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Braid

Developer: Number None Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
06 August 2008
Braid - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.54 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
1,029 Ratings / 7 Reviews
#1,010 All-time
#33 for 2008
From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles. The time behaviors include: the ability to rewind, objects that are immune to being rewound, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, time dilation, and perhaps more.
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Pretty fun side scroller with puzzles to solve. I liked all the complex puzzles - some really did take some thought to solve, others I just fumbled around until I got it. The main mechanic is rewinding time, but others get thrown in the mix like rewinding time, but what you just did gets replayed as a shadow. Or you throw down a ring and it creates a circle where time is slowed down inside.

The storyline is a bit bizarre I guess, there's some interpretations online that seems a bit bonkers. To me it's an unreliable narrator talking about his wife leaving him - and how he wants to rewind time to stop the issues. He feels a bit narcissistic.

The art style is wonderful, dated a bit now - but I hear a remaster is coming soon. Once you play through it once though, I'm not sure if it'd be that interesting. In fact I played the first stage back in like 2009! And even now I remembered some of the puzzles.

Overall well worth checking out for fans of puzzle games or artistic indie side-scrollers like Inside.
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Panza 2023-11-23T01:37:21Z
2023-11-23T01:37:21Z
3.0
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Fractal
Fans did not appreciate Jonathan Blow not appreciating Soulja Boy appreciating his game. Soulja left a rapturous praise, raving over the robustness of the mechanics, noting that the character "doesn't ever run out of the going back in time...potion", perhaps favorably alluding to less technically-sound implementations such as was found in so-called "triple-A" games like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. By noting that the protagonist is "like Mario...in a business suit", Soulja provides context not only for the absurd world which the game is set, but also in the game's internal reverberation of the culture from which it was born. Soulja expresses a deep appreciation for the game's nihilist themes, watching the protagonist fall to his death, screaming, "Oh shit I'm gonna die!", and naturally, rewinding the mistake. Once on solid ground, however, he ultimately concludes "there's no point". Such is the case in a world where actions don't carry consequences... even when Soulja is ostensibly making progress, he makes the same statement, "There ain't no fuckin' point". Yet his play is exuberant; Soulja is approaching from a meta-analytical perspective, absorbing a fatalist meaning in the work's themes, yet joyous in each moment of discovery.

In all seriousness, I completely understand Blow getting annoyed over that video. I don't think the average "criticizer of Jonathan Blow" is really aware of how much dedication and passion it takes to make any substantial work, and as such it's not really that unexpected that a creator might react strongly to a perceived slight. If they didn't have that passion, the game probably wouldn't exist in the first place.
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castoridae 2023-08-12T05:08:28Z
2023-08-12T05:08:28Z
5.0
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There ain't no point to the game
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landschneckt 2023-04-21T04:15:07Z
2023-04-21T04:15:07Z
0.5
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Criado pra aprimorar a manipulação do tempo de Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Braid existe por suas mecânicas.

A história e o design gráfico são interessantes, mas servem só de apoio para o level design espetacular do Jonathan Blow.
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gabrielctps 2022-02-23T22:43:56Z
2022-02-23T22:43:56Z
4.5
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The design here is superb. Everything is meticulously crafted but it is the puzzle design which steals the show. I also found the story curious and thought provoking.
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IndustrialHz 2021-08-19T23:31:27Z
2021-08-19T23:31:27Z
5.0
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I have a lot of respect for Braid, I really do, not only was It a huge influence on indie games becoming a more commonplace and respected artform, but it’s got quite a lot of rather interesting themes and subversions of how a game is typically thought of, both in terms of its gameplay and narrative approach. With that said however, I can’t say that this is a game I outright love in a lot of cases either for quite a few reasons that pervade the entire short experience that this is. This often feels as if it comes down to the personality and outlook on art that Jon Blow himself has and the way it affects the finer details of this all, and these finer details are really where this falls short in a lot of cases. What ends up happening and bringing down this game a lot is the fact that it really feels like Blow made this largely for himself without fully considering the experiences of those with an outsider’s perspective, leading to some things that were implemented expertly, but often giving the game the feeling that it lacks cohesion on a grander scale. This is ultimately what stops Braid from being a true masterpiece to me despite its interesting and clever qualities.

The most prominent way in which the game’s incohesive nature reveals itself is through its narrative and the way it’s presented. A lot of the narrative content itself is honestly pretty interesting in the way it attempts to completely deconstruct the typical video game conventions and almost act as a commentary on it, something that manages to influence the game’s directions and design in a consistent way that ties in with this idea. This is expressed in a few different ways, whether it’s the clinical, intellectual language used to provide exposition, leaving a lot very intentionally vague, the way that death is not truly a concept in this thanks to the player’s ability to rewind time, the way the tropes that play out in the level are lifted directly from Mario and warped to fit more in line with what Braid is trying to say, and even the fact that the player doesn’t even have to interact with the majority of the level to make it through a world, there’s really just, a lot this does interestingly in order to flip the medium on its head. My issue however is that just because something is novel, doesn’t necessarily mean it actually works well, both individually and in conjunction with the other elements implemented within, and this attempt at trying to talk about other games and do things in a very different way, essentially attempting to expand an artform further past what one might think, ultimately ends up only resulting in something worthwhile coming out of it occasionally. The narrative is a great example of this, as while yeah, giving the player a huge wall of text before they enter each world and having them piece together a story that’s written in a rather abstract way is certainly a more unique take compared to telling the player directly what they need to do, it also leads to a disconnect between the narrative and gameplay. Rather than these two elements blending together, it tends to feel like taking turns between being told bits of a story and then going through some puzzles that have next to nothing to do with the story beyond the thematic ties to its core mechanic, instead just feeling like pure, empty gameplay, feeding into the fact that this just doesn’t totally gel together. Similarly, while the character designs and surface level story are lifted from Mario and then just changed, it all feels very superficial, like, it doesn’t really tie into a particular aesthetic nor message, it’s just there and feels like a feeble attempt to try incorporating another layer of something into this all without sufficiently developing it. These culminate in a game that often can feel like you’re not really being driven towards anything nor gaining any insight, you’re just floating along, solving puzzles, and then occasionally reading some text that feels mostly detached from what you’re doing.

That said, the puzzles themselves are honestly mostly pretty cool despite there being some fairly large issues I have with how they tie into the game and work with each other. They often feel very streamlined, playing off only the one or two core mechanics present, with everything else simply elevating these, leading to what is often a very elegant, contemplative puzzle game that really rewards planning and experimentation over a brute force approach, making success feel that much more rewarding once it eventually happens. I also really love the way the game teaches the player so much completely wordlessly, with early introductions of concepts and mechanics being presented in such a way that it feels instantly intuitive and is picked up in an instant, while also teaching the player some unspoken rules and design conventions and then strategically breaking them at the right times in order to stop things from being too straightforward. This is particularly inspired in the way its utilised to stop the player from thinking that every element of a puzzle is something important that needs to be used, with the concept of red herrings and empty space being conveyed in a reasonably early level that has long stretches of doing practically nothing. This works so well because it’s being shown in such an environment that the player won’t be attempting to figure out how to utilise these useless components productively due to their placement, allowing them to understand this idea even if it’s only subconsciously. My issue comes from the fact that sometimes the game unfortunately can go a bit far with this and create some situations which rely too heavily on inferring niche interactions that are never really hinted at, making it sometimes feel as if there’s just no way to figure stuff out in a fair way and going against what the game is attempting to go for.

One of the most egregious ways in which this is handled is through the fact that the player will likely pick up on the fact that the puzzles very rarely require any sort of technical platforming, with the answer being rather easy to execute with minimal timing once you’ve figured it out, meaning that if your attempted solution is demanding a lot of more fast paced manoeuvres to succeed at, you’re probably doing it wrong. The issue is that rather than being something that’s ingrained throughout the game, this convention is broken just often enough to cast doubt into this, and while in some cases it’s a good way and stopping the player from getting too comfortable in their way of thinking, in this case, it ends up considerably bringing down the experience due to how close some of these incorrect approaches end up feeling, convincing the player that just trying it again will have them win. While even this funnily enough ties back into the game attempting to represent the harmful ways in which a single-minded obsession can manifest, it doesn’t change the fact that it feels too at odds with the careful way in which the rest of the game has been put together for it to be anything other than detrimental. This is what I mean when talking about Jon Blow making this without quite enough time put into an outsider’s perspective, as I’m sure that such things feel totally intuitive after you’ve gone through a whole bunch of times and handcrafted the challenges.

I personally also feel like the art and sound design further contribute to the game feeling rather flawed as it often feels as if this stuff is just really unappealing. The artstyle feels quite messy and uninspired for the most part, with nothing really contributing to any grander aesthetic or anything, just a series of either bland or ugly creatures that are usually animated very rudimentarily. This gives the game a very cheap look in places that’s further elevated by the horrible sound effects that make every instance of jumping on an enemy feel like a total dopamine drainer. The music similarly just does nothing for me, it feels out of place in a lot of cases and actually further contributes to this feeling of cheapness, with all of these elements combined almost giving me the vibes of a shovelware mobile game. The problems surrounding the audio are also made worse when you’re having to hear the music either slowed down or reversed a lot of the time due to the core mechanics of the game being about time manipulation, making it infuriating to be hearing anything in the game even after only an hour or 2. With all this said however, I still believe that this is a great game in a fair few respects, with the puzzles being mostly awesome, the mechanics being tightly focused, and the ending sequence being genuinely incredible in how it’s handled, to the point where even if I don’t think this is a masterpiece, it’s definitely worth a play, and it’s short too! I really wish that all elements of the game actually worked together properly rather than often feeling disjointed or poorly conceived in the grander scheme of it all just to bring it up to the next level, but it’s a good game regardless.
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Kempokid 2021-08-28T13:36:08Z
2021-08-28T13:36:08Z
3.5
1
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Catalog

public_transport Braid 2024-03-27T21:54:00Z
2024-03-27T21:54:00Z
3.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
6.5
colon_three Braid 2024-03-24T04:13:45Z
2024-03-24T04:13:45Z
4.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
medu Braid 2024-03-20T19:25:32Z
2024-03-20T19:25:32Z
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
bebe12345 Braid 2024-03-12T12:52:13Z
2024-03-12T12:52:13Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Trifonas Braid 2024-03-11T15:38:36Z
2024-03-11T15:38:36Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
eliottstaten Braid 2024-03-11T04:56:42Z
2024-03-11T04:56:42Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
typob Braid 2024-03-10T19:47:21Z
2024-03-10T19:47:21Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Wolis Braid 2024-03-05T11:23:34Z
2024-03-05T11:23:34Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Kremling98 Braid 2024-03-04T20:34:14Z
2024-03-04T20:34:14Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
zhabaaa Braid 2024-03-04T19:10:58Z
2024-03-04T19:10:58Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
locomotic Braid 2024-03-03T14:35:15Z
2024-03-03T14:35:15Z
1.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Dragonhawk Braid 2024-02-25T14:57:37Z
2024-02-25T14:57:37Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
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Single-player
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  • Previous comments (21) Loading...
  • DomMazzetti 2023-02-27 22:50:34.155934+00
    Soulja Boy was right.
    reply
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  • Nacho353 2023-07-29 03:42:38.234384+00
    The Soulja Boy video is the funniest shit I have seen in months
    reply
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  • Bender161 2023-11-10 17:48:36.954666+00
    there aint got no point to the game you just go around jumping on shit
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  • Froot 2023-11-12 23:09:45.664571+00
    hide Removed by mod
    This post was removed by a site moderator.
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  • forkky70 2023-12-31 06:34:48.040788+00
    they're not seeing the most important... thing
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  • Flocox 2023-12-31 19:08:49.538483+00
    they're not seeing the most important... thing [2]
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  • sunshinerecorder 2024-01-11 17:22:11.661431+00
    just being the very first comment in like three fucking years that is not le epic reddit bacon soulja boy shitpost telling you that it's a fantastic game. curious to replay it for the first time since 2009.
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