the demo for Order of the Sinking Star is out! it's a big demo, 100 puzzles (out of the full game's 1000). and it's the new game by Jonathan blow, so I have had my eye on it for a while and jumped at the chance to try this.
(rambling note: jonathan blow is a.. well he's become something of a.. figure... he Says shit on twitter.... stupid, libertarian economic.. things... I have not enjoyed being aware of this fact... so for me he occupies a bizarre space. the man himself, I am keeping my distance from. but. he has been and continues to be responsible for *insanely well-crafted* puzzle games with thoughtful meditative stories that are all about the pursuit of knowledge, in a classical literary kind of way. it is subject matter that Does Not require the creator to personally believe in anything sensible, because the subject matter is all about *the way* we think, in abstract. it's the kind of thing that one can be very intelligent in without contradicting being kinda dumb in other subjects. his games are never about immediate real-world subjects, and I genuinely don't think he would ever have any interest in making a game like that. *plus*, for the past two decades, he's been making his games *with* a whole team of people. a rather diverse team, as I understand. so I can say I support Thekla!)
(it really cannot be stressed enough that the games themselves are so bafflingly ideal. there's only three of them now-- Braid, The Witness, and Order of the Sinking Star-- the games do not come out very often, they've been once a decade so far. but each one has been the pinnacle of its respective subgenre. each one has had goddamn *beautiful* puzzles, and for my tastes they've even all had excellent concepts for the medium. like, these are video games that are confidently open to interpretation without feeling *loose.* there's definite Themes in each game, examined in distinct formats with distinct Structure. it's.. ugh it's all so goddamn good. the games speak for themselves, the games stand alone. I think, defensive preamble aside, it's Okay to deeply respect these games.)
so anyway. new game. new Thekla game. new *demo* for a new Thekla game. I played it for a few hours tonight. my head Fucking hurts. I've solved like.. probably 40-ish puzzles, maybe 50? I've seen two different areas, each with different game mechanics that feel completely separate, this does feel like Thekla made *several different* sokoban games and then spent 10 years considering how the games might interact with each other. (which, they will. the demo doesn't include any of the Interactions, but they've been very clear about this.) and each sokoban game here is like.. Stephen's sausage roll kinda difficulty. o_e the puzzles get hard pretty quick. and the scale of the game becomes clear pretty quick! god the overworld is enormous!!!
there's also an actual Story this time! characters who give regular dialogue! each area feels like a different genre of story! and dammit I'm actually pretty Interested!!!
there's hints!!! of Witness plot!!! what the fuck!!! the beginning of the game feels like it's shedding light on one of the stranger mysteries in The Witness, or rather, feels like it's saying this entire game will focus on that stranger mystery. we're lost in some strange structure filled with the decor of one of the mysteries in The Witness, and we're controlling characters who actually want to *speak their thought processes through,* so it does.. feel like this might go somewhere, this might offer some new perspective.
I'm into this! I'm all for this!
one of the areas in this game involves mirrors, and I am 100% into *that* area, I love everything about it!!!
I spent half an hour on one of those mirror puzzles, and guess what, I still couldn't solve it! I had to stop for the night! my head hurts!!
