An independent guide
Order of the Sinking Star Length & Completion Scope
Order of the Sinking Star has no established average completion time in the October 13 HowLongToBeat snapshot: its story, extra-content and completionist fields are blank. Newly checked players report individual first-ending runs of about 24, 30, 32 and 40 hours, with different play styles and some including demo time; those reports are not a representative average. The official 500+ hours claim concerns dedicated puzzle solvers, and Jonathan Blow's roughly 500-hour full-completion estimate is a developer expectation, not the time required to reach the first ending. Decide which endpoint you want before using any number to plan your playthrough.
- Full-game observations
- Launch-week firsthand player posts and full-release review accounts; exact platforms and executable builds are not always stated.
- Estimates
- Attributed pre-release developer estimates and official FAQ wording, separate from measured or player-reported runs.
- Spoilers
- Completion categories and existence of later content; no ending plot or unlock route.
First ending, further exploration or every puzzle?
- Reach the first ending / credits
- This is the endpoint named in the launch-week player reports below. It leaves other puzzles and later content available; reaching it is not the same claim as solving the whole game.
- Continue exploring after that endpoint
- Players describe unfinished earlier areas and additional content after the first ending. The amount they choose to pursue differs, so “finished the story” needs an explicitly named endpoint.
- Full puzzle completion
- The developer's roughly 500-hour expectation concerns completing everything. Steam separately describes Completionist as finishing every puzzle in the overworld. Neither description is a measured ordinary-player average.
Jonathan Blow's pre-release interview describes a non-completionist ending and additional discoveries for players who explore further. That design discussion does not supply a launch-tested route to every ending, but the distinction also appears in current players' accounts: the first credits are a milestone, rather than proof there is nothing left to solve.
Sources: TheGamer — original Jonathan Blow interview · oldmasters / _aiae / nusskn4cker — original first-ending reports · HamandPotatoes — original after-credits account · Steam — official achievement descriptions
Actual launch-week reports of reaching the first ending
Original firsthand posts checked October 13, 2026. Self-reported times, not recorded benchmarks; platforms, exact builds, idle-time treatment and use of outside help are unstated unless noted.
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| Player | Reported time / scope | Conditions to keep with the number |
|---|---|---|
| oldmasters | About 24 hours; first ending, 270 puzzles solved | Describes being a quick solver. Does not say whether demo hours are included. |
| _aiae | About 30 hours; first ending | Explicitly includes demo time and describes being a relatively fast solver. Earlier and later content remained. |
| HamandPotatoes | 32 hours; first ending, 260 puzzles solved | Original post says substantial content remains. Demo-time inclusion and hardware unstated. |
| nusskn4cker | Around 40 hours; credits, about 300 puzzles | Explicitly includes both demo and full-release time. |
These examples establish that some players reached the first ending well before 500 hours. They do not establish that most players finish in 24–40 hours. The posts select people answering a completion question, and two authors specifically describe fast solving. No average is calculated from that small, unmatched sample.
For another perspective, Phil Hornshaw's GameSpot review reports roughly 70 hours of play and says he reached the first ending, without isolating the exact time at which it occurred. Chris Selogy's SmashPad review reports more than 35 hours without reaching it. Neither account supplies a precise universal first-ending time; together they make clear why total time played and time to a particular endpoint are different measurements.
Sources: oldmasters / _aiae / nusskn4cker — original first-ending reports · HamandPotatoes — original after-credits account · Phil Hornshaw, GameSpot — original full-release review · Chris Selogy, SmashPad — PC review and progress observations
What the 250-hour and 500-hour estimates mean
Attributed expectations and promotional scope, kept separate from completed player runs.
Scroll across to read every column.
| Source | Number | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Higham's December 2025 IGN hands-off report, credited Yahoo syndication | Up to 250 hours at a normal pace; upwards of 500 for completionists | The reporter attributes these expectations to Blow after a developer demonstration. This predates release and is not an observed ordinary-player run. |
| TheGamer's original Jonathan Blow interview | Around 500 hours for full completion | A pre-release developer estimate for someone trying to complete everything. The interview explicitly distinguishes a non-completionist ending. |
| Official game FAQ | More than 500 hours for the most dedicated puzzle solvers | The publisher's stated content scale, not an average story-completion time or a guaranteed minimum for every player. |
The numbers use different completion scopes and come from estimates rather than a shared test protocol. The 250-hour report is not the lower bound of a measured 250–500-hour range. Likewise, the official 500+ wording cannot be assigned to every first-ending run when current players explicitly report reaching that milestone sooner.
Puzzle counts are a separate quantity: the official FAQ advertises more than 1,000 interconnected puzzles, while Blow's pre-release interview describes more than 1,400. Those statements alone do not fix the number of counted launch puzzles, how the overworld counter treats them, or how many minutes each will take you. Dividing a promotional time by a headline puzzle count would not produce a supported personal estimate.
Sources: Michael Higham, IGN — pre-release demonstration report, credited Yahoo syndication · TheGamer — original Jonathan Blow interview · Thekla / Arc Games — official game FAQ
HowLongToBeat still has no usable aggregate timing here
A fresh public-page read on October 13 matches the supplied capture on the important point: HowLongToBeat's Main Story, Main + Sides and Completionist fields are unfilled, and the platform timing table lacks sufficient data. Its “1 Beat” indicator does not turn those blanks into a mean or median.
Treat an unfilled timing field as unknown, not zero hours. Use the original HowLongToBeat entry for any later aggregate, and check the category and sample behind it before comparing it with a first-ending report or a developer estimate.
Check what you completed before calling a run finished
Steam's published achievement descriptions identify different milestones. Their unlock rates are not time measurements.
Scroll across to read every column.
| Milestone | Published indication | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| Initial campaign | Heroes, Mirror Isles, Beamcasters and Skipping Stones each say to finish that initial campaign. | Clearing one or even all four initial campaigns does not state that every later puzzle is finished. |
| Endgame | The achievement says to complete the Endgame. | A separate milestone from the every-puzzle requirement; not a complete statement of all ending routes. |
| Completionist | The achievement says to finish every puzzle in the overworld. | The description supplies the completion target, not a time estimate or a full list of hidden conditions. |
When comparing runs, record the actual milestone and puzzle count rather than only total hours. Selogy's full-game review describes a map view that highlights unsolved puzzles on visited screens, while noting that some highlighted puzzles may not yet be reachable. He also says overworld traversal puzzles are not included in the save's puzzle total. That reported counter is therefore useful progress context, not a count of every interaction or an automatic percentage of all content.
The launch-week after-credits post describes both new discoveries and previously unfinished areas. This supports further exploration remaining after the first ending; it does not establish a universal remaining percentage, a complete ending list or a timed route through that content. Check Steam's own milestone description if an achievement is your goal, then use a matching supported guide for its actual unlock actions.
Sources: Steam — official achievement descriptions · Chris Selogy, SmashPad — PC review and progress observations · HamandPotatoes — original after-credits account
Plan around your goal, rather than a single headline number
- For a first-ending goal, use the individual player reports as examples of what those solvers experienced. Keep demo inclusion and optional exploration attached to the number; do not substitute the completionist estimate.
- For extensive puzzle completion, expect a substantially broader task, while treating the developer's 500-hour scale as an estimate. No finished representative completionist sample is established here.
- If you are comparing your existing time with somebody else's, record which endpoint you reached, how much you explored, whether demo progress and time are included, and whether you used outside help.
- For historical June sample playtimes and its completion counter, use the demo-duration reference. A short demo run cannot be multiplied into a reliable full-game prediction.
Sources: oldmasters / _aiae / nusskn4cker — original first-ending reports · HamandPotatoes — original after-credits account · TheGamer — original Jonathan Blow interview · Thekla / Arc Games — official game FAQ · HowLongToBeat — original game timing entry
Sources and scope
- oldmasters / _aiae / nusskn4cker — original first-ending reports
Launch-week full-release firsthand comments read October 13, 2026; roughly 24 / 30 / 40-hour individual runs. Demo inclusion stated only where explicit; platforms and exact patches unstated. Recollections about other players and speculative completionist totals excluded.
Research checked
- HamandPotatoes — original after-credits account
Original launch-week post read October 13, 2026; 32 reported hours, 260 puzzles and later content. Platform, exact build and demo inclusion unstated.
Research checked
- Phil Hornshaw, GameSpot — original full-release review
October 7, 2026 publisher-provided review copy; roughly 70 total hours and first ending discussed, not an exact timestamp for reaching it.
Research checked
- Chris Selogy, SmashPad — PC review and progress observations
October 7, 2026 original PC review; 35+ hours without first ending, reported map/counter behavior. Footer's 50-hour estimate is not an observed completion.
Research checked
- Michael Higham, IGN — pre-release demonstration report, credited Yahoo syndication
December 2025 author's report; full credited syndicated body returned by search reader. Direct article open returned 403; no bypass attempted. 250 / 500-hour claims are attributed pre-release estimates.
Research checked
- TheGamer — original Jonathan Blow interview
Full supplied original pre-release interview read; roughly 500-hour full-completion expectation, non-completionist ending and further discoveries. Exact publication date not preserved in the capture.
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- Thekla / Arc Games — official game FAQ
October 13, 2026 supplied original complete FAQ capture; 1,000+ puzzles and 500+ hours for dedicated solvers. Promotional scale, not a timed average.
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- HowLongToBeat — original game timing entry
October 13 supplied original capture and fresh successful public HTML read: timing fields remain blank and platform sample insufficient. Completion indicator is not an aggregate time.
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- Steam — official achievement descriptions
October 13 official original capture; initial campaigns, Endgame and Completionist descriptions. Unlock percentages do not establish hours or all hidden requirements.
Research checked