After months of silence following its reveal at The Game Awards, Thekla’s Order of the Sinking Star has resurfaced with a new trailer. Director Jonathan Blow also confirmed that it would be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 alongside PC when it launches this year.
In a press release, he said, “We’re very happy to bring Order of the Sinking Star to Nintendo Switch 2. The game is huge and has many, many puzzles, so Switch 2’s portability is really nice here; you can just pick it up and play it in short bursts or really dive in for a long time.”
But what is Order of the Sinking Star? On the surface, this seems like an overhead adventure with lots and lots of puzzles – more than a thousand, according to Blow. However, it actually comprises four “sub-games” – The Hearty Heroes of Hauling, The Mirror Isles, Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes, and The Promise – each with different characters and mechanics.
For example, Hearty Heroes focuses on a Wizard, Bard, Cleric, Thief, Druid, and Warrior who run a moving company and “run into trouble.” Each has unique abilities – the Thief can pull objects while the Warrior can push them. The Mirror Isles, on the other hand, focuses on a trader who can swap with his reflection in this mysterious archipelago.
You can play these sub-games in any order, experiencing the ups and downs of each prospective journey. Things take a turn, however, when these characters meet each other, and levels start combining, requiring intuitive use of their abilities (like mirroring a fire dragon). The titular Order of the Sinking Star is responsible for this, and it’s up to you to discover why.
Order of the Sinking Star doesn’t have a release date, but it looks to be one of the most ambitious puzzle games yet, which is saying something in a post-Blue Prince world. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.
