Braid Image
Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 437 Ratings

  • Summary: Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where the player manipulates the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. 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. Braid treats your time and attention as precious; there is no filler in this game. Every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world. Braid is a 2-D platform game where you can never die and never lose. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. An unforgettable game experience that brings a set of various fantastic puzzles. Braid experiments with storytelling and playability itself succeeds on all fronts. [May 2009]
  2. Gentlemen, I think we’re looking at a masterpiece, in the same sense in which Portal is one too. A cerebral and pleasant experience, never frustrating without proper reward, never dull or monotonous.
  3. Manipulating time was never so challenging as in this masterpiece from Number None. Braid is a little gem carved in pure perfect gameplay, is so addictive that keeps you playing hour after hour. There aren't big flaws in this game, but Braid is a little bit short.
  4. Upon premiering on Xbox 360, Braid immediately joined Aquaria, Darwinia, Samorost, and World of Goo in the gold reserve of indie games. Its indie roots show through outdated, but stylish graphics, great music, and original ideas. Braid challenges your gray matter, but it does so in such a subtle and elegant ways that you can’t help but fall in love with it.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 109
  2. Negative: 7 out of 109
  1. Rileym
    10
    This game is stunning, it creates challenges that out wit & out smart games such as portal. it creates challenges that are actually beautiful (yep that's how i describe them, beautiful) and only few particular deranged people with no lives *cough* Fred X *cough* Seamus B *cough* don't understand or enjoy Expand
  2. VinceK
    8
    Everything Seamus said was wrong about the game is the reason why I love it. Yes, there is trial and error, and you have to rewind many times, but the game made it so easy and seamless that the payoff and satisfaction you get when you finally nail it at the end is immense and genuine. I think the only way your gaming experience will be hurt is if you consult gamefaqs or some other guide, and rob youself of that satisfaction. Some of the hardest puzzles in the game had the easiest answers, none of them were "vague," it was just a matter of looking at it in a different light (except for the stars, but those are not integral to finishing the game (wait, can the game be finished?)). The only flaw I saw with the game is its short length and nil replay value,,,,but that has changed with the implementation of the level editor, which I hope will create a thriving Braid level-making community. Expand
  3. Overrated. Wait, before you disagree, just hear me out. This is a good game. A great game, actually. The gameplay is smooth, the artstyle is brilliant and the character design is interesting. The puzzles are each unique and fun to figure out. The story is, well, its there, somewhere. My only real problem with Braid is the fact that the creator deliberately made the game without any discernible story. The creator himself has stated that their is more than one interpretation of the story and that he "would not be capable" of explaining it. So, the game has no story. It's just a bucketful of theories and ideas. But, don't give up on it, the game does have moral lessons embedded within the gameplay and "story". The most obvious theme is that the past cannot be reversed. What's done is done. While the story is different than normal games, and can turn many people away due to its vague nature, it's still interesting and a fresh take on both platformers and modern story-driven games. In my opinion, Braid shines due to its artistic aspect. The backgrounds in this game are amazing. Everything is, or at least seems to be, painted by hand. If not by hand, then in a "painterly" style, as the summary states. The character designs are simple, but very different and interesting when compared to other modern platformers. In conclusion, I would say that Braid is a unique game with a very vague, poignant and atypical story that will evoke a different theory from every individual that plays. While not a bad thing, it does not follow the traditional building blocks or plot outline that most games go by, and this can make it an unenjoyable experience for some. I give Braid a 7.5/10. Mostly because of how short the game is. Expand
  4. SeamusB.
    3
    This surely has to be the most overrated 'indie' game of all time. Although somewhat innovative in its much-hyped time-manipulation mechanic, even though this was merely an elaboration on Prince of Persia's system, the rest of the gameplay falls woefully short. Much of the game's challenge comes not from the puzzles, most of which are blatantly apparent; but instead from the extremely fiddly nature of how your character controls, and the nigh-on unavoidable trial-and-error nature of both solving puzzles and fighting enemies. As such, the central mechanic of the game becomes its greatest hindrance - as the game is designed around time manipulation, and the ability to go back and fix errors, it also becomes a nightmare of micro-managing the character's actions, to the point where in some cases if the character is more than a few pixels off the intended route, or strays just a bit too far in a given direction, he is killed, forcing a rewind. Despite the easily solvable nature of most of the puzzles, several are far too vague, and at least for myself, required consulting GameFAQs.com more than once. The purpose of the jigsaw puzzles is not explained during the game, and neither is the fact that completing certain portions actually makes certain parts of the game inaccessible, necessitating a restart of the game from scratch if the player wishes to see these parts. Also, the plot of the game is deliberately vague, misleading and utterly pretentious and overblown - totally out of place, considering the game's rather cutesy, whimsical style and direction. Although great care has obviously been lavished on the graphics and music, both of which are a joy to behold, they feel lost on such a teeth-grindingly irritating core game. There are many better examples of progressive platforming/puzzle games with deep and innovative gameplay and great graphics and sound, most of which don't cost a penny, such as Iji, Within a Deep Forest, Knytt, Knytt Stories, Fancy Pants Adventure, Nevermore 3, Eternal Daughter and many more. I realize most will not agree with my take on the game, but I honestly could not believe there's a single negative review of it anywhere with what to me seem like such apparent and fundamental flaws in how the game plays. Expand

See all 109 User Reviews

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