Each orb contains a world. Carry orbs to solve puzzles. Place orbs on pedestals to activate mechanisms. Jump between worlds to access new areas.
Think about world nesting. Some puzzles require carrying multiple orbs. The drone ability helps with combat and traversal.
Each world has a guardian boss. Learn their patterns. Use the environment to your advantage.
Every orb is a world, and a world can contain orbs. When you carry an orb, the world inside it stops simulating; set it down and it runs again. That is the whole puzzle vocabulary, and the game never adds a mechanic after chapter four.
Chapter order: the desert orb teaches pedestal activation, the green orb teaches carrying one world into another, and the purple orb introduces the elevator that only moves when the orb holding it sits on a matching pedestal.
Guardian fights are pattern puzzles, not combat. The water guardian fires a three-shot sequence with a half-second gap - dodge on the second beat, shoot on the third. The sand guardian's armor only opens when you enter the world inside it: leave the orb, go in, kill the core, come back.
The drone unlocked in chapter five hovers across gaps that would otherwise need a carried orb. Scout a room with it before committing an orb to a pedestal, because you cannot recall an orb once it is socketed until you find the release switch.
Each world hides one fragment behind a wall that only opens from the inside. The last fragment in every world is usually reachable only after the guardian dies, so clear bosses before hunting.
There are no fail states: every room can be re-entered and orbs can be re-socketed at will. If a puzzle looks impossible, you are almost certainly holding a world you need to put down first.