Review: Braid, Anniversary Edition

Summary

• Core gameplay remains engaging and inventive after two decades, showcasing Braid's timeless puzzle design.
• Enhanced visuals, improved animations, and additional levels complement the Anniversary Edition's rich developer commentary.
• Despite some navigation issues with the commentary material, the revamped Braid still stands as a classic in puzzle game design.

Ask anyone what's the first name that comes to mind regarding the start of the independent game boom -- right around the middle-to-late seventh generation to be precise -- and a handful of names are bound to pop up again and again. Before descriptors like "Metroidvania," "roguelike" and "deck-builder" were so common a trade, you might hear names like Fez, Limbo, Super Meat Boy and the sort be brought up. Early 2010s releases that didn't just release to much acclaim, but in a way sparked a new-found interest in the cultivation of video game microgenres in their own right. The type and style of game that even to this day is often replicating to some extent the ideas this early wave of titles professed.

But go back even further than that, just past the mid-point of the 2000s and a few more, equally-important names may similarly be uttered. World of Goo, Castle Crashers and arguably still one of the modern day Puzzle genre's most infamous releases, 2008's Braid. A game that very much capitalized on being in the right place at the right time. The rise of digital storefronts, mainstream commercialization of the medium, a growing concern for the artistic and economic stature of AAA games and what would later become one of the biggest paradigm shifts in so far as the pull and influence independent releases could achieve. Braid's success at the time may well have been limited to simply being part of the "first wave" so to speak, were it not for the fact that beneath the veneer of an Xbox Live Arcade digital download was a game of both visual and more importantly mechanical wow factor.

Added Appreciation

The first game to muster game designer and programmer Jonathan Blow into the public conscious, 2008's Braid was surprisingly effective given its compact and relatively short run-time. A four to five hour puzzle-platformer centering around the core prospect of time manipulation. And while Blow, in conjunction with his then-established new studio Thekla Inc would go on to devise a puzzle game even denser and more ambitious with its mechanics via 2016's The Witness, there's an argument to be had that Braid's historical prominence gives it something of a leg up over its successor.

Sixteen years on, Braid: Anniversary Edition sees the once blurry, 720p resolution of the original given a remastered treatment. Sharper visuals, reworked music, improved animations and additional levels compliment a surprisingly in-depth amount of commentary from Blow and his collaborators at the time. Covering everything from the art direction to the effort required on the programming side for each of the game's time-manipulation mechanics. Personally, it's indeed been around a decade-plus since the original release was touched and now, revisiting the game via its Anniversary Edition, the remaster, if nothing else, cements the original thoughts of its once Xbox 360 incarnation. Braid remains as commendable a product of mechanics and technical wizardry as it always was. Its narrative aspect and attempt to invoke a deeper meaning than its gameplay professes? Less so.

Another Piece of the Puzzle

Even with these recurring criticisms, Braid: Anniversary Edition can't be faulted for how far effort has gone to bring the original release up to present-day snuff in so far as presentation goes. And not just in the sense that the resolution has been given a significant boost, but credit should go more so to the increased detail and level of care that's placed into the many assets. Level backgrounds are now greater in detail, the soundtrack has received a touch-up with additional instrumentation. And to top it off, even your own player-character's animations have been added to. It all adds up to an enhancement that, even more pleasingly, can be hopped back and forth between at the tap of a button. Players able to switch seamlessly between the original and enhanced versions at any time.

For anyone completely lost on what Braid actually is as a game and a premise, players take on the role of a character referred to in-game simply as Tim as he sets out to rescue a princess. Both within and outside the framing of the only source of narrative -- offered only through mere text logs -- Braid intentionally keeps it vague as to the reasoning behind such a quest. So too events that might've transpired prior to the "events" of the game itself. But even here, such a description of what the game is attempting feels, in a way, like one is reaching. Many years have passed and one's feelings on this particular element of the game remain unchanged. Despite a surprisingly well-executed finale, even with the knowledge of what happens, Braid's closing moments during its last puzzle-focused level demonstrate well that sometimes simplicity does indeed breed elegance.

But here is arguably the one and only time Braid makes good on its particular inclusion of a story element, or lack thereof. It may not have the eye-rolling, naval-gazing slog of the audio logs one finds in The Witness, but the fact remains that as far as an Achilles' heel goes, Braid's is that of its writing. Get past that though -- which in reality is a simple thing to do -- and what you have is a puzzle game that up to its final moments is brimming with one inventive spin on its central time concept after another. What starts relatively simple in the sense of being able to reverse in-game time -- reverting not just what's taken place in a level, but also one's own actions performed up to that point -- quickly evolves from thereon. Even changing up what enemies, items and devices can be inflicted with or are in fact immune to said manipulation of time.

...Where Time Becomes A Loop

How Braid plays with this core idea -- specifically how much one is in control of the flow of time and how one can manipulate actions on-screen -- quickly becomes the biggest draw. Even after so many years and with much of the levels having been memorized, it's still impressive from a technical level how this all performs. Better still, simply seeing the enacting of the game's own internal logic play out during one's solving of a particular platforming segment. The see-sawing of delight and frustration during segments that have you defeat a set number of monsters, only to realize that moving in a certain way may inadvertently undo all your hard work. And at its most mind-boggling: working out how to get enemies to, as the game itself deems it, "un-die" for example.

Sixteen years on and Braid's puzzle and level design has aged tremendously well. Not just for the mere attraction in seeing a particular time-manipulating mechanic play out, but as one has matured too, in revisiting the game, there comes a greater appreciation for the specific way platforms are aligned, enemies are positioned and the like. You wouldn't know it at a first (or in my case, second) glance, but Braid is very much a game about fine, minute choices and pinpointing the exact moments to act. Only a game such as this could get away with reusing the exact same boss fight albeit with a new mechanic tied to it, but it's only because the precision aspect to one's decisions is as equally important as to how one manipulates time that Braid: Anniversary Edition has in a way allowed an even greater appreciation to develop.

Behind the Scenes

But it's in the surprisingly in-depth developer commentary where Anniversary Edition just might have justified its presence, albeit in a somewhat clumsily-arranged manner. The commentary covering a broad range of topics and in some cases, going to extensive depths as to the work and time invested in making certain aspects work and function properly. Strange as it may sound to read as mere text, perhaps the best moments had with the Anniversary Edition are in moments such as this. Of hearing Blow reminisce on topics such as how in-game assets were handled or the reasoning behind a world's particular color palette. And for those of you more interested in the mechanics, how things like particle effects are rendered when inverted.

There's a lot of ground covered here and while it's not an immediate deal-breaker, it's a shame that the game doesn't go about offering it in a straightforward and simplified fashion. As much the game claims to house it all in an easy-to-access manner, don't be surprised to find yourself accidentally getting lost in the somewhat labyrinthine jumble that is navigating the commentary material. And while the sentiment is appreciated -- being able to play along with levels the commentary is focused on,as you're listening -- perhaps a more straightforward log of audio clips in a menu might've sufficed or at least complimented this design choice.

Closing Comments:

Nearly two decades on, Braid still refuses to show its age. A game whose varied ideas and smart execution remain one of the puzzle genre's finest showings. The Anniversary Edition doesn't so much attempt to fix what was never broken to begin with, but instead adds a rich assortment of visual and audible enhancements, on top of what is surprisingly as in-depth and varied a commentary on the game as you can get. Those who may not have clicked with its gameplay at first go might not find much to entice them back in for a second try. But for everybody else -- not least those fascinated with the development, construction and inevitable design -- Braid, Anniversary Edition offers a compelling insight into what remains a classic of great puzzle design.