A puzzle game about moving stuff in two dimensions doesn’t exactly sound complex. However, there are many ways to move things. You can push them, pull them, or teleport them, and seamlessly combining these movements into a beautiful mind game is what makes Order of the Sinking Star one of the best puzzle games to date.
It’s a puzzle-based game where you move primarily navigate your way to its instanced maps and an overworld by moving rocks out of the way and teleporting, though sometimes you also have to finesse your way through enemies.
At first glance, Order of the Sinking Star appears simple, but it quickly blossoms into a pleasant and sometimes funny challenge even for the most seasoned and patient gamers. And just when you thought that it’s out of tricks and aces, out comes another stacked hand, and what you initially thought was checkers can quickly turn into 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel, relatively speaking.
Logic Meets Art
Don’t get me wrong, though: Order of the Sinking Star being a puzzle game doesn’t diminish its flair for storytelling one bit. It follows a curious tale of a puzzled protagonist (no pun intended) who must solve the mysteries and problems of four separate realities, but true to its genre, you’ll have to piece the story together through dialog.
This kind of narrative structure is a clever way to provide some icebreakers for the game’s puzzles, as each puzzle includes banter among the game’s several characters, each with their own different powers or capabilities tailored to solving the puzzles of their specific realm.
Various Ways to Move Rocks
Order of the Sinking Star divides its overworld into quadrants or worlds, each more complex than the last. All four are somehow interconnected. And you can eventually interlink the characters of the four worlds to utilize their different abilities in a way that lets you solve increasingly intricate puzzles.
In one of the realms, for example, you get a character who can push, a character who can only pull, and a character who can teleport, and you can eventually yank them out of that world to help another character who can travel through mirrors or use skipping stones to traverse waters.
And while you might have to solve a thousand puzzles across all four realms, the often staggering number of systems at play here ensures that it never gets old.
The Bigger Picture
Speaking of staggering, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by the game’s ambition and what it actually achieves. Each of the four worlds is often interesting and layered enough to stand out as its own puzzle game, but Order of the Sinking Star does the unthinkable and manages to combine all four of them in a working condition.
Order of the Sinking Star thus puts many AAA games to shame with just how much it gives to its players and how well it executes its own ambition. It’s packed with so many features and content, none of which feels like filler or fat, so to speak.
Not for the Impatient
Of course, being an indie game, it’s not fair to expect that same level of hand-holding and thoughtful tutorials as the more mainstream games. Oftentimes, you’ll have to figure things out for yourself, and some of the puzzle mechanics can feel obscure or lack directions in the opening hours of the game.
Once everything clicks, though, you’ll end up feeling like a genius, and there are many rewarding moments like this in Order of the Sinking Star, which makes the game doubly rewarding given how it also gives you progression and unveils the story after each puzzle.
The New Standard for Puzzle Games?
Order of the Sinking Star is no doubt one of the best puzzle games I’ve played this generation, and has redefined the genre for me. It has proven that puzzles need not be dry or feel bureaucratic; a bit of story and artistic flair goes a long way in making them engaging.
Paired with how it graciously pieces together four essentially complete games into one mind-bending package, well, it’s hard to go back to other puzzle games or video game puzzles for me. What Thekla, Inc. and Arc Games did for Order of the Sinking Star is something developers need to study, and mainstream gaming ought to take notes.
Order of the Sinking Star (PC Review)
Order of the Sinking Star has a rough start depending on where you choose to go, but it's a rewarding mental experience that doesn't slow down with its surprises.
Pros
- Impressive scope and ambition
- Interesting characters and stories
- Highly rewarding gameplay
Cons
- Some tutorials are lacking
