Backlog Review: Braid

To clear out my Steam backlog, I’m playing games I haven’t played on Steam before.

Braid

Time Played: 38 minutes

Done?: Yeah

Source: Humble Indie Bundle 3 (now expired)

Is there anything left to say about Braid that hasn’t already been said? I played the heck out of this game back in 2008 when it released. Its unique take on the puzzle platformer genre had people going crazy for it. It utilized a time buffer that would record your every movement so at any time you could rewind time and redo what you just did a different way, or exactly the same way with elements of the world operating outside of time.

This game is great and the puzzle elements make you feel like the dumbest person in the world when you can’t grasp a solution; and the smartest person in the world once you overcome the mental block. That is the hallmark of a truly good puzzle based game. Even though most of the opening puzzles are less challenging and I started getting into the more difficult puzzles in the half an hour I spent with it, that feeling managed to creep into my brain and fire off 10 year old neurons.

I did not manage to complete Braid. I’m not one that needs to get to the game’s official end of a game. While some games push me to get there, some I’m happy enough to have had my time with it and move on. Looks like that probably won’t change with me and Braid. Time to move on.