I've had Braid sitting in my Steam library for a long time now, half completed. I remember getting the game in a bundle, completing the first couple worlds with ease, and then being frustrated with some of the later puzzles. I don't really know why I decided to pick it back up. For the sake of completion I guess; it's sort of akin to finishing a half-read book, I suppose.
If you're even only remotely connected to the indie game facet of the video game culture, you've probably heard of Braid- one of the indie games featured in Indie Game: The Movie. This game has been met with pretty much universal acclaim.
a variety of mechanics to play around with
What is Braid about? Think Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but with an infinite ability to rewind time and you've got the baseline mechanic for Braid. The game allows you to initially just correct mistakes in your platforming adventures, but the game quickly fans out to explore variations on the rewind mechanic. There are six worlds in total, each with its own theme and twist. For example, time may sit still until you move or you may be introduced to the ability to slow time around a small area. The intricacies of the different mechanics are all explored with only a minor amount of instruction as players work them out for themselves.
this screenshot on steam is heinously misleading
It's this ease of players learning the initial mechanics that seems to contradict the difficulty that I discovered in trying to find new ways to exploit the mechanics. For the most part, I didn't have too much trouble with the six worlds, but there were just some puzzles that I had to look up a video guide on how to complete. These puzzles usually contained moments of "Oh, I didn't know I could do that," so in ways, the puzzles are only limited by your imagination to a degree.
Out of the entire Braid experience, the most curious thing was probably the story- its contents and presentation. Braid storytelling is broken down in chunks. As you unlock more worlds more of the story becomes available. The tidbits you read before entering a world coincides with the theme of the world, but for the most part everything is going to be vague and convoluted until you reach the epilogue in a kind of Memento-like presentation.
the atomic bomb conspiracy
Although Braid's story is pretty much up to the eye of the beholder, here is one interesting interpretation. In retrospect, I wish I knew some interpretations behind Braid's story before playing through the game to be able to better appreciate the minor nuances and intricate hints in the storyline. After finishing the game, I only had a shallow interpretation that I had played through a romance story when there was so much more. I originally thought that Braid had small replay value, but I'm thinking that replaying the game with someone else's interpretation in mind may offer a new experience.
With Braid you don't really know what you're looking at until the end, in which a lot of things start falling into place. Braid's intertwining of mechanics and storytelling is paramount, but hidden and at the same time ever present. The game has been criticized for being overpriced and I'm going to have to agree. You'll get around three to five hours of gameplay from Braid. Unless you're a a diehard supporter of indie development, you're probably better off purchasing Braid from a bundle or when it's on sale. Whatever the price, Braid is a sure indie game classic- just remember that you don't have to like the classics to be a fan of the genre.
Take a look at Jonathan Blow's upcoming 3D puzzle game, The Witness!
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