Re:'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and ex...
by npinsker on Friday October 16, 2026 @07:51PM
(#50126331)
There are large mechanical surprises similar to typical grid-based puzzle games on the market nowadays, but no, nothing "like that".
That said -- like The Witness, OotSS also reaches for a message beyond just its mechanics. In this case, it focuses on how a small number of mechanics interacting can produce a combinatorial explosion of situations; the role of the puzzle designer in surfacing "interesting" situations; the relationship between designer and player; and the way we pass an understanding of design on to the next generation.
I appreciate the attempt, but I thought it fell far short of The Witness; it didn't really saying anything insightful about the themes and also didn't even hint at them until you're 30+ hours in.
That said -- like The Witness, OotSS also reaches for a message beyond just its mechanics. In this case, it focuses on how a small number of mechanics interacting can produce a combinatorial explosion of situations; the role of the puzzle designer in surfacing "interesting" situations; the relationship between designer and player; and the way we pass an understanding of design on to the next generation.
I appreciate the attempt, but I thought it fell far short of The Witness; it didn't really saying anything insightful about the themes and also didn't even hint at them until you're 30+ hours in.