Order of the Sinking Star launches to glowing reviews

Order of the Sinking Star is out today, Thursday 8 October, a decade after The Witness, and it’s the biggest thing Jonathan Blow has ever made. More than a thousand hand-built puzzles, four worlds and five heroes, one of them a talking boat: on paper, it’s a mountain to climb. The first reviews landed yesterday and the game sits at 87 on Metacritic. Critics are close to unanimous about the quality of the puzzles, though several warn that it asks a lot of your patience, and that’s what will decide whether it’s for you.

At a glance

Order of the Sinking Star marks Jonathan Blow’s return

Jonathan Blow made his name with Braid in 2008 and The Witness in 2016, two puzzle games that became landmarks of the indie scene. His third project comes from his own studio, Thekla, with Arc Games publishing. On Order of the Sinking Star’s Steam page, the studio promises over a thousand interconnected puzzles, playable heroes to discover and a grand mystery to unravel.

At its heart, this is Sokoban, the old formula where you shove blocks around a grid to clear a path. Each of the four worlds brings its own rules and its own hero: a queen, a thief, a warrior, a wizard and a boat that can talk, according to the announcement covered by Worthplaying, which laid out the game’s price and cast. As you progress, the worlds start to merge and their mechanics end up sharing the same puzzles.

Blow set the price of Order of the Sinking Star himself at $29.99, which is modest for a game of this size. It’s available today on PC through Steam, on PS5 and on Switch 2. If you’re after another indie release that critics have warmed to this week, our piece on the first Silver Pines reviews covers Team17’s horror metroidvania.

Critics are almost unanimous about the puzzles

On the Metacritic page collecting Order of the Sinking Star reviews, the PC version carries a Metascore of 87. All nine scored PC reviews are rated positive, with not one mixed verdict among them.

Shacknews and Noisy Pixel both give Order of the Sinking Star 100. Shacknews calls it a masterpiece whose puzzles are “perfectly designed to make you feel spectacularly stupid and then phenomenally smart”, and the ultimate Sokoban experience. Screen Rant gives it 90 and already counts it as a game of the year contender. Vandal, also on 90, describes a massive, generous work full of discoveries.

What comes through in nearly every review is how the game keeps reinventing its rules while sticking to a single starting idea. SteamDeckHQ, another 90, praises mechanics that keep evolving from the same core concept. Hardcore Gamer, which scores it 80, calls it one of the most fascinating games of the year.

Difficulty, story and no hints: the reservations

The 80s add some nuance. GameSpot feels the game would have worked better with a tighter selection from its huge pile of puzzles, though it sees the odd frustration as a fair price for so many good ideas. Gameliner regrets the complete absence of hints, which could put off more casual puzzle fans. Even Noisy Pixel, despite its perfect score, admits that long stretches of being stuck can wear you down.

When it comes to the story, Hardcore Gamer points to weaknesses, and DualShockers feels the storytelling and the length don’t always land. On PS5, Push Square headlined its review with the weariness this enormous collection of puzzles left it with, while Nintendo Life, playing on Switch 2, found it intense, sometimes gruelling and always inventive. Polygon, for its part, published unscored impressions that question how well Blow’s ideas hold up.

If you loved The Witness or Baba Is You, Order of the Sinking Star looks like the big one not to miss this autumn. If you prefer a puzzle game that guides you along, it’s worth reading the reviews closely before you buy. Either way, set aside plenty of time, as Hardcore Gamer reckons it takes an incredible amount of it to see through.