Braid, Anniversary Edition

I've heard a lot about Braid, and in days gone by the game was often thrown around as a classic example of "video games as art". However, I'd never actually played the game until recently, so I'm playing it probably a decade or more after the end of its relevance or impact, making it much harder to review. The gameplay is rudimentary at best. The platforming is annoying and unenjoyable, enemies are basic and uninteresting, and bosses are unmemorable and buggy. The time rewind mechanic is fine enough, and while it's used to the maximum extent possible I never actually found myself having fun with it. For the most part the puzzles are fine, not horrible but not anything interesting or meaningful. Some solutions are stupid or obtuse in a way that didn't feel satisfying when I actually solved the puzzle. Stages are disconnected from each other and entirely self-contained in a way that I would expect from a game of this age. I didn't like the music, it was utterly forgettable and I have...

The whole audio commentary system, which was my main draw for buying this, is horribly thought out and laid out. You're better off just listening to the podcasts on YouTube. The graphical updates are nice but hardly worth the money. Should've refunded when I could.

I have no doubt that this blew people's minds back in the day, but it's really just boring and obtuse now.

This is definitely not a bad game, but if I need to give yes/no recommendation, I would say "no". Why? Even though the game can be satisfying, many puzzles are so obscure that in combination with clunky gameplay I found the overall experience not recommendable. I think that my frustration also comes from the impression that the game often requires you to conduct long action sequences and it is not easy to spot what might have been missed. I also didn't like the way the plot was served. It is explained in ambigious notes and I like it more straightforward.

Super interesting to listen to the game disign talks. Unique presentation and superb guests. New puzzle are super fun, a bit meta a times, but nice

THANK YOU THEKLA for being so generous , also whenever i feel like torturing my brain i play these type of games lol cant wait for the new one to be release

Had fun revisiting this, enjoyed the commentary and the extra world 7 puzzle pieces.

Fun. Love the commentary.

great remake of a classic

Very fun, challenging and interesting puzzles