Jonathan Blow’s Order of the Sinking Star — the follow-up to Braid and The Witness, ten years in the making — will have its first-ever playable demo during Steam Next Fest: June Edition, running from June 15 to June 22. Published by Arc Games, the demo offers a meaningful slice of what Blow is calling the most ambitious project of his career: a massive puzzle adventure spanning four interconnected worlds, more than a thousand handcrafted puzzles, and a narrative mystery that unfolds across hundreds of hours of gameplay.
For anyone who has been watching this project since The Witness shipped in 2016, the demo represents the first opportunity to actually play it — and Blow is treating it accordingly. Rather than a lightweight teaser, the Steam Next Fest demo is described as delivering genuine challenge, surprise, and enough of the overarching mystery to spark theories. Blow is also running a Twitch livestream today (June 10 at 10am PT) as a preview of the demo ahead of Next Fest.
What Is Order of the Sinking Star?
Order of the Sinking Star is the largest game Jonathan Blow has designed — a scope that puts it in a different category from both Braid’s tight 2D platformer structure and The Witness’s single-island puzzle concentration. It places players in a realm of curious magic, dangerous contraptions, and vicious monsters, spanning four distinct worlds each with their own mechanics, characters, and stories. As the worlds converge and characters begin to meet across the boundaries between them, the puzzle systems themselves intertwine — creating possibilities that didn’t exist when each world was separate.
The scale is substantial enough to require active management: you can come and go between worlds as you see fit, revisit earlier areas with new abilities or knowledge, and work at your own pace. The more than a thousand handcrafted puzzles are designed to build on each other, with each new mechanic introduced building on those that came before rather than standing independently. It is, in the most literal sense, a Jonathan Blow puzzle game — which is a specific and meaningful descriptor for anyone who spent time on The Witness’s architecture.
Key Features
Order of the Sinking Star — What to Expect
Demo Details
The Steam Next Fest demo runs from June 15 at 10am Pacific through June 22 at 10am Pacific — one week. Blow has noted that the initial demo launch is “just the beginning,” suggesting additional content or reveals may come during the Next Fest window. A Discord is available for demo feedback and conversation with the development team.
No full release date has been announced. Wishlist Order of the Sinking Star on Steam to stay updated.
Wishlist on Steam — Play the Demo June 15–22