrives October 8 for Multiple Platforms

A demo for the PC version is currently available on Steam. Progress made in the demo will carry over to the full release, allowing players to continue their adventure without restarting. The demo was also among the most played titles during a recent Steam Next Fest. The PC version of Order of the Sinking Star is compatible with Steam Deck. The game features over 1,000 handcrafted puzzles across four interconnected regions, offering hundreds of hours of gameplay. Players can control specific characters, including a queen, a thief, a warrior, a wizard, and a talking boat, whose abilities intersect when they meet or when areas connect. Each of the four game areas has its own unique rules, hazards, and puzzle concepts tied to their respective characters. A larger narrative connects these regions through professionally voiced narration and cryptic notes discovered during exploration. During development, design contributions also came from Blow’s Twitch followers. Order of the Sinking Star will launch on October 8 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.

In Case You Missed It

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