Order of the Sinking Star
Shares rank 6 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
People praise its deep, simple puzzle mechanics and polish, though it is very long and slow-paced, and critics find it repetitive and its story hard to follow.
People praise its deep, simple puzzle mechanics and polish, though it is very long and slow-paced, and critics find it repetitive and its story hard to follow.
37 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Deep puzzles from simple mechanics
“This trumps every other game in the genre. Beautifully simple concepts that compose into deep, comprehensive puzzles.”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Order of the Sinking Star” “it's more about how many interesting permutations there are, not really just about length or quantity”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “elevates the mechanic in complexity and feels like a very satisfying moment”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” - Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds”
Polished and fun to play
“The game is not for me... but god damn it's polished”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “Very polished game, and fun.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” - Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)”
Good value for its length
“I'm positively surprised with the price, most just-released games these days are pushing $100 USD.”
Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “30 hours of great gameplay for 30 bucks”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “I'm treating it as a casual game that I pick up and play a bit at a time, so the length is a plus”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” Teaches new methods without guides
“introduce and teach new methods without needing an external guide”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “if I stop playing for more than a couple of days I'll forget half the stuff I learned”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Long and slow to get going
“Being really long or having a huge completion time for the sake of it seems like a big step backwards”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “It just asks the player to slow down and listen for just an hour.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “It's waaaay too slow to do anything difficult.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” Puzzles become repetitive over time
“after that, it starts feeling much more repetitive. Smaller ideas are stretched much further”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “it doesn't remain satisfying or engaging for very long, it just becomes repetitive”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “You just repeat the same type of puzzle over and over.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” Story and themes revealed too late
“it didn't really saying anything insightful about the themes and also didn't even hint at them until you're 30+ hours in”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “he doesn't do it in a way that makes you feel like you're learning anything until the very end”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” Feels like a chore to play
“make the large amount of content feel more like ongoing fun than a huge homework assignment”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “It only tests a player's desire to sit through your bullshit.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” “The point I'm making the game doesn't respect my time.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Braid | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Order of the Sinking StarThis page | 25 | 12 | 68% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 49 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The reviews on Steam are Overwhelimgly Positive and sales have so far significantly exceeded expectations.”
“Most recently, I'm loving Order of the Sinking Star”
“I'm positively surprised with the price, most just-released games these days are pushing $100 USD.”
“it didn't really saying anything insightful about the themes and also didn't even hint at them until you're 30+ hours in”
“The 5v5 FPS zones in the mid-late-gate areas mix up the pace at the right times IMO.”
“It just asks the player to slow down and listen for just an hour.”
“It only tests a player's desire to sit through your bullshit.”
“you can't get really clever with block manipulation”
“I'm treating it as a casual game that I pick up and play a bit at a time, so the length is a plus”
“I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far.”
“How did he program the [redacted]s to be so... adorable?”
“Very polished game, and fun.”
“The game is great, and so far much more doable without spoilers than The Witness”
“The point I'm making the game doesn't respect my time.”
“introduce and teach new methods without needing an external guide”
“I played the demo and it blew my mind how cool the puzzles felt.”
“make the large amount of content feel more like ongoing fun than a huge homework assignment”
“if I stop playing for more than a couple of days I'll forget half the stuff I learned”
“30 hours of great gameplay for 30 bucks”
“he doesn't do it in a way that makes you feel like you're learning anything until the very end”
“The game is not for me... but god damn it's polished”
“I'll play for about five hours at once. Great game.”
“It's waaaay too slow to do anything difficult.”
“It's that size because it's that complex.”
“it's more about how many interesting permutations there are, not really just about length or quantity”
“This game has an absolute hold on me.”
“Being really long or having a huge completion time for the sake of it seems like a big step backwards”
“momentum has been solid for the past ~20 hours”
“getting into the deeper AxB areas is still interesting”
“after that, it starts feeling much more repetitive. Smaller ideas are stretched much further”
“elevates the mechanic in complexity and feels like a very satisfying moment”
“it doesn't remain satisfying or engaging for very long, it just becomes repetitive”
“that's a good thing, it means the puzzles are challenging”
“the puzzle design is simply amazing”
“I think the game is deeply rewarding and fantastic, as long as you understand you're signing up for a slow burn.”
“You just repeat the same type of puzzle over and over.”
“This trumps every other game in the genre. Beautifully simple concepts that compose into deep, comprehensive puzzles.”
“I've just played it for a couple of hours today - it is very good.”
“the Order of the Sinking Star demo was a lot of fun”
“seems to not be able to hide anything by nature of it being very clearly a Sokoban-like”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.