Braid/World 6: Hesitance

Braid icon Level 3-1.png 6-1 The Pit?
This is the last world to introduce a new game mechanic. A sign will tell you to press. When doing so, Tim will place a ring where he stands. Pressing again when standing close to the already placed ring will make Tim pick it up. Tim can only place one ring at a time.

As you might have noticed already, the ring slows down time of objects inside its radius. The closer to the middle of the ring an object is, the slower it moves. There isn't anything else to do at this level except to learn to use the ring feature, so move out the door when you feel ready.

Braid icon Level 3-2.png 6-2 There and Back Again
Let's try out our new-found ability in a real scenario. Like in 3-2 There and Back Again, a metal barrier is slowly descending to block off the path to the level's only puzzle piece. Under normal circumstances, Tim cannot make it all the way up to the key and back to the gate before the barrier reaches the bottom, but if the barrier would fall slower, he would. Place the ring right under the falling barrier and leg it for the key. Now there should be no problem getting the key and get back to the gate before it's too late. When you have Puzzle Piece 6-2-1, move through the exit door.

Braid icon Level 3-3.png 6-3 Phase?
Above Tim there's a cloud bridge with a puzzle piece at the end. Climbing up and trying to jump between the clouds won't work; the gap between them is too large. Jump up on a cloud and use your ring. This will slow down the current cloud you're standing on and let the next one catch up. When you think you can jump over the gap, remove the ring and jump to the next cloud. Place a new ring on this cloud and repeat the process until you've gotten all the way to Puzzle Piece 6-3-2.

Continue on and you'll find another cloud bridge not too dissimilar to the first one. The problem with this one however, is that the next cloud won't come out of the cannon until the previous one is destroyed; there can only be one cloud out of the cannon at a time. Ergo, waiting for a cloud to catch up to another one won't work. See the flower up on the ledge above? Place the ring on it and go back to the clouds. If you jump out on an oncoming cloud and then jump off it before it reaches its point of decimation, the power of the ring will slow down Tim's jump just enough that the current cloud will have time do reach is end and a new cloud will have time to spawn underneath Tim. When you land on the second cloud, jump over to Puzzle Piece 6-3-1 and grab it. That's it for this level; continue to the next.

Braid icon Level 6-4.png 6-4 Cascade
On this relatively small level, there's a whole three puzzle pieces spread out. At the start of the level two of them are visible already. One at the top left corner of the screen and one slightly under it. The one at the top is the easiest to begin with. Run right and climb up the ladder going past two streams of fireballs. Go on left when reaching the top of it. An arc of monstars being shot out of a cannon grace the scene. Place a ring somewhere under the arc of monstars not too close to the cannon. Now jump onto one of the monstars flying through the air to bounce up a bit. Try to land on another one shooting out of the cannon when it's still mid-flight to gain an even higher bounce. This should be enough to reach the platform above. Jump into Puzzle Piece 6-4-3 here to grab it.

The puzzle piece below will have to wait, as we need the key to get to it. Grab the ring again and jump over the small fire pit killing off all the monstars coming out of the cannon. Continue left on the platform you're on until reaching its edge. There will be another monstar cannon above. When a monstar falls down to the platform you're on, it will bounce a wee bit when landing. Jump on it when it reaches its highest point of that small bounce. This will be enough to bounce Tim up to the platform with the monstar cannon above. Wait for another monstar to appear and let him drop down. Jump on him and bounce over to the platform holding the key and pick it up. Jump down and remove the ring if you placed it. Move past the puzzle piece to the fireball cannon on the very right and place a ring on it. Wait for another monstar to get close enough to the piece and jump on it, bouncing up to Puzzle Piece 6-4-2.

Since you already grabbed the key required for the last puzzle piece when collecting the previous one, you can get started directly. Let the ring placed on the fireball cannon previously remain for a bit so that a monstar have enough time to drop down the opening underneath the just-grabbed puzzle piece. Quickly remove the ring and follow after him. When he drops down another level—just before he wanders into the fire pit—jump down on him and use him to bounce up to the fireball cannon hovering above. Place the ring as close to the cannon's fuse as possible. Jump down and climb halfway up the long ladder. The fuse will now burn slow enough that Tim can rush the path to the gate to the left without getting singed by a fireball. Flip the lever behind the gate and a platform will rise, revealing a path to the last puzzle piece. Time your sprint back through the slow stream of fireballs and climb up the ladder to the arc of monstars again. Jump down the pit behind the cannon to grab Puzzle Piece 6-4-1 and head for the exit door on the far left side.

Braid icon Level 6-5.png 6-5 Impassable Foliage
When you begin the level you'll probably notice two moving platform blocks just under the conga line of monstars marching like lemmings into the fire pit. If you let them be, the smaller platform moving vertically will eventually stop the horizontally moving one from going any further. Since you'll need it as a stepping platform to get the first puzzle piece, this is not something you want. Place a ring just underneath the vertically moving one and wait for the horizontally moving one to move past it. There will be a fair bit of enemies attacking you while you wait. Kill them off if you need. Pick up the ring and continue up the ladder to your right. There will be a very fast-moving claw above; too fast for Tim to move past. Place the ring underneath it to slow it down enough to be passable. When on the other side, dodge or kill all the monstars in your way and use the now accessible horizontal platform to reach Puzzle Piece 6-5-1 over the fire pit.

The second and final piece is located further right on the level. Go back to underneath the claw and pick up the ring again; you'll need it. Climb up the ladder and jump the platforms on the right. The puzzle piece is just above Tim now, but he can't jump up because it's too high up. Further right will be a cannon firing out monstars at regular intervals, but a maze of claws will kill them off before they reach Tim. Use the ring underneath respective claws to slow them down for a moment. Try to get them in sync with each other, so that all claws are down their pipes at the same time. When they're synced up enough, let them get down their pipes and pause time by holding and quickly pressing  to set the speed of time at 0x. Let a couple of monstars get through the claw path and reach the platform with the puzzle piece on it. Letting two pass will be enough. Let them both fall down from the platform above and then jump on them in succession to bounce high enough to reach the platform with Puzzle Piece 6-5-2. That's it, continue past the puzzle canvas down below (mind the mimic) and continue through the exit door.

Braid icon Level 6-6.png 6-6 Elevator Action
The end of the game is approaching, and as such the puzzles to solve are now getting into the very difficult spectrum of things. The first puzzle piece of the level is visible as soon as you enter, but it's locked behind a gate. The key to it is just below it, though, but of course there's no shortcut to it. Take the path upward through the barrage of fireballs. Timing your sprints between the shots will make it possible to get all the way up. Flip the lever to start an elevator going down to the key. When at the bottom, grab it. A mimic will attack; dispose of it if necessary. Flip the lever nearby to make the elevator go back up again. Now you'll be rushing toward the fireballs, and there just isn't a large enough interval between them to get past. You need to use the ring to slow down the rate of fire. Place the ring at the right side of the elevator platform, flip the lever, and leg it for the path down through the fireballs. The ring will slowly go down with you as you descend, slowing the cannon fire from top to bottom. When you reach the end of the fireball maze, go back toward the gate and pick up the ring on your way; it can be reached through the bottom of the elevator. Then open up the gate and collect Puzzle Piece 6-6-3.

The second piece to grab is located to the far right of the level. On top a fireball cannon at the top of the screen you can see it. Underneath the cannon is a lever. Climb up the ladder and place a ring beside the lever, as close to the cannon fuse as you can. Pull the lever and two platforms will start moving. Jump onto them and place Tim at the right edge of the larger platform. Both platforms have green glow which will transfer to Tim when he stands on them. Tim is now unaffected by time manipulation, so rewind time to just before you flipped the lever. Tim will now have used the larger platform to get to the same level as the fireball cannon and the path to the puzzle piece. Jump on top of the platforms leading to the cannon, timing your jumps between the cannon's fire. Grab Puzzle Piece 6-6-1 on top of the cannon and get ready to grab the next piece.

The final piece of the level is rather difficult to figure out how to get to. You'll find it toward the middle of the level, located in a small nook toward the upper part of the screen. To get it you first have to go and take back the ring beside the lever under the fireball cannon. Pull the lever and let the platforms move together. Jump over to them and place the ring on the larger one. Jump back and flip the lever. Let both platforms reach their end. Now flip the lever again. If the ring was placed well enough, the larger platform should move so slow the smaller one will pass underneath it and emerge on the other side of it. Jump onto the larger platform and pick up the ring again. Climb up the nearby ladder and flip the lever up there too. Another ladder will fall down, go down to it and climb it. Jump off onto the green-glow-giving smaller platform now located beside it. Rewind time to just after the last lever was flipped, so that the ladder is just about to fall down. Continue time and quickly place a ring on the tiny piece of platform right next to the one you're on, located close enough to the falling ladder that it will slow it down. Let the ladder fall and quickly jump onto it while it's mid-air - ensuring Tim remains green-glowing, otherwise he will be too slow. Climb up it and jump off to Puzzle Piece 6-6-2 when at the top of it. All pieces are yours; continue to the last level of this world via the exit door.

Braid icon Level 6-7.png 6-7 In Another Castle


This is the last puzzle piece of the game, and as you might expect it's not easy to solve this enigma. The puzzle piece is hovering at the top of the screen, locked behind a gate. The key to the gate is hidden inside a tiny crevice left of the puzzle piece; it's too small for Tim to enter. The lever operates the sliding platform just underneath the key. When the platform moves, eventually the key will fall down, but land in the fire pit below. Begin by climbing up the tall ladder up to the key. Place a ring as close to it as you can and wait around for a bit. Pick up the ring and get down again, jump over the fire pit and stand next to the fireball cannon. Place a ring here to slow the cannon fire enough for Tim to be able to climb up the ladder to the lever. Whence up, stand on the bubbling piece of ground which will make Tim green-glowing. Rewind time and after a while the ring you placed beside the key will pop up again. Continue time as usual at that point and pull the lever. Quickly jump down and get over to the fire pit. The key is falling very slowly now and it'll be possible to catch it mid-fall. Be sure to press to pick up the ring at the same time, because you need it to get to the puzzle piece again. With key in hand, place a ring next to the cannon like before and make your way up to the gate. Open it up and grab the last ever puzzle piece, Puzzle Piece 6-7-1. When all is done continue to your right to reach the end of World 6.