Some puzzle games teach you a rule, test whether you’ve understood it, and move on. Order of the Sinking Star takes a much bigger gamble: it keeps introducing ideas, then finds ways to make them interact in ways you probably didn’t expect. Created by Thekla, Inc., the studio led by Jonathan Blow of Braid and The Witness fame, this sprawling adventure contains more than 1,000 handcrafted puzzles spread across four distinct worlds. Each has its own characters, mechanics, and secrets, but the real surprises come when their systems begin to overlap.
The official Order of the Sinking Star Discord is a natural gathering place for people getting to grips with the game’s many layers. One puzzle might look straightforward until you discover that an ability or rule from another part of the world changes everything. Talking through these moments with other players can be just as interesting as solving them alone, especially when someone spots a possibility you completely overlooked. The community also gives players a place to follow announcements and news from the development team.
With so many interconnected challenges, there’s no single route through the experience that everyone will follow. You might spend an evening wrestling with one stubborn puzzle, leave it alone, and return later with a fresh idea. Other players may have taken a completely different path or discovered a mechanic you haven’t encountered yet. Discussing approaches, comparing discoveries, and exchanging carefully considered hints can help without taking away the satisfaction of figuring things out yourself.
The cast gives the adventure another reason to keep going. Queens, thieves, warriors, wizards, and other unlikely heroes bring their own abilities and stories into a world where seemingly separate events gradually connect. As the boundaries between the four worlds begin to blur, puzzle solutions and narrative discoveries start informing each other. That makes theories about the setting, character motivations, and the larger mystery just as worthwhile as discussions about the mechanics.
If you’re playing Order of the Sinking Star, the official Discord offers a place to share those hard-earned breakthroughs and keep up with the people making the game. Whether you’re hunting for a subtle clue, comparing solutions to a particularly devious challenge, or trying to piece together the story, there’s always another detail to discuss. Just be mindful of spoilers: in a game built around discovery, knowing the answer too soon can ruin the best part.
