Jonathan Blow Slams Puzzle Game Genre: 'Not Interesting' Despite 500-Hour Sinking Star

Jonathan Blow, the man who made you question time mechanics and stare at dead philosophers in The Witness, just called modern puzzle games 'not interesting'—even as he drops a 500-hour puzzle monster.

Blow, creator of Braid and The Witness, criticized the genre during a recent interview. 'No, I don't think it is,' he said of modern puzzle games, 'because I do feel like there are quite a few really good games in the past that people could look at... but I don't feel like people do.'

"No, I don't think it is," [the genre] "because I do feel like there are quite a few really good games in the past that people could look at... but I don't feel like people do."

His upcoming project, Order of the Sinking Star, is described as a 'supercollider' of four puzzle games in one. The title is in development after nine years of work, with no release date confirmed.

Blow cited Stephen's Sausage Roll ('brutally hard but one of the best') and Trifolium: The Adventures of Gary Pretzelneck ('starts out looking like a normal, boring snake game') as recent inspirations.

"If it's just a difficulty challenge that's not really that interesting... you want it to be about something and you want what it's about to be good."

Order of the Sinking Star aims to avoid being 'just a difficulty challenge' by blending mechanics into a cohesive whole. The game's 500-hour content scope suggests a focus on depth over sheer challenge.