How to Navigate Regions and Choose Progression Order in Order of the Sinking Star
Choosing an effective progression path across Order of the Sinking Star allows players to build fundamental puzzle-solving skills before tackling demanding late-game crossover trials.
Recommended Starting Directions from the Crossroads
Departing from the central Crossroads, players face an open world structured around four distinct cardinal directions containing over 1,000 hand-crafted puzzles. An in-game audio recording placed directly in the center of the Crossroads recommends venturing toward the North or East while steering clear of the West. Both the North and East open with easy puzzles, while the South is slightly harder and the West is rated the most difficult. In the South, waterways demand careful timing, whereas the western district drops adventurers into a metroidvania maze featuring gem hunting and returning through completed territories.
Regional Mechanics and Core Controls
From the Crossroads, heading North into The Hearty Heroes of Hauling puts players in charge of a fantasy moving company where three initial heroes cooperate — covered in depth in our walkthrough to solve Heroes Together party puzzles: the Warrior pushes obstacles, the Thief pulls trailing items, and the Wizard teleports or swaps positions. Journeying East to The Mirror Isles features the Trader, who maneuvers magic mirrors to swap places with reflections based on distance from the mirror. Heading South into Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes follows the Sailor, who kicks stones across water channels to assemble bridges alongside drifting lily pads and water currents. Navigating southern waters requires deliberate timing; on PC, holding Ctrl slows down time while holding Alt fast-forwards through waiting periods.
Progression Habits and Gold Room Access
Venture into Beamcasters (referred to as The Promise in the demo) to the West only after mastering the other zones. Here, the Explorer places discovered gems into sockets to power colored beam emitters, stepping into active energy streams to borrow temporary manipulation powers. The six transitional Gold Rooms appear to open once progress has been made in both worlds they join — as walked through in our guide on how to access and solve all Gold Rooms. Clearing a Gold Room unites two distinct realms, bringing protagonists together across six massive dual-combination areas and progressing toward unlocking Steam achievements.
Tactical Navigation Pitfalls and Reset Habits
Whenever a puzzle leaves you stuck, make progress in another zone and return later. Players can return to the overworld through the pause menu whenever they wish to change direction. Undo and reset trigger instantly with zero penalty, so undo early whenever a layout stalls. In the southern archipelago, note that a drifting lily pad pauses for a moment before moving, providing a clear window to step aboard. In the western ruins, beware of pushing beam emitters into tight corners or carrying gems into wrong rooms; if a layout stalls, undo back past the mistake immediately.