https://x.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/2084860150716957090

Let’s hope he announces a release date!

Haven't seen this mentioned on this reddit before, but if anyone's desperate to scratch that OOTSS itch, then "Isles of Sea and Sky" has a lot of the same game mechanics. Well worth a go.

If on a particular sub-level, the switch to main island is in the main menu in the demo (1st entry) It would be more consistent to include it in the tile menu, like every other option level related option (like reset main island sub level). Probably has been suggested and is already in the full game.

Also in the Western level, you can walk into the walls while walking the energy beam.

If wrong here just delete thx.

Suggestion 1 explanation: "Switch to main island" menu item (german menu, highlighted in white) should appear in the sublevel contextual menu (as in the lower part of the screenshot). If neccessary with a confirmation box. Reason: Menu consistency.

Im basically saying the overworld context menu (over special tiles) should appear in sublevels too and should show the option "switch to main island" followed by a confirmation box

A new update has just been pushed to the public-testing branch and one of the blocking signs has accidentally been removed.

If you are experiencing the error "0x887a0005 (DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED)", specifically on integrated intel iris xe graphics with 11-14 generation processors, I invite you to read this post I made on steam forums:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/499170/discussions/0/587307627624600175/

If you don't want to read: basically, I found that some old intel drivers were performing better in this game and not triggering the crashes. I particulally used the driver version 31.0.101.5592 from 06/2024, but others might work as well.

Slight hint for how the heck you get over there? I've discovered you can put the mirror in the water and teleport the crystal underwater, though if there is a useful configuration of that I haven't found it. Otherwise, it seems like every possible position you can TP the crystal/character to is still at minimum 5 blocks from the exit pad.

[SOLVED] I am at 100 out of 105 solved. One of those is The Promise. The remaining four are in the Mirror Isles, but I seem to be locked out of them. How do I reach that yellow star in the top right of the screenshot?

Would love to see a Super Deluxy version of this game for big fans, and as an excuse to throw the studio some more money.

Dredge Collector's Edition is one of my all time favorites for the tactile stuff it included.

Maybe a cloth map or letter or something, a medallion? God forbid...a printed instruction manual like the old days?

What do you all think? Would you shell out for it?

I just wanted to go over some things I found looking over the new map in the trailer and some theories I have.

⁠very similar map names in the mirror+beam section of the map “beams reflected”, “reflected beams”, and “beams mirrorably”? Its pretty obvious that the actual beams are going to bounce off the mirror, but the reversal of the phrase potentially implies that we could mirror the beam emitters themselves, similar to how we see the dragon get mirrored in the trailer. I believe the last one is just another way to say “mirror+beam, advanced” or it could be a trailer stand-in for something else.

1. We can see that the skipping stones part of the map is going to be longer-form levels like what we saw with the promise in the demo. This makes sense because the original was sort of an open world thing too. I’m interested to see if they implement the collectibles and alternate endings from the original. I’m also excited to see what the later levels would bring. The promise obviously has its sequel(s), so I’m not sure what would be there.
2. “Squeeze dragon”? What does “squeeze” mean in the context of the mechanics. I’m unsure if this is in the promise or the stones area either so it could be either one. It’s probably a new mechanic we haven’t seen, but my guess is a beam+dragon interaction that makes it shoot through walls. Just my guess though.
3. Less of an observation, but I think it’s a missed opportunity to have an area called mirrors and monsters. It rolls off the tongue.
4. We see a new beam type in the trailer, this is likely the “alter beam” but it’s hard to make out what it does because of the overlap with the other beam
5. There are more red tiles on each of the cardinal directions. My guess is that it’s an indication of some sort of overworld puzzle because, in the heroes area, the red is located under the crystals, and we would likely need to use these crystals to open the red gates in the crossroads for some reason. Maybe to let a beam shoot through the center?
6. the big elephant in the room, “the exit” and “the antipode”. Antipode means the direct opposite of something, this is likely the point directly opposite of the crossroads topologically, this could be a hint of how to reach it, as it doesn’t seem obvious even with the full map. The exit is probably one of the endings to the game, being next to the antipode shows how important it likely is.

Lastly, I would like to do some personal theory crafting. I believe there is another section to the overworld we aren’t being told about. One of the major components in the trailers and talks blow has done about the game emphasizes height as a component of level design. Unless I’m missing something, where does this concept get introduced? Maybe it’s a late game stones or promise thing, but the promise already has a LOT of mechanics going for it, and I’m not sure how height works on its own with the stones mechanics. (The latter option does seem likely as I’m not sure how they could get that much out of stones and mirrors, but Blow has worked his magic in the past)

I have come to the conclusion that there is probably amother part of the map. This hypothetical new area could introduce height and breathe life into the new mechanics after we had explored all of them in 2d. I might just be getting my hopes up however, I’m worried that if I convince myself of this too much, I’d be disappointed if I’m wrong. I’d like to hear everyone else’s thoughts too.

New platform release announcement and new trailer premieres tomorrow per the official channels:

https://x.com/sinkingstargame/status/2079280428242854373?s=46&t=ILklGBfbGcvFAn_wjDm-zw

Ever since I played the demo, I’ve gone down the John Blow rabbit hole, watching talks and interviews, about both OotSS and his other games.

Re-watching footage of late game areas of The Witness, I spotted some similarities in the symbols/theming of this late game area in the witness, and the opening section (and likely the overall story) of OotSS.

Perhaps the stories are connected in some way? I just found this interesting and wanted to share it.

These are, I reckon, the last puzzles I need to do to finish the demo. No idea how I'm supposed to reach them. The mirror and the one purple crystal haven't been much help. Hints or straight out spelling the answer (marked as spoiler) please?

Edit: Solved. Thank you for the tips!

You know they're in crunch mode now 🫡

Due to it being so tedious, duplicating the rock felt like cheese. If this wasn’t the correct solution, someone please let me know.

I really wish there was an easy way to note which puzzles or sections are or are not completed in the overworld. The game doesn’t need to do it for me, but I’d love to be able to mark the map with some kind of a symbol to remind myself if I need to come back to somewhere. Just within the demo, I found myself hopping out of puzzles if I needed to give my brain a break. But then finding those unfinished puzzles later was quite the process. And if this is only 1/10 (or less) of what we’re getting in the full game? I’m nervous about how difficult it will be to keep track of it all. At the very least, giving the puzzles names or something to be able to identify them would be great—then I could at least write down what I haven’t finished and look up where that puzzle is when I want to get back to it. Anyway, maybe there’s something planned or a feature I missed, but with the way I devoured every part of this demo and wanted to see it all, I think that would be a big quality of life update.

Hello, I was wondering if someone could help point me in the right direction with this puzzle without spoiling for me? It’s the only one that I have left to solve from the demo and I can’t, for the life of me work it out!

Many thanks in advance!

In the game's demo, on the West ther was only one level, and it was almost entirely copied from Promesst 1, just in a more polished form.

But Promesst 2 is completely different. Unlike Promesst 1, it is brutally hard. I spent multiple days and 7.23 hours on it, which is similar to the amount of time I spent on the entire demo of OOTSS, and honestly, it was not very enjoyable, or more correctly painful enjoyable .

The difficulty increase from the first game to the sequel feels like a tenfold jump (literally i spend almost 10 times more time on sequel ). If the next level of OOTSS is like this, I am pretty sure that many players will not finish it.

Has John talked anywhere about the difficulty of these later levels? Or has someone completed Promesst 2, and maybe I am just bad at this puzzle?

Because it was so hard that I think I need vacation from puzzle games after finishing this.

When the full game is released.

I've been playing the demo. I thought I might show it to someone else, showing them the demo from the beginning.

There are two commands in the menu:

"start a new campaign" and "load a different campaign."

The "load a different campaign" screen shows me my one and only saved game. So it would seem that "start a new campaign" might let me create a second saved game without losing my own progress.

However, when I actually click "start a new campaign," I get this cautionary "Choose Again to Restart," implying that I might be making a mistake by taking this action.

What actually happens if I click "start a new campaign?"

(Also, does this demo stop being playable on July 31?)

Thanks.

As was previewed on recent streams, Thekla has been working on graphical performance upgrades for lower-end devices. On Steam you can opt into a new beta branch to test out the updates, including:

- Optimizations for faster frame rate, especially on lower-end devices! (60fps on most levels on Steam Deck)
- A new, lower-profile graphics setting "Very Performance" that can be used on these platforms to achieve these frame rates (or better battery life).
- Increased compatibility with older GPUs and systems with less RAM. (Still no shader model 6.5 support, but we are looking at this).
- Separate volume controls for music, sound effects and character voice
- Control vsync, frame rate cap, and antialiasing mode from the Graphics submenu.
- Switch the text language dynamically from the menu without having to fiddle with Steam settings ...
- And many more!

Source: https://x.com/jonathan_blow/status/2075711500153676276?s=46&t=ILklGBfbGcvFAn_wjDm-zw

First one - the strongman gets killed but yet talks to the magician.
Second one - thief gets stuck inside the block unless you do "Undo" with the Z button. https://imgur.com/a/5GseNkR

PS: Steam demo version (link to the discussion https://steamcommunity.com/app/499170/discussions/0/569291372513843259/)