Jonathan Blow Earlier Games and Order of the Sinking Star

Which earlier games are associated with Jonathan Blow?

The official materials associate Jonathan Blow with Braid and The Witness. They present Order of the Sinking Star as his next large puzzle adventure after The Witness, but they do not describe the new game as a direct sequel to either title. The relationship is creator history and design context, not a claim that the older games’ story continues here.

Which games form the foundation of the new game?

The official FAQ and Steam listing name four foundation titles and identify their designers:

Foundation title	Publicly named designer	Game idea described in the official material
Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes	Alan Hazelden	Throwing stones into water to create stepping paths
Mirror Isles	Alan Hazelden	Swapping places with reflections across islands
Promesst 1–3	Sean Barrett	Exploring a cave with grid puzzles and beams of light
Heroes of Sokoban 1, 2, and 3	Jonah Ostroff	Hero classes with distinct movement and pushing mechanics

These are not presented as Jonathan Blow’s earlier personal games. The public credit separates Blow’s association with Braid and The Witness from the other designers’ foundation contributions.

How do those games relate to Order of the Sinking Star?

The official Making Of announcement describes the project as a “game design supercollider”: ideas from several puzzle designers are brought into one interconnected universe. The official realm overview then describes four distinct worlds, each with its own rules, characters, hazards, and secrets, followed by areas where their systems combine.

In practical terms, the relationship is easiest to read as a set of mechanics that begin in separate regions and later interact:

• The stone-path idea belongs to the water-focused foundation game.
• Reflection swapping belongs to the mirror-focused foundation game.
• Colored beams belong to the cave-focused foundation game.
• Distinct hero actions and pushing belong to the Heroes of Sokoban foundation.

The official description says the worlds and characters later collide, so a combined puzzle can use more than one of these rule families. That is a documented structural relationship; it is not evidence that Order of the Sinking Star is The Witness 2 or a remake of any one foundation title.

What should a player take away?

Knowing the earlier titles is optional context. You do not need to own or complete them to understand the new game’s rules. If a puzzle uses reflections, beams, stones, or a group of heroes, treat that as a clue to the rule family being taught in the current world, then rely on the game’s own tutorial and room layout.

For production context, read the developer and credits page. For the player-facing interface and spatial readability, see the interface-design page. For practical help with the current puzzle systems, continue to the heroes, mirrors, beams, and light guide.