Braid is a 2D platformer masquerading as a puzzle game. The player controls Tim as he searches for a lost princess. Although the goal appears to be easy at first, the meaning and motives become considerably more subtle and entwined with the mechanics during the game. Tim will eventually reach six distinct planets from the central hub. Rather than developing a storyline, the beginning of each earth discloses a piece of Tim’s backstory and feelings. The second to sixth worlds can be explored without solving all the puzzles. Difficult circumstances can be disregarded for the time being and reviewed later. When all planets have been completed, the first one becomes available, bringing the story to a close.
The premise of the game is primarily dependent on time manipulation. Tim cannot die indefinitely because the player can at any time and for any period, including when an area was accessed. The music is similarly coordinated while rewinding. Rewinding is more than a gimmick; it is required to complete the problems. The different worlds twist the mechanism, which introduces clones as the player collaborates in a parallel reality with a past version of himself, time can be impacted by movement direction, and Tim can create a circular circle to produce time dilation. Certain items, adversaries, and scenery are impervious to temporal manipulation or behave substantially differently. Puzzles necessitate a detailed investigation of the environment and the behavior of various things and foes. As such, the game is entirely about solving the puzzle theoretically using the game mechanics, executing it, and discovering potential faults in the proposed logic through trial and error. This also limits the game’s replayability.
Collecting puzzle pieces helps to solve the world. These must be organized to display a picture linked to the game’s story. The level design contains no filler, meaning every platform, item, or game piece (save for a few opponents) serves a meaningful purpose in solving a puzzle. In a separate speedrun mode, fast times can be tracked.
The latter Windows and Macintosh versions are identical but include a level editor.
