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Order of the Sinking Star is an ambitious puzzle adventure directed by Jonathan Blow, but calling it a masterpiece would be premature: Steam lists October 8, 2026 as its planned PC release, and no full-game review or hands-on assessment is available here. Its advertised scale is striking—more than 1,000 interconnected puzzles across four worlds—but those are the developers’ claims, not independently verified results.
What is Order of the Sinking Star?
Order of the Sinking Star is a puzzle adventure developed by Thekla, Inc., directed by Jonathan Blow, and published by Arc Games and Gamirror Games, according to its Steam listing. The game is built around four distinct worlds, each with its own characters, dangers, and puzzle rules. The advertised design has players learn mechanics, see them evolve, and eventually encounter combinations that connect systems from different worlds.
Steam describes the world as containing more than 1,000 interconnected, hand-crafted puzzles. That is the game’s stated count; no independent tally is established. Its story is meant to emerge through play and notes found in the environment rather than being presented only as a separate narrative.
What are the puzzle systems based on?
The game draws on several earlier puzzle designs, then says it combines their systems in new ways. The foundations named on Steam are:
#1 Best Overall
- Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes and Mirror Isles by Alan Hazelden.
- Promesst 1–3 by Sean Barrett.
- Heroes of Sokoban (1, 2, and 3) by Jonah Ostroff.
The listing also credits design contributions from Zach Polansky (Enigmash), Patrick Traynor (Patrick’s Parabox), Marc ten Bosch (Miegakure), and others. The official listing calls the project a “game design supercollider”; that is promotional language, not evidence of critical consensus or puzzle quality.
How long is Order of the Sinking Star?
Jonathan Blow estimated that a typical completionist might spend around 500 hours, while stressing that this is “not a promise of any kind.” This is a developer estimate quoted in a PC Gamer pre-release preview, not a measured average or guaranteed playtime.
Rank #2
- Order Up: In this frantic tossing, fish flopping, order filling game, it's your team of fish mongers against the clock to fill orders by flipping cards and tossing the electronic fish back and forth.
- Flopping Fish Timer: Keep track of your time in each round with the wobbly fish timer that plays sound and flops around as you throw it between players!
- Fun, Cooperative Play: This cooperative game is perfect for your next family game night or group gathering as you play together to try and beat your score and climb the levels to Master Fishmonger! For 2-6 players ages 8 and up!
- 3 Levels: Once your team has mastered Level 1, there are 2 more levels of play, each with more fish, more orders, and more disruptions to try and beat the clock!
- Easy, Quick Play: With easy-to-follow setup instructions for each level of play, Order Up! Fish Market is quick and fun to play, so you can test your skills again and again to improve your score and try to beat level 3!
The preview also says players do not have to solve every puzzle to reach the endgame. It describes an explorable overworld, with fog clearing as puzzles and stages are completed, and more complex combinations as worlds meet. The reporter saw a short, hands-off demonstration, so these details should not be mistaken for a full-game review or an independent completion-time test.
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Can you finish it without solving every puzzle?
According to the pre-release preview, yes: solving every puzzle is not required to reach the endgame. The described overworld allows exploration in a chosen order, with completed puzzles and stages clearing fog. That suggests a less linear route than a sequence of mandatory levels, although the preview does not establish exactly which puzzles are required or how progression works in every part of the finished game.
When does it launch, and what platforms are announced?
Steam lists October 8, 2026 as the planned Windows PC release date. The official website announces Steam, Nintendo Switch 2, and PlayStation 5; Steam’s announcement also references Steam Deck. These are announced platforms, not confirmation of each storefront’s live release state. Check the relevant store for current availability before buying.
What PC specifications does Steam list?
Steam lists the following Windows PC requirements. The store page can change, so check its live listing before relying on these specifications.
Rank #4
- FUN and fast-paced board game that will have players strategising and sabotaging. Sinking City can be enjoyed all year round and is a must-have addition to games collections for school summer holidays or cosy winter nights.
- PLAYERS : 2+6 or teams
- AGES: 13+
- CONTENTS: Game Board, Instructions, 1 x Wooden Die, 6 x Playing Pieces, tokens, tiles, cards
- Let the games continue, this product has been designed to keep , please enjoy, replay, and give away for further play
| Specification | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | 64-bit Windows 10 or later, with latest update | Not stated on Steam |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen R5 1600 | Intel Core i5-9600K or AMD Ryzen R5 3600 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Ti, AMD Radeon RX 580, or Intel Arc A380 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2070 Ti, AMD Radeon RX 5700, or Intel Arc B5700 |
| DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Available storage | 14 GB | 14 GB |
The Windows requirements above are transcribed as Steam displays them; they do not establish how the released game performs on any particular system.
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That verdict is not supportable before the stated launch. The concept promises extraordinary scale and systems that combine across four worlds, but a large puzzle count and an ambitious design description do not establish how well the finished game teaches its rules, handles progression, or sustains its puzzles. No full-game user reviews were shown on Steam at the time of the pre-release briefing, and no hands-on test or independent completion-time measurement is established.
Best Value
For now, the best-supported conclusion is that Order of the Sinking Star is a highly ambitious upcoming puzzle adventure, not a confirmed masterpiece. Players deciding whether to follow it should consider whether they enjoy nonlinear exploration, experimentation, revisiting puzzle spaces, and a potentially very long completionist challenge. A quality or value recommendation should wait for the released game and substantive reviews.
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