Order of the Sinking Star: Heroes and Water Walkthrough (All Puzzles)
Every route and puzzle solution for Heroes and Water, North and the western half of Heroes and Water, plus how to unlock both areas.
Every route and puzzle solution for Heroes and Water, North and the western half of Heroes and Water, plus how to unlock both areas.
by AllThingsHow Staff · Edited by Pallav Pathak
Heroes and Water, North is a far-north area in Order of the Sinking Star. It takes the hero party from The Hearty Heroes of Hauling and adds water, dragon fire, and the druid’s ability to turn monsters and plants into crystals. It has six puzzles spread over three screens. Its first screen also connects to Heroes and Water, the larger crossover zone farther south above the HxM gold room. Solutions for both areas are below, because each one feeds into the other.
Quick answer: Open the HxS gold room, skip its new stone east, push the right crystal down, then clear Screen #1’s left, top-right, top-left, and bottom-left puzzles. Screen #2 requires finishing Heroes and Stones East first.
Movement shorthand, heroes, and water rules
All routes use the same notation. A bare direction such as “left” means one square. A direction with a count, like “left x4,” means that many squares. “All the way” means keep going until a wall, barrier, or the end of a path stops you. When the wizard (purple) is told to “press” a direction, he swaps places with whatever sits in that straight line.
Hero
Ability
Warrior (red)
Pushes objects and monsters
Thief (green)
Pulls whatever is behind her
Wizard (purple)
Swaps places in a straight line
Cleric (gold)
Floats on water while in fire
Druid
Turns monsters and plants into crystals and back
Bard
Carries objects inside her aura
Sailor
Pushes stones that skip across water
Water follows the same rules on every screen in both areas:
A monster pushed or pulled into water is destroyed.
When two monsters collide after a push, both are destroyed.
Push a crystal into water and it sinks, turning into a floor tile that you can cross.
Red dragons fire a continuous beam along a row or column once the line is clear, and the beam burns briars and reeds.
The gold cleric walks on water only while a flame is hitting her. Step out of the fire and she sinks.
How to reach Heroes and Water, North
The entrance is behind the HxS gold room. That room opens after you complete four things:
Open the local area map to plot your route north. It labels Crossroads, Heroes of Hauling, Heroes Together, and Heroes and Light, Advanced. Press Esc to close it.
Talk to Janaila on the far side. She asks you to skip a stone back across the water to her. Send the round blue stones along the water paths between the islands until one reaches her side.
Once the stone lands, Janaila thanks you and introduces herself. Continue into the gold room, step onto the center star pad, and press Space at the crest pedestal. An achievement notification confirms the gold room is open.
The square above the crystal on the screen’s right side is now reachable. Push the crystal down, then take the route beyond it north into Heroes and Water, North Screen #1.
Screen #1 has four puzzles, and each one opens the next: left, top-right, top-left, then bottom-left. Red dragons guard the water channels, and their beams clear the briars that block movement once nothing stands in the way.
This one is a single route that moves and transforms you to the teleporter. Enter it in order: up x2, right x2, up x6, right x2, up x2, right x4, down, left, down x5, right x2, down x4, left, up x2, left, up, left x2, down x3, right x2, down x2, right x2, down, right x2, down. Solving it removes a barrier and opens the middle of the screen.
Use the druid to return the plant to crystal form. As the wizard, press left to send the crystal onto the button. This creates a route to the teleporters and activates the bottom-left puzzle.
Walk the cleric all the way right while the druid transforms the plants still remaining. Move the cleric left and the druid down, then change the final monster to drop the barriers.
Once Screen #1 is cleared, push the crystal at the screen’s bottom to open a route into Heroes and Water. Solutions for that area appear below.
Heroes and Water, North Screens #2 and #3 solutions
Screen #2 does not connect to Screen #1. The way in comes from Heroes and Stones East, another area behind the HxS gold room. Solving its final puzzle removes a barrier at the bottom of that screen. Ride the downward-facing monster’s fire down to the next screen and keep going down until a rock stops you. Then follow the fire on your left to reach Screen #2.
Push the cleric right over the water with the sailor. Stop with the sailor beneath the stone, then push the stone upward across the water and into the gap.
Push the last stone into the row containing the switched-off barrier, then send it right over the water. It plugs the gap and completes the path to the teleporters.
Pull the left cleric upward to the limit with the thief, then position the thief on the upper teleporter. Move the rest of the party onto the other teleporters.
Heroes and Water puzzle order (western half)
Heroes and Water lies in the northeast, above the HxM gold room. At first, you can play only its western half; the eastern half remains locked until much more of the northern map is cleared. The screens open in a set sequence, and Screen 3 is visited twice. Screen 2 unlocks its upper half, while the lower half requires a crystal from the bard puzzles on Screen 4.
Stage
Mechanic
Puzzles
Opens
Screen 1
Red push, green pull
4 series
Exit to Screen 2
Screen 2
Purple swaps
3
Top of Screen 3
Screen 3 (top)
Gold water-walking
4 series
Path to Screen 4
Screen 4
Bard aura
2
Crystal for bottom of Screen 3
Screen 3 (bottom)
Bard, gold, fire
3
Area cleared
To get in, unlock the golden mirror in The Mirror Isles, then follow the route through The Hearty Heroes of Hauling to the HxM gold room and solve every puzzle there. A crystal appears beside the two-puzzle series on the room’s left. Push it left x4, then down, right, and up, then all the way right and up. That opens the top-right of the map, where the local map labels “Heroes and Water” alongside “Heroes and Water, North” and “Heroes and Mirrors.” Press Tab to leave the map.
Heroes and Water Screen 1: Red and green cloaks
Cloak entrances on Screen 1 change your ability: red pushes and green pulls. Each of the four series releases another overworld crystal, and that crystal builds the path to the next series.
The tile immediately to the right of the cloak entrances resets the entire screen; several routes start with a reset.
Change to green and pull the crystal right. Return to red, push it onto the central platform, then over the platform’s right edge. This opens the single puzzle.
Green pulls the crystal left x3 and moves up. Red pushes it left x2 to seal the gap near the left teleporter. This releases a second overworld crystal.
Top-middle series
Reset the screen and knock the central-platform monster off again with red and the first crystal, then push that crystal up x2. Pull the second crystal with green into the column leading to the central platform. Switch to red and push it up past the sunken crystal to finish the path.
Move the crystal on the right up, then left x5, positioning it above the left monster. Push the crystal-and-monster column downward as far as possible.
Push the left crystal up, right x4, down x4, and left so it sits right of the bottom monster. Push the whole row all the way left. The monsters collide and the teleporter barrier lifts.
Set the down-facing monster beneath the up-facing one and push it right to clear the three lower-right monsters. Push it left to remove the last bottom monster, then into the water.
Clear the last monster at the top with the one facing up, then sink that monster. This opens the teleporter route and releases a third overworld crystal.
Top-right series
Reset, then clear the central monster with red and the first crystal. Pull that crystal right with green and push it off the right edge with red to reopen the single puzzle. Push the other two crystals one at a time onto the central platform, across to the right puzzle, and up to reach the top-right series.
With green #2, pull the crystal on the central platform left onto the active pink barrier. Move green #1 off the button so the crystal falls and forms a permanent bridge between the first two platforms.
Return purple to the blue button and press right to swap with the crystal. Both heroes can reach the teleporters, and a fourth overworld crystal appears.
Top-left series
Reset the screen. With red, push the third crystal of the three-crystal row up the middle wooden path, circle around by the left wooden path, and push it right until it sits under the left monster. Repeat with the other crystals to build a route to the central monster. Pull the crystal under the left monster all the way left with green, push it above the middle path with red, pull it down the path with green, and push it to the right of the right monster with red. Push the monster-and-crystal row left so the monsters collide.
Push the last crystal up x3, right x3, down, right, down, right x2, up x3, right, down x2, right x3, up, right x4. It sinks and opens the teleporter path.
Pull the crystal down with green and push it left x2 onto the blue barriers with red. Walk red down to the blue-button platform without pressing the button.
With both heroes on that platform, press the blue button. The crystal breaks, the left-facing monster destroys the down-facing one, and both teleporters open. Leave Screen 1 through the doorway in its top-right corner.
Heroes and Water Screen 2: Purple swaps
Purple trades places with any crystal or monster in a straight line, and Screen 2 uses that to drop objects onto buttons or into the water. Each of the three puzzles opens the next, and each one starts with a short swap sequence in the overworld.
Go up, right, down, and press right. The crystal settles on the button and the teleporter opens.
Screen 2 puzzle #2
After leaving puzzle #1, press left to swap with the monster on the right button. Go down, right x2, up, and press right to swap again, which lowers the middle barrier.
Move purple down x2, left x4, down x2, and press left. Then move up, right x2, and press down to pull the crystal out of the corner so red can reach it.
Move purple left, all the way up, and press right to swap with the crystal on the teleporter platform. Both teleporters open.
Screen 2 puzzle #3
From puzzle #2, press left to swap with the monster on the left button. Go up, right x2, up, and press right to set the other monster on the right button. Walk to the left button without swapping, then press right to swap with the monster and open puzzle #3.
Step green off the button. The monster is destroyed and the teleporters open. Back in the overworld, push the top-right crystal up to reach the top of Screen 3.
Heroes and Water Screen 3 (top): Gold water-walking
Every puzzle on the top half of Screen 3 runs on gold’s fire rule. The puzzles come in four groups: top-left, top-right, middle, and bottom-right.
Top-left series
Puzzle #1 is a tutorial: walk straight through the fire to the teleporter. Puzzle #2 is one long walk: right x6, up x2, right, up, right x3, down, right x2, down, right x2, up, right x5, up x4, left x5, up x2, left x4, down, left x4, up, left, up, left x8, down x2, right x7, down, right.
Return gold to the monster’s right, leaving one empty square between them. Put red in that gap and push gold right x6 so red can reach the teleporters.
Walk gold all the way up through the fire to the monster’s left. Swap purple with gold, then walk gold back up the fire so both stand on the top platform.
Swap purple with gold, then walk gold back down the fire to purple’s left. As purple, press left to swap with gold, then up to swap with the monster. The monster sinks, the barriers clear, and the teleporters open.
Pull the top monster down x2 with green and move gold to its left. Walk green left into the fire, all the way down, left, and down to the bottom monster’s left.
Walk green to the end of the path to the left teleporter and put gold on her right. Step green left onto the teleporter, pulling gold, then walk gold to the top teleporter.
Pull the monster right x2 again and move gold directly above it. Put green above gold and pull up to the teleporters. Green takes the left one and gold moves up to the right one.
In puzzle #2, red pushes gold and a monster together as a pair. “The column” means gold plus the monster lined up with her vertically, and “the row” means the same thing horizontally.
Move gold to the left monster’s left and push the row right. Move gold down and push her right x3 back to the middle platform, shoving the middle monster right.
Put gold on the middle monster’s right and push the column left x2. Move her up and push her left x4 back to the left platform, shoving the left monster left.
Put red on the monster’s left and gold #1 on the blue button. Push the monster up, take gold #1 off the button, then push the monster onto the blue button. Move red and gold #1 out of that cell.
Push the left-facing monster to the top row of the bottom platform with red. Put gold #1 on its left and push the row right until the monster is below the green button.
Clear gold #1 and red out of the green-button cell, then move gold #2 up. The monsters destroy each other, the central path activates, and every teleporter opens.
Put gold below monster #1 and red on gold’s left, then push right. Move green to gold’s right, step red left, and pull gold all the way right onto the right platform with green.
Move purple down to monster #2’s row and swap. All four heroes reach the teleporters. Head back to Screen 2 and go right to Screen 4.
Heroes and Water Screen 4: Bard aura puzzles
The bard’s aura covers the squares around her. Any crystal or monster inside it moves with her and keeps its relative position, whether that’s a side or a corner. Walk alongside a water gap and the carried crystal drops in, giving you a tile to cross.
Screen 4 puzzle #1
To open it, enter through the bottom gate in the crystal’s row and exit through the middle gate so the crystal stays in the middle row. Then enter the bottom gate again so the crystal sits above you.
Shift the crystal to your left and cross with this sequence: right, up, right, left, down, left x2, up x2, right x2, down x2, left x2, up x2, right x2, down x2, left x2, up x2, right x2, down x2, left x2, down, right x2, up x2, left x2, down x2.
Walk left through the gate just right of the crystal you moved before puzzle #1, so that crystal ends up on your left. Go all the way down to pull the new crystal into your row inside the aura.
Move up, then right through the gate, which drops the crystal right below the water square blocking the way up. Push it up to reach the bottom puzzles of Screen 3.
Heroes and Water Screen 3 (bottom): Final three puzzles
As purple, press left to swap with the bard. Without swapping, walk the bard left, up x3, all the way right, and down. She ends one square right of the crystal. Press left to swap with the crystal.
Catch the crystal in the bottom-right of the aura by moving right x2, up x4, right. Go all the way down and all the way right to drop it between the platforms.
Move the bard left x3 and up to catch it again. Go right, up, right, down, left, up, right x2, down x2, left x2 to drop it left of the right teleporter.
Move gold to the bard’s left. Walk the bard left into the up-facing monster’s fire and follow it up until the right-facing monster sits inside her aura.
Go down until the up-facing monster is in her aura, then up to lift it off the teleporter. Move down and left to put both heroes on the teleporters.
How to confirm both areas are complete
A puzzle counts as solved once its barriers drop and every hero is standing on a teleporter. In Heroes and Water, North, each cleared room adds a shield crest to the golden vertical gear meter on the right edge of the screen. The sector is finished when the final crest locks into that tracker.
For the western half of Heroes and Water, check for these signs:
The final bottom-of-Screen-3 puzzle’s shield emblem lights up and returns you to the overworld.
The overworld water gate and bridge change, and the local map shows the cleared state.
Every teleporter on Screens 1 through 4 is open, including the three on the bottom of Screen 3.
The Gold H&M Steam achievement, described in-game as “Open the H&M gold room,” belongs to this northeast gold-room region. It can pop while you are still on your way into Heroes and Water, so don’t treat it as proof the area is done. The open teleporters and the updated map are the reliable signals. The eastern half of Heroes and Water stays sealed until you push further through the northern map.
