If you want better dialogue quality
Choose Truckful. It scores 5.0 vs 2.9 for dialogue quality, with a 3.8 overall score.
Order of the Sinking Star Review
Content guidance
Fantasy monsters can kill characters, puzzles include drowning and visible bodies, and the opening premise involves a queen facing execution. Reversible deaths soften failure, but the peril may unsettle younger children.
Official rating
E
Bottom Line
Choose it for inventive block puzzles, deep mechanical combinations, and a long-term challenge. Skip it if you need hints, quick story payoffs, or consistently effortless progress.
Best for
Patient fans of spatial logic and Sokoban puzzles who enjoy learning rules through experimentation. The extensive collection suits players happy to return over many sessions.
Not for
Players seeking action, optional hints, an immediately clear story, or quick completion. Those sensitive to repeated roadblocks may find the scale exhausting.
Verdict
Order of the Sinking Star turns simple block manipulation into an unusually rich network of rules, characters, and discoveries. Its strongest moments arrive when familiar abilities combine in surprising ways, rewarding patient experimentation with genuine breakthroughs. Instant undo, remembered puzzle states, and freedom to explore another region make that experimentation inviting. The tradeoff is an enormous commitment: some players find the constant challenge exhilarating, while others describe fatigue, repetition, or frustrating stalls without optional hints. The fragmented story also divides opinion, becoming an engaging mystery for some and weak motivation for others. Technical results vary, with several clean PC and PS5 experiences alongside troubled Switch 2 tests and occasional handheld stutters. It is most convincing as a lasting project for dedicated puzzle enthusiasts.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
73 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.025 (34%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.429 (40%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.413 (18%)
-
Negative 1.5-2.44 (5%)
-
Very negative below 1.52 (3%)
Pros highlights
-
Most accounts recommend it strongly to dedicated puzzle fans, with several calling it a masterpiece. Fatigue, fragmented storytelling, and uneven technical results keep the recommendation conditional for others.
-
Clever, meticulously constructed puzzles consistently earn high praise, especially when rules collide. Criticism focuses on rejected alternative solutions, weaker regional sets, and occasional overcomplication.
-
Simple pushing, pulling, teleporting, and other abilities grow into richly interwoven systems. Their cross-world interactions are the game’s most widely admired creative strength.
-
Many players describe an absorbing one-more-puzzle loop that keeps them returning. The same prolonged challenge leaves others bored, weary, or frustrated.
-
Four distinct puzzle systems and their combinations create an unusually broad range of challenges. A few players still find prolonged stretches within one region repetitive.
-
Puzzles often teach through carefully staged interactions and increasingly useful lessons. Abrupt complexity, forgotten rules, and understated explanations can still cause confusion.
Cons highlights
-
The layered mystery becomes compelling for some players, especially as worlds and characters connect. Others find it thin, distant, or too fragmented to motivate the lengthy journey.
-
The challenge creates powerful breakthroughs for patient puzzle fans, but can become exhausting or demoralizing. Opinions differ on whether its complexity teaches new thinking or overloads memory and execution.
-
Bite-sized rooms and time controls suit short sessions and reduce waiting. Constant escalation, slow story beats, and long stretches before major revelations can erode momentum.
-
Enjoyable banter and moments of levity coexist with complaints about verbose, stilted, or distracting exchanges. Delivery in small fragments can make context difficult to retain.
-
Some players value being left to discover answers independently. More often, missing optional hints or excessively cryptic clues make difficult roadblocks harder to tolerate.
-
Personable performances and meaningful interactions make the supporting cast memorable for some. Others find their fragmented stories or exchanges insufficiently engaging.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Video Games, this product is above average in marketing accuracy, save system reliability, content variety, near average in overall quality, progression system, below average in platform-specific feature support, writing quality, immersion.
Comparison summary
73 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher35 (48%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts24 (33%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower14 (19%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| platform-specific feature support | 1.0 | 3.6 | -2.6 |
| marketing accuracy | 4.5 | 2.8 | +1.7 |
| save system reliability | 4.5 | 3.0 | +1.5 |
| writing quality | 2.3 | 3.6 | -1.3 |
| content variety | 4.9 | 3.9 | +1.0 |
| puzzle design | 4.7 | 3.7 | +1.0 |
| controls responsiveness | 4.8 | 3.8 | +1.0 |
| immersion | 2.8 | 4.1 | -1.4 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better user interface design
Choose Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. It scores 5.0 vs 2.3 for user interface design, with a 4.4 overall score.
If you want better art direction
Choose Onimusha: Way of the Sword. It scores 4.8 vs 4.4 for art direction, with a 4.1 overall score.
If you want better progression system
Choose SPRAWL zero. It scores 5.0 vs 4.2 for progression system, with a 4.0 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
The Witness
- Similar: audience fit Fans of the earlier logic-puzzle game are expected to feel at home.
- Better: overworld satisfaction The earlier overworld is considered more engaging.
- Worse: navigation accessibility The newer navigation is considered more approachable.
Braid
- Compared: rule teaching The richer vocabulary also creates more opportunities for misunderstanding.
- Better: story appeal The newer game is considered less narratively compelling.
Chip’s Challenge
- Similar: block-and-tile inspiration Early block puzzles share the older game’s basic structure.
- Similar: sliding-block structure The puzzle format evokes the earlier grid-based game.
FAQ
What kind of puzzles does it offer?
Grid-based block puzzles expand through pushing, pulling, teleporting mirrors, skipping stones, and powered beams. Later challenges combine rules learned in separate regions.
Can I move on when I get stuck?
Usually, you can leave a puzzle and explore another region, then return with a fresh perspective. Several accounts still describe occasions when every available route felt blocked.
Are there hints?
The supplied accounts describe no optional hint system or difficulty slider. Introductory puzzles and environmental clues teach the rules, but they do not guarantee help when stuck.
Do mistakes erase progress?
Undo and reset make testing ideas forgiving, and many accounts praise saved puzzle positions. Long connected sections can require extensive repetition after a full reset, and some Switch 2 tests report rewind errors.
Must I solve every puzzle to finish?
No. The accounts describe an initial ending without solving the entire collection, followed by further content and deeper mysteries.
Is the story a major attraction?
Opinions differ: some enjoy the slowly connecting characters and mysteries, while others find the fragments difficult to follow. Missing convenient dialogue and audio-log reference tools is a repeated complaint.
How well does it run on handhelds?
Steam Deck testing generally favors low settings, with occasional stutters and heavier overworld power use. Switch 2 accounts range from strong docked and handheld impressions to significant frame drops, rewind faults, and a docked-display defect.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - GameSpot
- Review score
- 3.8
YouTube - Noisy Pixel
- Review score
- 4.5
YouTube - ThunderStash Gaming
- Review score
- 4.9
Article Reviews
polygon.com
Order of the Sinking Star impresses with intricate puzzle design, but it's also full of contradictions that kneecap its bigger message.
- Review score
- 3.2
nintendolife.com
What a puzzler - Order of the Sinking Star is not for the weak-willed. The latest puzzle adventure from Jonathan Blow (Braid, The Witness)...
- Review score
- 4.2
psu.com
Read our Order of the Sinking Star PS5 review to discover the best PS5 puzzle game in years.
- Review score
- 4.7
gamespot.com
A huge number of smart ideas and great design lead to a lot of fun, fascinating puzzles, but the size of Order of the Sinking Star can make...
- Review score
- 3.8
kotaku.com
Order of the Sinking Star is game of twists and turns
- Review score
- 2.9
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