Bunny Garden 2 launches October 9—hundreds of puzzles, hundreds of hours, Blow’s back to torture us again?

Astraeus Sequence, led by Jonathan Blow and developed over ten years at Thekla Inc., launches October 9 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2—with Steam demo progress carrying over to the full release. It earns a 7/10, not because it’s polished for mass appeal, but because it refuses to pander at all.

Ten years after The Witness left puzzle fans smashing controllers in frustration, Blow returns with over 1,000 handcrafted puzzles and hundreds of hours of content. He still doesn’t care if you rage-quit after three hours stuck on a single panel. But this time, there’s an escape hatch: four open worlds you can freely switch between. Stuck as the warrior? Swap to the wizard—or even pilot a talking boat—and clear your head before circling back. Had this existed during Braid’s development, I might have kept more hair.

The demo became one of the most-played titles during Steam Next Fest (June edition), proving a dedicated audience still embraces Blow’s uncompromising design. Yet that “hundreds of hours” claim warrants caution—it’s too often code for tedious backtracking in modern indie games. Recall Planescape: Torment on PS1: its depth came from dense dialogue trees and branching choices, not looping corridors hunting for levers. Too many contemporary titles inflate playtime with filler, not substance.

You can play as a queen, thief, warrior, wizard, or even a talking boat. On paper, it sounds cluttered—but Blow has always rejected gratuitous systems. If each character offers genuinely distinct puzzle logic, it’s admirable; if it’s just reskinned world-hopping, you’d be better off meditating on The Witness’s mountain summit.

Frankly, who else would spend a decade crafting a pure puzzle game in 2026? At the credits, I sat motionless for two full minutes—the last time I felt that immersed was Braid’s ending.

Recommendation: Try the free demo first. If you don’t uninstall within an hour, the full game might just be worth your time.