Braid 10th anniversary critical compilation

https://www.critical-distance.com/2018/07/24/braid-10th-anniversary-critical-compilation/

by mariuz • 8 years ago

74 56 8 years ago

critical-distance.com

LandR• 8 years ago

Braid is maybe favourite game of all time.

The way it plays with the time dynamics and weaves it into it's story is brilliant.

I love the way it fed you story via the books and the way the levels play style were linked to the story.

It also has a brilliant soundtrack, e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTZMKVTM9k

netgusto2• 8 years ago

Piggybacking on the great game OSTs topic: the one of FEZ, by Disasterpeace

https://music.disasterpeace.com/album/fez-ost

sarreph• 8 years ago

Couldn’t agree more! It is an absolute masterpiece and a selection of which I use to nap to :)

funkjunky3• 8 years ago

Also check out his Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack, and newly released "Disasters for Piano"

pdpi• 8 years ago

The way it plays with the time dynamics and weaves it into it's story is brilliant.

This deserves expanding upon. Where most games interweave interactive game sections with non-interactive storytelling sections that mostly use the tools of movies to tell stories, Braid and the first Bioshock are my two go-to examples for games that effectively use the game as a narrative medium distinct from film, where the story is told in a way that actively benefits from being built as a game.

SmellyGeekBoy5• 8 years ago

Bioshock is one of those "BRB, reinstalling" games along with STALKER and and Deus Ex. I wonder how many people will be starting it again this weekend thanks to your comment? I'm certainly seriously thinking about it...

andrepd• 8 years ago

I would add another often forgotten game: Spec Ops: the Line.

My go to example when I want to convince people games are art, and furthermore that games are a medium that offers unique possibilities. It's a reimagining of Apocalypse Now, but the interactivity adds a whole new layer of meaning and opportunity for reflection. You're not on the outside, watching characters do horrible things, you are the character, and you did those horrible things. It absolutely shows, in a way understandable even to someone who hasn't ever played a game, that the medium affords completely new possibilities.

Then the absolutely sublime way in which this this title -- from its marketing to its presentation to its first hours -- creates an expectation of being yet another utterly generic "modern military buddy-soldier shooter" to then shatter those expectations and deliver a deep and thought provoking story to tell... Well I could write pages about it. It just adds layers to your interpretation of the story, and more to reflect on.

modernerd2• 8 years ago

That first rewind moment in Braid!

Few games trigger that “wow” reaction. For me it was like the bullet time moment in the Matrix; an almost hallucinatory experience that changes your perception of what a medium can be.

This was something new — something different — something great.

If you loved Braid and are looking for a similar feeling from more recent games, I highly recommend Inside and Limbo from Playdead:

http://playdead.com/games/inside/

http://playdead.com/games/limbo/

ghusbands• 8 years ago

I argue against both of those recommendations. Braid is a strong puzzle game with finely crafted puzzles that can leave you bewildered for ages. Both Inside and Limbo are obvious on-the-rails platformers with no puzzles to speak of. I've played all three to 100% and, of them, only recommend Braid.

For good puzzles, look to Stephen's Sausage Roll, English Country Garden, HexCells. Also, many recommend The Witness, made by the creator of Braid.

modernerd2• 8 years ago

I agree that Inside and Limbo are easier as puzzlers.

“On-the-rails” could describe any non-open-world game. But Limbo, in particular, is not just a linear “forward forevermore” puzzler — it requires backtracking to solve some of the puzzles, which gives it a Braid-like quality.

To me they both capture the feeling I got playing Braid. Those reading shouldn't discount them for being less hard.

I haven't played your other recommendations — thank you for those!

itsmenotyou• 8 years ago

Inside and Limbo do have puzzles, but they're fairly predictable, mostly just variations on things that have been seen before. They're nice diversions, and have a pleasing graphical style, but the general sentiment of your comment is pretty much correct.

What made Braid so special was that it introduced an entirely new mechanic, explored the entire possible space of puzzles for that mechanic, and explored a bunch of complimentary orthogonal mechanics at the same time.

ewiewi• 8 years ago

Puzzles in Limbo are definitely simpler and more straightforward than in Braid, but Braid is also more than just a puzzle game.

To me, the feeling OP is describing when it comes to the first rewind in Braid is similar to the first few bizarre deaths in Limbo: Surprising, and it leads me to re-evaluate the way I approach the game.

robohydrate• 8 years ago

I'm a big fan of The Bridge. Though it doesn't have much storytelling, it is a fun puzzler.

AnIdiotOnTheNet4• 8 years ago

As a fan of puzzle games, I just want to chime in and say Stephen's Sausage Roll is possibly the most perfectly designed puzzle game ever made.

StillBored2• 8 years ago

I agree with that, a big part of the "puzzle" aspect is that it shoudl get _HARD_. There are plenty of platform puzzle games (trine comes to mind) which are fun, but they aren't really hard. As a child of the 80's games I really find game reviewers that complain about how hard games are to be silly. That was a time when the idea of saving your progress was foreign. There is nothing like having to play a game for an hour to get back to the point where you died.

I think a good recommendation might be FEZ for a game with physical puzzles that get incredibly difficult.

Although, even machinarium (which was in humble bundle2 with braid) has some pretty fun puzzles in the form of a point and click adventure.

m00n• 8 years ago

Seconded. It was a great game, albeit with not so much replay value.

There is a great interview with Blow on the technicalities of the warping effects in Braid: https://youtu.be/8dinUbg2h70

In addition to Limbo and Inside, may I also recommend:

Portal 1&2 Antichamber VVVVVV increpare.com

In particular Stephen Lavelle (@increpare) makes games with much darker and more interesting social implications. Although, Braid accurately predicted the "nice guys" trope.

funkjunky3• 8 years ago

Hey I finally found someone else who likes Antichamber!

tormeh• 8 years ago

I recommend The Talos Principle. The Witness is better (except narratively), but if you liked Braid you've probably already played it.

SmellyGeekBoy5• 8 years ago

Talos Principle is a really underrated game IMO. It should be up there with Portal as one of those genre defining moments in gaming.

rhinoceraptor• 8 years ago

I remember for about a week after playing it, when I got in the elevator at work I half expected the narrator to start talking.

crtasm2• 8 years ago

The second part of Radiator1 "Handle with Care" by Robert Yang uses gameplay as narrative, in this case a 3D environment (original release was a half-life mod). I recommend it and "Polaris", haven't played the final part.

https://radiatoryang.itch.i/radiator1

Also excellent, Thirty Flights of Loving: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Flights_of_Loving

baconomatic• 8 years ago

Radiator's link is broken, should be: https://radiatoryang.itch.i/radiator1

SmellyGeekBoy5• 8 years ago

I'm surprised nobody is recommending Fez, which was around the same era. I gather there was some drama involving the developer, or maybe people think it hasn't aged well, but I'd personally highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Braid.

AnIdiotOnTheNet4• 8 years ago

Fez is an interesting game, and obviously put together with a lot of passion, but the base game is a pretty straight-forward platformer (aside from the gimmick, obviously) and the puzzles are incredibly obtuse.

It was pleasant, but failed to engage me, personally, as a player.

hood_syntax• 8 years ago

For me, it was the first level when time move backwards as you went left. I literally couldn't stop smiling, I was so excited at the cleverness of the mechanic and the possibilities resulting from it; the music going along with it was such a cool detail.

jasonmp85• 8 years ago

The first rewind moment in Braid is stunning, but I was _blown away_ when I had my 'a ha' moment about the perspective-based puzzles in The Witness. We all know—intellectually—that games have a creator, but this was one hell of a wake-up call that everything around me was meticulously placed by someone who came before.

empath753• 8 years ago

The importance of Braid is primarily that it was the first game which was intended to be a piece of art, rather than a toy for children, which had any kind of mass market appeal.

It was the way people engaged with it seriously, in terms of gameplay and narrative and how the two interacted that made it important.

I think Amnesia and Portal were two other games that came out around the same time that were also similarly important.

pjc50• 8 years ago

the first game which was intended to be a piece of art

There have to be earlier contenders than this, surely? Yes it's the ancestor of the modern wave of artistically-aspiring games but game development dates back to the 1970s.

empath753• 8 years ago

I dunno. I’ve been playing video games since the Atari 2600 and I don’t think I recall any mainstream games that interacted with the ‘art’ world in a serious way. There were rpgs and such with serious stories, but I don’t think they were taken seriously by art critics in the way that Braid was.

tgb• 8 years ago

You cut out the "had any kind of mass market appeal" part, which makes the claim much more plausible (though I couldn't rule out there being earlier examples too).

hiccuphippo• 8 years ago

I'd say Shadow of the Colossus was regarded as a piece of art by critics on 2005 and the same for Ico, it's predecessor, released on 2001.

WorldMaker• 8 years ago

Infocom very clearly advertised/marketed/built their games as Literature, which counts for Art.

ariehkovler• 8 years ago

I love Braid so much.

First, the soundtrack, songs by Jami Sieber and Shira Kamman, were phenomenal. The gorgeous cello and violin are so atmospheric, and they also sound good backwards and sped up -- necessary for a game like Braid, and chosen for that reason.

Secondly, the artwork - that naive 2D platformer style but combined with gorgeous and subtle shading and depth that really showed it was something special. We're used to games doing this now, maybe.

Thirdly, the structure of the game itself as a critique of the traditional Mario-style platformer with its jumps, princesses and castles. It was like playing a postmodern game.

Then there's the relationship between the level's gameplay theme and the lesson it's trying to teach. This was something I saw Elizabeth Sandifer point out. The first level is all about being able to undo the mistakes of the past. But then we learn some mistakes are too big to undo. We learn about how a ring can change things in a relationship...

And then there's the two levels of twist ending and how they relate to games and gaming, especially a decade ago when it was much more a male pursuit.

Honestly I could talk about Braid for hours.

selestify• 8 years ago

Honestly I could talk about Braid for hours.

Please do. I wouldn't mind more elaboration on any of your points!

edpichler• 8 years ago

Braid is a masterpiece.

hartror• 8 years ago

Jonathon is an active HN member, though I am sure he is tired of discussing Braid in depth.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jblow

SmellyGeekBoy5• 8 years ago

Do you think? I always got the impression he was very generous with his time and loved sharing his work with others.

0xcde4c3db• 8 years ago

I think there are particular topics and arguments that he finds tiresome, like people demanding that he explain Braid's point in words, or claiming that he doesn't like Linux development because he just doesn't understand how it works (and not because he's legitimately flabbergasted that the UX can be described as a time warp to the '80s, if one is feeling generous).

the_dege• 8 years ago

A Great interview to Jonathan Blow for Tone control podcast, that talks about his history up to The Witness: https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/jonathan-blo...

Unknoob• 8 years ago

That final level of Braid, when you start to understand what's going on. I get chills just remembering it. One of my fondest memories gaming.

sandGorgon• 8 years ago

are there any games like for the mobile (especially android) ? I always though the mechanics of Braid would have been better adapted for a mobile touchscreen

myfonj• 8 years ago

Some remarkable recommendations of "similar" games appeared in this thread. I'd like add The Company of Myself [0] and its perhaps even better prequel Fixation [1]: I think it neatly fits this "philosophical indie platformer" niche. If you haven't yet, try them while you can (yup, Flash based).

[0] http://2darray.net/portfolio/the-company-of-myself/ [1] http://2darray.net/portfolio/fixation/

Braid 10th anniversary critical compilation

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