Technologies

I Saw the Sequel to The Witness, and Its World-Merging Puzzles Look Masterful

Order of the Sinking Star serves players plenty of brainteasers, while a background story grapples with what it means to be happy.

Jonathan Blow, creator of the 2008 platforming game Braid and the 2016 critically acclaimed puzzle title The Witness, has revealed his third game: Order of the Sinking Star. Over a video chat ahead of The Game Awards 2025, where the game was announced, Blow showed me his next clockwork world.

The new title from Blow’s personal studio Thekla, Inc. will be yet another puzzle game, but like his first two successes, Order of the Sinking Star has its own idiosyncratic rules and layers of depth. In it, players wander an overworld of islands that host myriad little puzzles to hop into. Each is a single screen of squares on a grid filled with doors with obstacles and enemies to navigate. Beat those to unlock islands with more brain-teasing challenges, and soon, you’ll even run into puzzles on the overworld.

Like Blow’s other games, Order of the Sinking Star is designed to reveal layers of meta-mechanics to the players as they dive deeper. Each of the four quadrants of the overworld map contains a different story, characters and basic mechanics — for instance, a trio of characters pushing, pulling and teleporting blocks around to reach the exit. But more heroes with different powers — even dragons — complicate the many puzzles as they go on.

And that’s just one of the four quadrants in the game, which have their own unique flavors of spatial challenge — all of which skyrockets in complexity in the places where they merge.

Order of the Sinking Star was partially inspired by the Japanese subgenre of Sokobon games, in which players carefully move boxes around a room (typically a warehouse) to avoid blocking themselves in a corner. The new game’s puzzles look to be thoughtful affairs, with simple levels giving way to more complex brainteasers and a background story trickling to the player in bits and pieces. Order of the Sinking Star will come out in 2026, and it looks promising.

Try making a game engine demo, end up with a whole game

After making The Witness, Blow was tired of developing in the C++ programming language, so he decided to make his own called Jai. But his team didn’t stop there and diverted to making their own specialized game engine. Order of the Sinking Star was intended to be a small proof of concept that would showcase the kinds of games possible to make with it. But Blow and his team couldn’t resist adding more and more puzzle dynamics.

“It was supposed to be a small game, but for some reason, it’s kind of stupid to build a game that’s about a combinatorial explosion and expect it to be small,” Blow said. “So for this game, that ended up meaning it’s really, really big. I probably will never do something this big again unless somehow I have a much bigger team.”

Order of the Sinking Star has a slight cartoonish look to it, at least from what was finished — I saw a good number of unfinished graphics, as Blow was eager to show off certain later game mechanics that hadn’t gotten finalized visuals. The complexity of the game won’t be in pushed pixels and lifelike graphics. But that’s likely for the best, as the simpler style makes the obstacles and map components as clear as possible to the players.

However, while players can proceed in any direction of the overworld, mechanics can get complicated pretty quickly. Blow showed me the first area, the northern quadrant, styled after a traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy world. Players control three characters, each with different abilities: a warrior who can push objects, a thief who can’t help stealing and drags the last thing they touch behind them, and a wizard who teleports to swap places with the object they’re facing. Some puzzles have just one character, while more advanced ones will require players to swap between all three.

Players are dropped into the game without much preamble so they can get to puzzling, but text hints and audio logs (which Blow is an avowed fan of) will share the contextual story. The story consists of a queen who is using the heroes to help delve deeper into her land of puzzles in the northern section of the game.

Teleporters will enable players to hop around the different quadrants; if they get stuck, they can pop back to another area with different dynamics. The eastern quadrant, for instance, is all about using a magical mirror that beams a clone of the player’s character at a 90-degree angle to them, moving back and forth in tandem. In this land’s puzzles, players can swap from character to clone and back again to hop across islands.

But Blow and his team didn’t spend all this time just making four different puzzle biomes. On the overworld border where any of these quadrants collide, players will find levels that merge their mechanics. Following along the northeastern border, players will find maps with both fantasy hero and mirror puzzle mechanics mashed together.

Considering how long Blow’s team spent on the game and what little I saw, I only expect these complexities to grow and expand, surprising players with sophisticated alterations of these basic rules. That’s what made The Witness so compelling for me to explore deeper, as the game’s puzzles began to impact each other. Well, that and the philosophical underpinnings as the game’s setting and lore revealed its message.

The philosophy of Blow’s next game

After the storytelling depth layered into Blow’s previous blockbuster successes, it’s smart to expect similar meaning weaved into Order of the Sinking Star. Like Blow’s other games, the secrets are in the structure.

In Order of the Sinking Star’s case, the mystery lies in the overworld that players return to and explore between puzzles. What is it, who made it, and why? As the player drops into puzzles, the characters they control give a few lines of dialogue, which combine with audio logs to tell a bigger story: 500 years in the future, humanity exists in a postscarcity world.

“If you have no problems and everybody’s essentially infinitely rich, what is the point of life at that point?” Blow said. “Do people still interact in a normal way? Do they even talk to each other? How do they feel from day to day about themselves?”

Despite a true postscarcity society being far in the future, we’re also the richest society in the history of the world, Blow noted — and we already show plenty of rich society problems. He was quick to say that not everyone in the US feels wealthy right now. But even those with roofs over their heads who have jobs and live with someone in conditions where they’re generally taken care of are still challenged by questions a postscarcity civilization would have, which Blow quickly rattled off.

“How do I spend my days, and do I spend them being happy? What does being happy mean to me — is it a shallow form of being happy or a deep form? What are those two different things? Should one have judgment about that, and what kind of judgment?” Blow said.

The game’s story and art aren’t finished, so the delivery of these themes hasn’t been finalized. But Blow did confirm that Order of the Sinking Star has “way, way more story in it than either of my previous games — so I’m just really concerned with making sure it’s good.”

Making games that stretch past what’s out there — and what’s next for Blow

Though the 1993 classic first-person puzzle game Myst partially inspired (and was compared to) The Witness, there weren’t many games like it when it came out in 2016. Blow wasn’t sure folks would play the game, but plenty did. That supported his philosophy that you may have some idea what people would buy based on what’s out there, but nobody can tell how a game with an unknown design would land.

“That’s one interesting thing for a designer to do, and that’s what I try to do: make things that are a little bit outside the scope of what currently exists, and then hopefully other people appreciate those things as well,” Blow said.

Plenty has changed since his last game came out in 2016, including the noise of an increasing number of games jostling for attention upon release. Blow plays some of these, especially in his favored genre of puzzle games, which he still believes can be “really magical” when they have a mind-expanding idea. But too many other games are made by designers who don’t set their sights high, and their central idea is more of a tricky gimmick.

When I ask him about recent puzzle games he’s enjoyed, his tastes skew esoteric, like last year’s Shogun Showdown. Even a 20-minute demo for a game that hasn’t come out yet, Trifolium: The Adventures of Gary Pretzelneck, comes to Blow’s mind ahead of other popular puzzle games like this year’s The Blue Prince.

Yet he notes that The Blue Prince proves his point that games defying player tastes can make them desire the unexpected.

“If you asked people in January 2025, ‘What game do you most want to play this year,’ none of them would have described Blue Prince probably because they didn’t know that they wanted to play that, right?” Blow said.

Developing the game engine was a lengthy process that Blow and his team hope will translate to less time to develop their next game. He’s already got an idea of what he wants to do. Though it’s one of several potential game ideas he and his team could dig into, he already prototyped it privately — back before The Witness even came out.

“It’s not a puzzle game; I’ll drop a hint about that,” Blow said. “I’m looking forward to working on a nonpuzzle game.”

We’ll have to see whether Blow can resist avoiding the clockwork mechanics that have made his games irresistible to puzzle brains.

Technologies

Experts sound alarm after researcher puts AI extinction risk above 10%

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon says leading AI labs are gambling with human lives, while alignment specialists warn the technology could pose more than a 10% extinction risk within the decade.

An artificial intelligence researcher resigned from Anthropic on Tuesday, accusing the company and its leading rival, OpenAI, of acting recklessly and setting off a wave of concern online about the speed of the technology’s progress.

Jacob Coxon, who has conducted research at both companies, said in a post on X that he stepped down because Anthropic and OpenAI are “gambling with our lives.” He said those developing AI “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

“Do not underestimate the power of this technology,” Coxon wrote. “These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources.”

Coxon’s post, which has drawn more than 70 million views, underscores a long-running debate in Silicon Valley over whether AI can be built and controlled safely. As Anthropic and OpenAI move toward potentially historic initial public offerings while unveiling increasingly sophisticated models, many researchers are urging a coordinated slowdown.

OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki said in a blog post Sunday that no AI company has “solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree to continue responsibly scaling at maximum speed for much longer.” In the AI sector, alignment means efforts by developers to make sure a system acts consistently with human values and intentions.

“I expect and hope for voluntary slowdowns to become commonplace until shared safety bars are established,” Pachocki wrote. “And I believe that international coordination on future AI development needs to become a top priority for governments around the world.”

Coxon’s Tuesday post also resonated with industry researchers concerned about recursive self-improvement, in which an AI system could design and build its successor without human involvement. Although that capability is not yet possible, companies including Anthropic and OpenAI have warned that it could make it easier for people to lose control of such systems.

“Neither company is acting responsibly,” Coxon wrote. “They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence.”

Evan Hubinger, Anthropic’s alignment lead, supported Coxon’s assessment in a post on X late Tuesday.

“Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,” Hubinger wrote. “I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”

Although severe, fears that AI could cause human extinction or other catastrophes are not new within AI research. In 2023, prominent researchers and executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, signed a statement declaring that “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

Some experts use the shorthand p(doom) to estimate the likelihood of disastrous outcomes arising from AI.

Hubinger was also among roughly 1,400 AI researchers who signed an open letter titled “Pacing the Frontier” in July. The letter called on the U.S. government to create the tools needed to support an effort to “deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development.”

Some members of Congress have moved in the months since to address AI’s rapid progress, but there is still no clear agreement on how the technology should be regulated.

In July, Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., introduced the FRONTIER Act, legislation intended to create a framework for overseeing the deployment of advanced AI models. Earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would temporarily halt advanced AI development until the federal government puts safety rules in place. Both measures have received mixed responses.

“Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway,” Trahan wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. “It’s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and do its job.”

Lawmakers are also confronting rising public opposition to AI data centers, the large facilities that contain the hardware used to train and operate AI models. The backlash has intensified to the point that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, or NRSC, said last month that data centers have become a “sleeper issue” for the entire midterm election cycle, as Verum previously reported.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that AI companies have done a “horrendous job of explaining themselves to the American people.”

“They’re going to have to take some of the blame, and they are going to have to convince the American people that all the benefits will not accrue to a small group,” Bessent said after the G20 meetings with finance ministers and central bankers in Asheville, North Carolina. “That’s what they hear from me.”

Technologies

Hit TV show ‘South Park’ becomes ‘South America’ in apparent reference to Trump’s geographic name changes

The animated series ‘South Park’ is rebranding to ‘South America’ in a satirical jab at President Trump’s recent geographic renaming efforts, including changes to Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico.

Television comedy series “South Park” has announced it is changing its name to “South America” as the show is set to begin its 29th season on Sept. 16. The show’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said, “Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation.” Parker and Stone’s statement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America amid a trade spat with Canada. Canadian officials said they will not recognize the new name. Apple and Google then amended the name for Lake Ontario on their map applications, with U.S. users seeing “Lake America,” while Canadian users saw “Lake Ontario.” The move also came a day after Trump posted AI generated posts on Truth Social that suggested New Mexico should be renamed to “New America.” Last year, the president used an executive order to change the name for the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, drawing international opposition. “South Park” won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program for the “Sermon on the Mount” episode which premiered last year and parodies Trump’s presidency. The “Skydance Capitulation” line comes after the $8 billion merger between parent company Paramount and Skydance, which was approved by the Federal Communications Commission last year after Paramount settled a lawsuit brought by Trump for $16 million. Trump had alleged an interview that aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in 2024 with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, was deceptively edited. Paramount subsidiary CBS News in July 2025 said it was canceling comedian Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” citing financial reasons, just days after Colbert accused Paramount of paying Trump a “big fat bribe.” The final episode of the show aired in May. Paramount and the White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Technologies

Trump says he has no regrets about starting the Iran war as U.S. dials up economic pressure

Speaking to Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham, Trump said that he would have attacked Iran despite the impact on the midterm elections.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has no regrets about starting the Iran war and added that “If I had it to do again, I would do exactly what I did.”

Speaking to Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham on Thursday stateside, Trump said that he would have attacked Iran despite the impact on the midterm elections.

“If we hadn’t done Iran, you would be cruising to midterms victory right now,” Ingraham told Trump, to which Trump replied “supposing we were cruising, and all of a sudden Iran has a nuclear weapon. They would use it.”

He added that if Iran had a nuclear weapon, the Islamic Republic would “wipe out” Israel and the Middle East, and start hitting U.S. cities.

His comments come as markets brace for a longer Iran war, after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that top White House advisors had discussed with Trump the possibility that the Iran war could drag on beyond his current term.

Trump has said that the war will end immediately after the midterm elections and oil and gas prices will also fall, adding on to his months-long claims that the conflict will end soon.

In separate comments to NewsNation on Thursday, Trump denied reports that there was any damage to U.S. assets, after Iran claimed it had hit multiple U.S. fighter aircraft at a base in Jordan.

“No damage. No nothing,” Trump said, when asked if there was any truth to the reports.

Economic pressure

Washington is continuing efforts to isolate Iran from its economic network, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent flagging sanctions against “a large bank” next week.

“We’re going to do it on Monday because we want to honor the memory of our fallen citizens on 9/11. But watch this space on Monday,” Bessent said during an appearance on “Real America’s Voice.”

Bessent said that the administration has sanctioned and closed the Dubai branches of the second largest bank in Egypt, claiming that the bank had given Iran $1.8 billion dollars. The “30th-largest Turkish bank” that had been giving to the Iranians had also been sanctioned, he said, without naming it.

The U.S. had sanctioned Turkey-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi (Golden Global Bank) and its subsidiaries last week.

Trump, in the NewsNation interview, was also asked how Iran could continue holding out under the current economic pressure.

“I don’t know that they’re gonna be able to hold out,” Trump said. “But it’ll get settled after the elections. Or maybe sooner. But it’ll get settled right after the election.”

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Bessent said the 30th largest Turkish bank had been sanctioned. An earlier version misstated the bank’s ranking.