Order of the Sinking Star Torc: All Puzzle Solutions (West)

Torc is a small West area of Order of the Sinking Star, played as the Explorer. It sits just south of the big West hub. Its tool is the Torc, a neck ring that turns a beam emitter to face the way you are facing. There are four puzzles. Three of them, plus some steps in the courtyard between them, are on the South 1 West 2 map tile, and the last is on South 1 West 1. Puzzle numbers follow the order of the solution video, and every timestamp jumps to that moment.

Its sister area north of the hub, with the cart and the Rod, is on the Cart, Rod page. Beam colours and gems are covered on the West gem reference.

Rules

• Gems power beams. A gem in a socket lights every emitter in its block. Take the gem back and they go dark.
• Beam powers used here: green lets you walk through walls, cyan lets you push, yellow breaks stones and robots.
• The Torc turns the emitter next to you so it fires the way you are facing.
• You cannot turn on the spot. You face the way you last moved. Two ways to fix your facing: in a green beam, step into a wall and back out; or stand facing the right way and let the cart push you, since being pushed doesn’t change your facing.
• Cyan pushes cyan. Turn a cyan emitter so its beam covers you, and you can push that emitter itself.
• Cyan beams stack. In one cyan beam you can push a single stone. Where two overlap you can push a whole line.

South 1 West 2

The area name appears as you walk in. (19:28)

Puzzle 1

Starts at 19:42. This is where you get the Torc.

Key idea: the left emitter has to fire right, and you borrow the other emitters’ green beams to face right.

1. Light the beams and look at the goal: walk through the wall into the bottom-right. Only the far-left emitter can do it, and only if it fires to the right. (19:42)
2. You can’t face right in that column directly. Another green beam fixes that: step into the wall and back out and you face right. So the bottom-right emitter has to be turned to fire left. (19:56)
3. Turn one emitter to face up, then another to face right. Step into the wall and back out so you face left. (20:30)
4. Turn the bottom-right emitter to fire left. Step into the wall and back out again, now facing right, and turn the far-left emitter to fire right. Walk through. (20:43)

Puzzle 2

Starts at 21:05.

Key idea: turn the cyan emitter so you can push it, and let the cart carry it the rest of the way.

1. With the Torc you can push a cyan emitter by turning it so its beam covers you. (21:14)
2. Opening moves: turn the emitter to face down and push the cart out. Turn it to face left and push the next thing out, then turn it up. (21:25)
3. The goal is to push away the stone, so the cyan beam has to reach inside. Using the notch and the cart, you can bring the cyan emitter all the way over. (21:45)
4. Get the cart into that column first: face right and push it in. (22:03)
5. Push the cyan emitter into the same column and let the cart carry it down. Keep it facing left the whole time, or you can’t push it to the right later. (22:17)
6. Last, you need to face up at the end spot. Face up and let the cart push you to the bottom, then turn the emitter. (22:28)

Courtyard: reach the bottom-left

After Puzzle 2 a green emitter opens up in the courtyard. Light it. The bottom-left tile is behind a stone, so clear the stone first. (22:52)

1. Push the green emitter over and turn it to fire down at that spot so you can walk through the wall. First, though, push the middle stone left so it doesn’t block the beam. (23:12)
2. Push the first piece out of the way, push the green emitter one tile right, then down. Walk in through the wall and push the stone left, then go back up. (23:23)
3. Turn the emitter to face down, then push it left into position. (23:44)
4. Walk up through the wall and shove it up one tile, or there won’t be room to step into the wall later. Then go through. (23:55)

Puzzle 3

Starts at 24:07.

Key idea: the cart lets you keep your facing, and you need it twice: once to turn the cyan beams, once to turn the green one.

1. Walk through the wall into the space on the right. That needs the green emitter firing right, and that needs the cart to push you while you face the right way. So bring the cart over. (24:15)
2. To push the cart up you need the bottom-left cyan beam firing right. Face right, let the cart push you along, and turn the emitter. Then push the cart up, all the way. (24:38)
3. Do this now, while you can: the last push happens around the bottom right, so the left cyan emitter must fire right. Face right, wait for the cart to push you over, and turn it to face right. (24:55)
4. Same method for the top-right cyan emitter: turn it to face left, wait, push it down one tile here, and turn it to face down. (25:19)
5. Push it all the way to the bottom row, then push it up. (25:28)
6. While the cart is in place, get yourself facing right and quickly turn the green emitter to fire right. The timing is tight; the narrator replays it slowly. (25:38)

Courtyard: reach the bottom-right

When the cage in the bottom-right opens, turn the green emitter in its starting spot to fire right and walk through to the bottom-right. The gold block there needs things from later in the game. (26:04)

South 1 West 1

Puzzle 4

Starts at 26:30. A mix of everything, ending with a one-shot push.

Key idea: two cyan beams together let you push a whole line of stones.

1. Take the gem, place it to light the beam, and push the stone away. Take the gem back. (26:36)
2. A beam from above can push the next stone down. Clear it and take the second gem. (26:48)
3. Use the top-left beam to push the cyan emitter down into the row of stones you need to push right. Take the gem back and place it here, then push the stone right. (27:04)
4. Two stones are stacked, and one cyan beam only pushes one. Light the second cyan beam so the two overlap. Now you can push the whole line. Take the gem back. (27:19)
5. On the right, a gem is jamming the cart: the cart can’t push gems. Take the gem and the cart moves again, pushing the cyan emitter out. That only happens once. When the cart reaches the end it can’t push the emitter back. (27:54)
6. So prepare first. You need the double-cyan push to drive the three stones along the bottom row. Light the top-left beam and push that emitter down to the bottom row, the row the stones are in. Light it. (28:43)
7. Release the cart, take the gem, and put it straight onto the socket for that beam. Follow along, pushing the stones right. The cage opens. (29:05)