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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1416 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 30, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Jonathan Blow is based?

My analysis of Order of the Sinking Star two weeks ago was broadly accurate but wrong in a couple respects. I've continued playing the game here and there over the past weeks. It is VERY long. It has been described as the Elden Ring of puzzle games. Last time I estimated I was halfway done after about 20 hours depending on how much endgame content there was. I shortly finished the first ending and found that the little not-so-subtle overworld puzzles here and there didn't just lead to a second ending, they led to an entirely new overworld map which is almost as big as the first one (and hints that there might be a third one). This one adds verticality as a mechanic, meaning now we have 3D puzzles (or, more realistically 2.5D given the difficulty of traversing up and down Z levels), which then combines with all of the other previous mechanics and their combinations in new ways. I am now about 50 hours into it and am approaching the end of the second world, with strong hints that there is going to be a third.

Additionally, the game is not feeding me cringe culturally left-wing arsty meta commentary, it is feeding me cringe culturally right-wing artsy meta commentary. There are voiceovers left by a character who, other than being female, is a very obvious and fourth-wall straining self-insert for Jonathan Blow, talking about she's part of this ancient and powerful civilization who created these worlds and about the thought put into design decisions they made. Even about why and how to place the voice recordings themselves to keep players interested.

And also about how her civilization, despite growing in technology, power, and wealth, become degenerate. Spoiled rich kids who never had to work in order to succeed turning to drugs, nihilism, and just violence for the sake of entertainment. Which ultimately led to some of these societies collapsing. But others, that relied on powerful beliefs, either in God or in rules and philosophies which culturally descended from religion, funded their own Order and split off from the others. I haven't heard everything yet, but it seems like the titular "Order of the Sinking Star" is about maintaining "order" in the midst of a great civilization falling into debauchery (presumably what "sinking star" is referring to).

I have mixed feelings on this. While I wholeheartedly agree with the political analysis, it's still a shallow allegory for modern western politics. If this was about how their society was destroyed by an evil populist leader who descended into fascism, I would be quite annoyed and call it cringe. Therefore I feel obligated to likewise call this cringe. It's modern politics shoehorned into a game that otherwise has nothing to do with it. The characters you actually play as in the game are just fantasy world characters. They talk less and less often, and the lore of their worlds has nothing to do with these overworld voiceovers. While it's nowhere near as bad as Braid, where the meta twist at the end completely subverts and ruins the previous non-meta twist, it's still pretentious and artsy. I appreciate having more right-wing views in a game, but it's not a great way to do it, and it's not going to appeal to anyone who doesn't already believe what it's saying.

Still, the story barely exists and barely matters. 10/10 puzzle game.

Even about why and how to place the voice recordings themselves to keep players interested.

I think they fixed this on the October 17 patch, but I was bemused to hear that log and then like an hour later come across a screen with like three audio logs all clumped really close together amid a bunch of screens of no plot at all.

Plotwise I'm mostly frustrated that it never goes anywhere, which is a recurring problem for Blow. There's no real plot climax, no resolution to character interactions (such as they are). It all feels superfluous. Still, I got the Completionist achievement for a reason - they are some dang good Sokobons. Unfortunately Sokobon is not my favorite puzzle genre, but whatever!

There's no real plot climax, no resolution to character interactions (such as they are). It all feels superfluous.

?? The climax to Braid was great, one of the more memorable video game endings I’ve seen imo.

I'm this sentence I'm specifically talking about Order of the Sinking Star. Braid's biggest plot sin is the delivery mechanism of the pre-chapter books.

I would say Braid's biggest plot sin is having a pretentious plot twist hidden behind getting the stars in each world, one of which requires hours of real time waiting for a cloud to cross the sky.

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