Order of the Sinking Star (image via GameSpot / Thekla / Arc Games)
Reviews are in for Order of the Sinking Star, Jonathan Blow’s first big new game since The Witness in 2016 (he also made Braid), developed by his studio Thekla. It launches Thursday, October 8 on PS5, Switch 2, and PC, published by Arc Games. It’s a huge top-down block-pushing adventure with more than 1,000 puzzles across four worlds. Each world builds on an existing Sokoban-style game (Heroes of Sokoban, Mirror Isles, Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes, and Promesst), with those games’ creators designing levels, and later on the mechanics start mixing together. Critics mostly agree the puzzle design is brilliant. Where they split is the sheer size, the lack of a hint system, and the story and dialogue, and several reviewers flag performance problems on Switch 2. OpenCritic has it at an 82 Top Critic Average (80% recommend, 15 reviews). Metacritic is at 86 on PC (7 critic reviews), 85 on Switch 2 (5), and 83 on PS5 (6), all Generally Favorable.
- Shacknews — 10/10 (PC) — “Order of the Sinking Star is a masterpiece. Its immaculate, mind-bending puzzles are perfectly designed to make you feel spectacularly stupid and then phenomenally smart.”
Read on Shacknews → - MonsterVine — 5/5 (PS5) — Calls it “one of the best puzzle games I’ve ever played, standing toe-to-toe with the genre greats,” with around 600 puzzles still left to find after dozens of hours.
Read on MonsterVine → - Screen Rant — 9/10 (PC) — “It’s not just a game of the year contender; fall in its clutches, Order of the Sinking Star might also end up the game you simply play the most.”
Read on Screen Rant → - Metro GameCentral — 9/10 (Switch 2) — “An incredible achievement in terms of the volume and quality of puzzles.” The cons it lists are no hint system and dialogue that “can seem very pretentious and distracting.”
Read on Metro → - TechRaptor — 9/10 — “A must have for puzzle gamers, but maybe a second guess for the Switch version for right now.”
Read on TechRaptor → - COGconnected — 88/100 (Switch 2) — “A wonderful kaleidoscope of puzzles” and “an essential title for fans of puzzle adventures.”
Read on COGconnected → - GameSpot — 8/10 (PC) — Nearly 70 hours in, the reviewer says it could have used more curation, but “the occasional frustration and overcomplication is an affordable price of admission to play around with so many fun ideas.”
Read on GameSpot → - DualShockers — 8/10 (PC) — “The most unique puzzle game I’ve ever encountered,” though the story delivery and length don’t always land.
Read on DualShockers → - Nintendo Life — 8/10 (Switch 2) — “A puzzler made for the real sickos who could spend hours grinding down one stage.”
Read on Nintendo Life → - Hardcore Gamer — 4/5 (PC) — “One of the most fascinating games we’ve played all year,” despite some story issues and frustrating puzzles.
Read on Hardcore Gamer → - CGMagazine — 7/10 (Switch 2) — Lots of interesting mechanics, but the block-pushing core “makes the game a bit dull after a while.”
Read on CGMagazine → - WayTooManyGames — 7/10 — Outstanding as a puzzle game, but held back by poor optimization, crashes, and aspect ratio glitches, “most notably when testing on Switch 2.”
Read on WayTooManyGames → - Push Square — 6/10 (PS5) — Cleverly designed and polished, but “it runs out of steam before it gets the chance to really start to flex,” with dull dialogue and no compelling hook.
Read on Push Square → - Polygon — Impressions (unscored) — “I question whether its fragile ideas stand up to scrutiny, and that questioning arguably is the game.”
Read on Polygon →
The Lanbrew take: If you loved The Witness or you’re into Sokoban-style puzzles, critics say this is a must-play with a ridiculous amount of content. Just know there are no hints and it doesn’t hold your hand. Switch 2 owners may want to wait for patches, since several reviews call out performance and stability issues on that version.
Score tracking:
Roundup compiled Oct 7, 2026 (America/Chicago). Scores and blurbs credit the linked outlets; aggregate scores as of compile time and will move as more reviews land.
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