Order of the Sinking Star: Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes Walkthrough (South World)

Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes is the south route in Order of the Sinking Star, a run of connected screens where you move stones, time lily pads to the currents, and ride them across open water. Clearing it means crossing five linked screens, finishing the two puzzle levels that sit inside them, and then solving the six-puzzle left series on Screen #5.

Quick answer: Work from Screen #1 to Screen #5, completing Level #1 and Level #2 along the way, then finish all six puzzles in the left series. Stepping on the teleporters at the end of Puzzle #6 confirms the world is done.

Time controls and character roles

Two mechanics carry the whole world. Time control lets you line up moving lily pads with the currents, and once Level #2 adds a partner, the two characters push stones to each other across water. Keep these in mind before every push.

Hold Alt (L2) to speed up time, which helps align moving lily pads.
Hold Ctrl (R2) to slow time for precise, well-timed pushes.
C1 is the character from Level #1; C2 is the character who joins in Level #2.

In the left puzzle series, each step names the character who must act, so follow the C1 and C2 labels exactly or stones will stop in the wrong squares.

Navigating Screen #1 to Screen #5

These screens connect the two interior puzzle levels. Level #1 and Level #2 each hold their own set of puzzle screens, and Level #2 is where the second character joins you. The pushes below open the paths between them.

Screen #1

Push the right stone left so it slides into the stone on the left. This creates a path down to the lower landmass.

Grab the map in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Enter Level #1 and clear its puzzle screens before returning here.

Screen #2

You can reach the lower-left stone now; send it downward into Screen #2.

Move down to Screen #2 along the path that runs under Level #1.

Push the stone you sent from Screen #1 to the left, then all the way right, dropping the lily pad into the current.

Take the lily pad to the landmass at the screen’s bottom, which connects to Screen #3.

Screen #3 (left puzzle and Level #2)

Step onto the left lily pad.

Hold Alt (L2) to speed up time, then move onto the second lily pad when it lines up.

Repeat the timing to reach the third lily pad and step onto the center platform.

Position yourself beneath the right stone. When the three lily pads form a vertical line in the left-most current, shove the stone upward. The two lower pads fall into the middle current, leaving the top pad in the outside current. Hold Ctrl (R2) to slow time if you need more room.

Stand to the left of the remaining stone and shove it right. As a center-current lily pad crosses in front of it, shove it right once more. The pad then enters the interior current.

Cross the lily pads as you did at the start to reach the teleporter, then enter Level #2 and clear its screens.

Screen #5

You can now reach the stones below Level #2. Push each one down into a gap in the wooden path.

Continue along the path, heading right and then down, to arrive at Screen #5.

Enter the left puzzle series to begin the final run.

Left puzzle series solutions (Screen #5)

Six puzzles sit in the left series, and both characters act. Follow the C1 and C2 labels on each move. Counts such as “left x4” mean push that many squares in that direction.

Puzzle #1

C2 moves the stone four spaces left (x4), then pushes it upward onto C1’s side.

C1 shifts the stone left, then up, and finally all the way right. This drives it through the water and sends the lily pads into the currents.

As the lily pad travels along the top current, C1 gets aboard.

C2 gets aboard the lily pad while it travels along the bottom current.

Puzzle #2

C1 sends the right rock right and down three spaces (x3) into the water. Next, move the other rock right twice (x2) and down three times (x3), leaving it in the water to the first stone’s left.

C1 moves the stone onto the submerged rock on the right.

C2 shoves the top rock upward twice (x2) into the water. Then move the other rock into the water, directly over the first one, and stand on this second submerged rock.

C1 drives the stone across the water toward the right.

C2 lowers the stone to the row just above the lily pad, then shoves it left. The pad moves down, so board it quickly while it’s in motion.

C1 shoves the stone in the upper-left corner leftward. This sends the lily pad down; board it quickly as it moves.

Puzzle #3

C1 sends the stone over the water to the right, onto C2’s side.

C2 submerges the top-left rock by pushing it left three times (x3). Next, move the bottom-left rock up three spaces (x3) and left three (x3), sinking it in the square above the earlier rock.

Push the bottom-right rock right three times (x3) into the water. Then move the top-right rock down twice (x2) and right four (x4), submerging it beside the previous rock. Finally, push the last rock down twice (x2) and right four (x4), sinking it beneath the first rock.

C2 pushes the stone upward, then takes the first path you created to reach its left side.

C2 moves the stone right six spaces (x6), down two (x2), then right once. The stone ends up on the first rock submerged in the second path.

C2 stands below the stone and pushes up, sending the lily pad right, then boards it quickly before it moves.

C2 shoves the stone at the wooden path’s bottom to the left, making both lily pads descend.

C1 and C2 both board the lily pads quickly before they descend.

Puzzle #4

C2 moves down, left x4, down x3 to end up across from the bottom stone.

C1 sends the bottom stone right over the water, where C2 halts it and sinks it.

C2 moves up.

C1 drives the middle stone right over the water; C2 stops it and submerges it.

C1 sends the last stone right across the water.

C2 moves the stone downward, then uses the submerged rocks to reach its left side.

C2 shifts the stone right three spaces (x3), then down. It finishes in the row immediately over the pair of lily pads.

C2 drives the stone right over the water, causing the lily pads to move down, then quickly boards the left pad.

When the other lily pad arrives at the left current, C1 boards it.

Puzzle #5

C2 sinks the top-left rock by pushing it left twice (x2). Next, push the top-right rock left five times (x5), submerging it to the first rock’s left. Then move the middle-left rock left, up, and left three times (x3), sinking it to the second rock’s left.

C2 makes a second line of three submerged rocks immediately above the first.

C1 pushes the stone right across the water onto the submerged rock in the bottom-left corner.

C2 pushes the stone downward, sending one lily pad left and the other right.

C1 and C2 each get onto a lily pad in the currents.

Puzzle #6

C2 goes around to the left side of the top-left stone.

C1 sends the stone right over the water. C2 catches it, sinks it, and then moves left.

C2 sends the top-left stone left over the water until it reaches C1.

C1 pushes the stone across the water. C2 stops it again, submerging it left of the first stone, then moves left.

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the middle-left stone to build a row of three submerged stones.

C2 moves the bottom-left stone along the submerged row to C1’s side, then steps right to leave the stone’s return route clear.

C1 sends the stone right across the water again. It comes to rest on the row’s left-hand stone.

C2 moves the top stone left three times (x3), then up into the row above the submerged one. Push it left over the water afterward, onto C1’s side.

C2 shifts the remaining stone left three spaces (x3), then up twice (x2), leaving it opposite the last stone pushed.

C1 sends the stone over the water toward the right.

After the first stone has moved two squares, C2 starts pushing the other stone left over the water. Time the move so the stones meet and stop one space short of the right side.

C2 uses the submerged stones to reach a position above the stone, then shoves it downward, making the lily pads travel left and right.

C1 and C2 board the lily pads in the currents, then step on the teleporters to finish the world.

Once both characters land on the teleporters at the close of Puzzle #6, Skipping Stones to Lonely Homes is complete and the south route returns you to the wider map.