There is no RPG-style hero upgrade screen or universal ascension order in Order of the Sinking Star. In the Heroes and Light crossover, the useful priority is to learn each hero’s normal ability, understand how beams modify that ability, and then follow area unlock dependencies. For the Advanced section, clear the Bard memory rooms and outer courtyard before working through the burned Hell-town chain; finishing that chain activates the Hell teleporter to the Antipode. Treat the North–East–West–South–Gold Rooms route as a low-friction recommendation, not a lock. If a walkthrough’s opening board differs from yours, verify the room first: an October 14, 2026 update changed some levels and checkpoints.
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base hero ability | Learning the rule that always applies | Each hero keeps the ability learned in Hearty Heroes of Hauling | Oct 2026 |
| Beam-enhanced ability | Solving mixed hero-and-light rooms | Standing in a beam grants that beam’s power; purple, gold and green beams are documented in Advanced | Oct 2026 |
| Unlock-dependency route | Reaching the Antipode | Bard memory rooms and outer courtyard precede the burned Hell-town chain and Hell teleporter | Oct 2026 |
| World route recommendation | Reducing early backtracking | North, East, West, South, then Gold Rooms; guidance rather than a mandatory order | Oct 2026 |
| Board verification | Following current walkthroughs safely | Compare the starting layout with the guide after the October 14, 2026 update | Oct 2026 |
Is there a hero upgrade order in Order of the Sinking Star?
No documented system lets you spend currency to level, ascend or permanently improve these heroes. The game is a large narrative puzzle adventure, not a combat RPG with a hero tier list. Arc Games describes it as featuring more than 1,000 hand-crafted puzzles and hundreds of hours of gameplay, so “upgrade priority” is best understood as a learning and unlock priority.
Heroes and Light combines the heroes from Hearty Heroes of Hauling with the beam system from the Vault of the Beamcasters. A hero still has its ordinary ability, but a beam can add a second rule while the hero is standing inside it. Progress therefore depends on recognizing interactions and opening routes, not on choosing a statistically strongest character.
What should I learn first?
Use this order whenever a new room introduces a hero, beam or gate. It prevents the common mistake of searching for a hidden upgrade menu when the intended solution is a rule interaction.
1. Learn each hero’s base rule
Start by identifying what the hero can do before any beam reaches it. The crossover keeps the ability learned in the Hearty Heroes of Hauling world. Read the room as if the hero were in that original environment: determine the legal movement, the objects it can affect and the restriction that makes the puzzle interesting.
- Separate the hero’s permanent rule from anything supplied by the room.
- Test the base ability mentally before moving a beam or object.
- When several heroes are present, assign each one a single job rather than assuming one is a general-purpose upgrade.
2. Add the beam rule
Standing in a beam grants the hero that beam’s power. The beam is therefore an active state, not a permanent enhancement. A move that is legal in darkness can become illegal when the hero enters a beam, and the reverse can also be true.
Track the beam’s path, the hero’s position and the timing of the interaction as three separate pieces of information. A solution often requires arranging the light first, moving the hero second, and restoring or redirecting the light afterward. Do not treat a colored beam as a damage type or rarity tier; it is a puzzle condition.
3. Include crystals and goblins in the light calculation
Crystals and goblins are part of the beam-routing system described for Heroes and Light. They are not merely scenery or collectibles. Their positions can determine whether a beam reaches a hero, whether a route remains open, and whether a later move is possible.
Before committing to a move, ask three questions: what blocks the beam, what propagates it, and which object must move first? If a hero appears unable to reach a target, the missing step may be moving a crystal or goblin rather than changing the hero.
4. Learn unlock dependencies
Once the basic interactions are familiar, prioritize the rooms that open another region. Puzzle numbers are not a reliable play order in the Advanced guide. A lower number can be available later, while a seemingly optional room may be required to activate a teleporter.
How are Heroes and Light and Heroes and Light, Advanced different?
The two labels refer to separate documented areas, not two hero-build modes. The main area is much larger; Advanced is a compact set of screens with a defined roster and beam palette.
| Area | Documented scope | What it combines | Progress implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heroes and Light | 54 puzzles | Hearty Heroes of Hauling heroes plus Vault of the Beamcasters beam interactions | Use it to establish the base ability and beam rules |
| Heroes and Light, Advanced | 22 puzzles across six screens | Advanced rooms using the documented five-hero roster and colored beams | Follow room dependencies and the Hell-to-Antipode unlock chain |
The 54-puzzle count comes from the 2026 Sinking Star Walkthrough documentation. AllThingsHow’s 2026 guide documents Advanced as 22 puzzles over six screens. Neither description presents a conventional stat-progression ladder.
Which heroes and beams appear in the Advanced area?
The Advanced guide names five heroes: Thief, Bard, Wizard, Warrior and Druid. It also describes purple, gold and green beam colors. The important question is not which hero has the highest power; it is which base rule is compatible with the beam currently touching that hero.
Thief
Use the Thief according to its established base ability, then check whether a purple, gold or green beam changes the legal actions in the room. If a route works without light but fails when illuminated, the beam condition is probably intentional rather than a balance penalty.
Bard
The Bard matters in the Advanced route because the memory rooms are an early dependency. Clearing those rooms and the outer courtyard is part of the documented path toward the Hell-town sequence.
Wizard
For the Wizard, write down the base rule before experimenting with beam placement. Rooms that appear to ask for a spell upgrade may instead require the Wizard to stand in a particular colored beam at a particular time.
Warrior
The Warrior is another puzzle role, not a combat-stat investment. Check whether its ordinary movement solves the first layer and reserve beam manipulation for the obstruction that remains.
Druid
Apply the same two-layer method to the Druid: base ability first, beam state second. If an object seems unreachable, inspect the light route and the positions of crystals or goblins before abandoning the room.
How do I progress through Heroes and Light Advanced?
Use the following dependency order rather than attempting rooms strictly by their displayed numbers.
- Confirm the area and roster. Make sure you are in Heroes and Light, Advanced, where the documented roster is Thief, Bard, Wizard, Warrior and Druid and the documented beam colors are purple, gold and green.
- Establish each hero’s base ability. If a room introduces a familiar hero, solve the non-beam portion first. This gives you a reference state for every later light interaction.
- Clear the Bard memory rooms. These rooms are explicitly part of the route that leads onward. Treat them as progression tasks even if another screen looks easier.
- Finish the outer courtyard. The courtyard follows the memory-room portion in the documented dependency chain. Check every exit and teleporter state before leaving.
- Work through the burned Hell-town chain. The burned Hell-town sequence is the next major gate. Its rooms use the same base-ability and beam-state reasoning, but the objective is route activation rather than a hero upgrade.
- Activate the Hell teleporter. Completing the Hell-town chain activates the teleporter to the Antipode. If it remains inactive, revisit the chain for an uncleared room instead of assuming the game requires a particular hero level.
- Enter the Antipode and continue with the current board. The Antipode is an unlock result of the chain, not a reward for selecting a specific “best” hero.
This order describes documented dependencies, not a claim that every individual puzzle inside a screen must be solved in one fixed sequence. When two available rooms do not block each other, choose the one whose beam behavior you understand better.
What broad world route should I use?
A current guide recommends North first, East second, then West and South, followed by the Gold Rooms. This route is a practical learning path, not a mandatory global order.
- North: begin with the recommended first region while you are still learning how base abilities and beams combine.
- East: take the second recommended region once you can track a beam’s path without confusing it with a permanent hero change.
- West: approach the third region after the two-rule model is comfortable.
- South: use the fourth region to apply the same reasoning across different room layouts.
- Gold Rooms: leave these for last on the recommended route, when you can compare several beam interactions without relying on guesswork.
World order and local unlock order are different decisions. You may be able to enter a world earlier, but an individual teleporter, courtyard or memory-room dependency still controls access to its next section. If a route stalls, inspect the local prerequisite before changing the entire campaign order.
Why does my walkthrough not match the starting board?
An October 14, 2026 update changed some levels and checkpoints. A move sequence written for an earlier layout can therefore fail even when the room name and apparent objective are correct.
Verify before making moves
- Compare the initial positions of every hero, crystal, goblin, beam source and gate with the guide.
- Check whether the checkpoint location is the same as the one shown in the walkthrough.
- Confirm that you are in the main 54-puzzle area rather than the separate 22-puzzle Advanced area.
- Look for a changed wall, teleporter state or beam direction before assuming you made an input error.
Recover from a mismatch
- Stop executing the old sequence as soon as the first board difference appears.
- Reset or reload the room using the current checkpoint.
- Re-solve the opening state by applying the hero’s base rule, then the active beam rule.
- Use the guide’s objective and dependency as orientation, not as a frame-by-frame command list.
Blindly continuing from a different starting layout can place a crystal or goblin on the wrong side of a beam and make a later step appear impossible. Board verification is faster than debugging a sequence that was never written for your version.
What mistakes make progression feel like an upgrade problem?
Searching for currency or permanent stats
The documented material does not describe a currency, ascension screen or persistent hero-stat tree for Heroes and Light. Looking for one can distract from the actual beam puzzle in front of you.
Treating a beam color as a ranking
Purple, gold and green identify beam conditions in the Advanced documentation. They are not presented as common, rare or superior upgrade tiers. Evaluate a color by what it lets the current hero do in that room.
Following puzzle numbers literally
The Advanced guide warns that displayed numbers do not necessarily equal play order. Use teleporter, courtyard and memory-room dependencies to decide what matters next.
Moving the hero before planning the beam
A hero can lose or gain an action when it enters a beam. Plan the light route and object positions before committing the movement that changes the hero’s state.
Assuming the global route is a lock
North–East–West–South–Gold Rooms is a recommendation for a smooth learning curve. It does not replace the local prerequisites that open specific rooms.
What is the most efficient learning checklist?
Use this checklist whenever a new screen introduces unfamiliar combinations:
- Identify the hero’s ordinary ability from the Hearty Heroes of Hauling rule set.
- Mark every beam source and its current color.
- Trace where each beam reaches before moving a hero.
- List crystals and goblins that can alter propagation or block a route.
- Separate rooms that teach a rule from rooms that unlock a region.
- Prioritize the unlock room when a teleporter or courtyard blocks progress.
- Compare the board with a walkthrough’s opening position, especially after the October 14, 2026 update.
- Only then execute a detailed move sequence.
For Advanced specifically, the shortest reliable priority statement is: learn the five base abilities, understand purple/gold/green beam states, clear Bard memory rooms and the outer courtyard, complete burned Hell-town, and use the activated Hell teleporter to reach the Antipode.
How should I use a walkthrough without losing the puzzle logic?
Read a walkthrough for dependencies and room goals first, then use it for individual moves only after your board matches. This preserves the intended reasoning while protecting you from version-specific sequences.
When a guide labels a room by number, record three things beside it: the screen, the prerequisite that opened it and the beam condition that matters. That small record is more useful than a long list of moves because it remains understandable if a checkpoint changes.
For a difficult room, stop after each irreversible-looking action and re-evaluate the three-state model: hero position, beam path and movable-object position. If one state no longer matches your plan, reset immediately rather than trying to repair a later consequence.
What does the official description imply about the game’s scale?
Arc Games calls Order of the Sinking Star a “massive narrative puzzle adventure” with “more than one thousand hand-crafted puzzles” and “hundreds of hours of gameplay.” That scale explains why a single universal hero order would be misleading: the game is built around many authored interactions and route choices rather than a compact roster-balancing exercise.
The documented 54-puzzle main Heroes and Light area and 22-puzzle Advanced area are therefore sections within a much larger puzzle structure. Use the area-specific rules and dependencies above instead of importing assumptions from mobile RPG upgrade guides.
What should I do if I intended a different game called Heroes and Light?
Verify the exact title, platform and publisher before applying this guide. The instructions here are for the Heroes and Light crossover area in Order of the Sinking Star, whose documented mechanics are hero abilities plus beam interactions. A separate mobile or strategy RPG with a similar name could have entirely different currencies, levels and upgrade priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I permanently improve a hero before entering Advanced?
The documented Heroes and Light material does not establish a permanent stat, rarity or ascension system. Prepare by learning the hero rules and beam interactions in the main area rather than farming an upgrade resource.
Is the Antipode available as soon as I reach Hell?
No. The documented route requires the burned Hell-town chain to be completed so the Hell teleporter activates. Reaching Hell without finishing that chain does not by itself open the Antipode.
How can I tell whether a room belongs to the main area or Advanced?
Use the area scope and roster as checks: the main walkthrough covers 54 puzzles, while Advanced is documented as 22 puzzles across six screens with Thief, Bard, Wizard, Warrior and Druid. A mismatch between those descriptions is a reason to confirm the area before following a solution.
Should I restart the whole campaign if I skipped the recommended world order?
No. North, East, West, South and Gold Rooms is a suggested low-friction route, not a campaign reset requirement. Keep your current progress and resolve whichever local prerequisite is blocking the next teleporter or screen.