Order of the Sinking Star: Jonathan Blow on Creating the 'Biggest Puzzle Game Ever'
BBC Homepage
Accessibility Help
Your account
Home
News
Sport
Earth
Reel
Worklife
Travel
Culture
Future
Music
TV
Weather
Sounds
More menu
Search BBC
Braid-creator Jonathan Blow on making the 'biggest puzzle game ever'
Image source: Thekla, Inc., Arc Games
By Laura Cress
Technology reporter
Published 7 October 2026, 00:01 BST
For a decade, Jonathan Blow has been developing what he believes is "the biggest puzzle game ever made."
The American developer is known as one of the pioneers of the modern indie game movement, creating the genre-defining puzzle-platformer Braid in 2008. Now, a decade later, The Witness creator's latest project, The Order of the Sinking Star, is set to release on Thursday. This game boasts approximately 1,500 puzzles, estimated to take around 500 hours to complete.
So, why create something that most players may never finish?
Image source: Thekla, Inc., Arc Games
"Some people decide what to make based on what's practical or what makes business sense," Blow reflects. "It's never been the way that I think."
"I sort of make bad business decisions in a sense...because I let the design dominate that process. But then because we did that, we always have something unique."
The game's description compares itself to a "game design supercollider"—four worlds viewed from above, built upon the mechanics of four existing free puzzle games (with permission from their creators). These ideas are then "smashed together" to create entirely new brainteasers.
For instance, one world's mechanics, based on Mirror Isles by Alan Hazelden (with permission), involves using mirror reflections to swap places across islands. Combining this with the stone-throwing system from Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes, also by Hazelden, unlocks novel puzzles.
Image source: Jonathan Blow
Blow is renowned for his candid opinions on the industry—previously criticizing games like Farmville as "evil" and World of Warcraft's quest design as "unethical." In December 2025, Hazelden distanced himself from Blow, writing on Bluesky that Blow was "dismissive of diversity efforts" and "pro-MAGA." Blow has not publicly responded to these accusations, instead focusing on his games.
"What players want from developers is good games," he asserts. "They don't want us to be arguing, especially with each other, about political stances."
Blow expresses skepticism about AI, which he believes was "not part of the pipeline at all" for The Order of the Sinking Star, even though he acknowledges it as an "interesting technology". He questions the much-lauded productivity gains associated with AI:
"If you're saying you're ten times as productive and it's been three years, you should have been able to do thirty years of work. So where's this output of 30 years of work?"
Despite his doubts, Blow acknowledges the industry's uncertainty around AI's approach.