Fireboy and Watergirl: Which Temple to Play After the Forest Temple

Once the Forest Temple's 32 rooms are done, there are five more games in the series. Two of them, The Light Temple and The Crystal Temple, are on this site with their own pages; the other three are not here yet, because the only builds we could find were missing levels, but they are worth knowing about so you can pick where to go next. They share the same controls — arrows for Fireboy, W, A and D for Watergirl — and the same core rule that each character can cross their own element and not the other's. What changes is the mechanic layered on top. Here is what each one adds, so you can pick the next temple rather than just the next number.

2: The Light Temple

The Light Temple adds light beams and rotating mirrors. A beam has to hit a sensor to move a platform or open a wall, and you turn the mirrors by walking into them. It is the most puzzle-heavy game in the series: several late rooms are really about angles, with the platforming as the reward for solving them. Play this one second if you liked the levers-and-buttons side of the Forest Temple.

3: The Ice Temple

Ice floors change the movement. Both characters slide after you let go of the key, so the precise jumps you learned in the first two temples now need a run-up and an early stop. There are frozen blocks to slide into position and sections where the right character has to go first. If your problem with the Forest Temple was that it felt slow, the Ice Temple is the fast one.

4: The Crystal Temple

The Crystal Temple's new idea is teleport crystals: walk into one and you come out of the matching colour somewhere else on the screen. Boxes travel through them too, which is where the good puzzles hide — the box you need on a button is often on the other side of a portal. This is the temple where reading the whole room before moving matters most.

5: Elements

Elements was the first game in the series built in HTML5 rather than Flash, and it is a greatest-hits: forest, light, ice and crystal rooms plus new ones themed on the elements, reached from a hub map that lets you take side paths. If you only have time for one sequel, this is the one, because it teaches every earlier mechanic as it goes.

6: Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales adds fairies — small helpers you can fly around the room to press switches neither character can reach. It is the newest game and the most forgiving, with more checkpoints and a lighter tone. Good for a younger second player.

A sensible order

1. Forest Temple (here on the home page)
2. Light Temple (on this site)
3. Crystal Temple (on this site)
4. Ice Temple
5. Elements
6. Fairy Tales

That order front-loads the puzzle temples while the Forest Temple's controls are fresh, leaves the slippery one until you are comfortable with the jumps, and saves the two HTML5-era games for last since they are the longest. Whichever you pick, the same solo advice applies: one character at a time, doors before diamonds.