Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles for you
Back in 2016, after six-and-a-half years spent working on puzzle-adventure opus The Witness, Jonathan Blow says he needed a break. He tells Ars that the project he started in The Witness'wake was meant to serve as a quick proof of concept for a new engine and programming language he was working on. It was supposed to be a short game," that could be finished in like a year and a half or two years," he said.
Now, after nine years of development-and his fair share of outspoken, controversial statements-Blow is finally approaching the finish line on that short game." He said Order of the Sinking Star-which was announced Thursday via a Game Awards trailer ahead of a planned 2026 release-now encompasses around 1,400 individual puzzles that could take completionists 400 to 500 hours to fully conquer.
Jonathan Blow, seen here probably thinking about puzzles. Credit: Thekla, Inc. I don't know why I convinced myself it was going to be a small game," Blow told me while demonstrating a preview build to Ars last week. But once we start things, I just want to do the good version of the thing, right? I always make it as good as it can be."