REVIEW: Braid, Anniversary Edition is a Visually Stunning, yet Shockingly Difficult Experience

When Braid first launched on the Xbox 360 in 2008, I remember seeing a lot of people compare it to the Mario franchise due to its creative puzzle-platforming, vibrant art style, and unique enemy designs. So, when I first booted up Braid, Anniversary Edition, that’s what I was expecting – a simple Mario-like game that I could sit back and relax with – but I couldn’t have been more wrong. What starts out as a fairly straightforward platformer with some clever puzzles and gameplay mechanics quickly turns into a punishingly difficult mind-bender of a game that I, frankly, was unable to finish by the time of this review.

But let’s take a few steps back. Braid’s protagonist is a man named Tim who is searching for “the Princess” who has been taken by some “horrible and evil monster” because of a series of mistakes Tim had made in the past. The story of their relationship is told in fragmented bits of exposition via storybooks at the beginning of each world. There are six of these worlds in total, but you start the game in World 2, with the implication being that you are trying to get back to the inciting event before the start of the game, the moment when everything went wrong between Tim and the Princess. But, it’s not as if you can reverse time, right?

Rewinding time is actually the core gameplay mechanic utilized in Braid. In fact, Tim can’t actually die in the game. There is no classic “game over” screen when you fall into a pit, or get attacked by an enemy. You simply press the Y button and rewind time to the moment before Tim dies – you can even rewind time all the way back to the beginning of the level and start again! It’s a super clever mechanic, but the nuances to the ability aren’t really explained. For instance, you can rewind at faster and slower speeds by clicking the R and L shoulder buttons, which is often needed to solve specific puzzles.

And when I say puzzles, I’m referring to the platforming challenges that are riddled throughout the levels of each world. Yes, technically, you can make a bee-line to the exit and call it quits, but the primary objective is to obtain the literal puzzle pieces that are always just out of reach, requiring you to use a little brainpower to solve the “puzzle” of getting the puzzle piece. Once you have obtained all the puzzle pieces in each world, you then need to assemble the pieces on a board to unlock a scene from Tim’s past with the Princess, as if Tim is recalling a forgotten memory. It’s another fun element to the game, but again, it’s not something that is explained to you as a player, you just have to experience it and work it out for yourself.

In fact, Braid explains almost nothing to you as you traverse the six worlds, and each world has a different gameplay loop/mechanic/ability that you have to figure out on your own – such as a shadowy version of Tim that mimics your moves, or items and enemies that are immune to the rewinding time ability. At first, this is extremely rewarding because you actually feel like a genius for solving a particularly tricky puzzle. Braid really makes you think about how to interact with the world and get those puzzle pieces, and having those “aha!” moments is incredibly addicting. But as the game progresses, the mechanics get more involved and more difficult to contend with, and suddenly your basic rewind ability feels more like a burden than a superpower. Perhaps one could interpret that as a thematic note within the game’s overarching narrative, but I found it more taxing than not.

I’m not saying I can’t handle a good puzzle-platformer, and I’m certainly not saying a game like Braid should hold your hand through every beat; however, without a guidebook of some kind, Braid really feels like you’re stumbling around in the dark trying to luck into solving the puzzle rather than rewarding your patience and observational skills. And I suppose that’s what disappoints me the most. The longer I played Braid, Anniversary Edition, the more it tested my patience. I couldn’t appreciate the gorgeously remastered visuals or enjoy the reworked music tracks because about halfway through the game it felt like it suddenly turned hostile toward me for simply trying to play it.

I know that sounds harsh, but the game literally prohibits you from accessing the final area, the mysterious World 1 and the root to the entire narrative, without collecting every puzzle piece and assembling every puzzle board to unlock the path to the ending. I am not kidding when I say I tried to collect the same puzzle piece so many times I lost count. And because I’m missing just a few puzzle pieces, I’m punished by not being allowed to see the ending to a story I was deeply invested in. Which is sad, because Braid is a really fun and engaging experience, right up to the point where it’s not. Exciting challenges become monotonous chores, and no one really wants to do their chores. I only have so much free time in the day, too, and I don’t want to spend it feeling frustrated and cheated by a video game.

I don’t want to leave this review on a sour note, though, so I will emphasize that Braid, Anniversary Edition is an astonishingly beautiful game. It makes a compelling piece of evidence for people, like myself, who defend video games as art with its painterly art style and emotionally-charged story. I also love that you can toggle the original graphics and sound effects on and off with a simple click of the joystick, and it does so on the fly. No need to hunt through a menu to flip a switch, and you don’t have to restart the level to see the old version. You just click the joystick and boom, you’re now playing the original version of Braid. This should be the standard for all video game remasters, not only because it gives the players a choice to play the game in the way they remember it, but it also shows just how much care and attention went into the final remastered product. In the case of Braid, Anniversary Edition, it’s not just a higher resolution or brighter colors, either. The entire game has seemingly been remade from scratch, with new animations, sound effects, music, and a myriad of other finer details that really make Braid as a concept come to life like never before.

Ultimately, I’m not sure I am the target player for Braid. Perhaps I don’t have enough patience for a game like this, or maybe my puzzle solving skills aren’t as good as I thought they were (though many a Reddit thread highlights the same issues that I had). I really, really wanted to love this game more than I do. When the game works, it works beautifully, and I had so much fun playing as Tim and experiencing a world so expertly crafted to look and feel like a living storybook. You can tell the developers put a lot of a thought and time into crafting such a compelling video game experience. It just reaches a point where certain players, like myself, are unable to advance forward and complete the story.

Perhaps other players will be more suited to these puzzle-platforming challenges, and maybe I’ll revisit the game later on down the line, but I’m thankful I got to experience what I did. Braid is a one-of-a-kind creation made all the better with Anniversary Edition, and I would recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in a puzzle-y Mario-like game. Just be prepared to be patient and enjoy the ride for as long as you can.