Braid

Braid is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow. The game was released on August 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. A Microsoft Windows version was released on April 10, 2009. Hothead Games ported and released the game to Mac OS X on May 20, 2009 and the PlayStation Network on November 12, 2009. On December 14, 2010, a Linux version was released as part of the Humble Indie Bundle 2.

Blow designed the game as a personal critique of contemporary trends in game development. He funded the three-year project with his own money. Webcomic artist David Hellman drew the artwork, which underwent several iterations until it satisfied Blow's vision. A preliminary version of Braid without the final artwork won the "Innovation in Game Design" award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival; the final version received additional accolades. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, eventually becoming the highest-critically-rated title on Xbox Live. Some reviewers, however, criticized the game's price relative to its length.

At its most basic level, the story describes the protagonist Tim's attempt to rescue a princess from a monster. Clues embedded in the plot have led to multiple metaphorical interpretations of the plot, such as a tale of a faltering relationship or the development of the atomic bomb. The game features traditional aspects of the platform genre; the player runs, jumps, and climbs through a linear set of stages while solving puzzles and defeating enemies. The player may also manipulate time, such as by allowing actions to be "rewound", even after death, or by creating a shadow doppleganger to repeat actions previously performed. Using these abilities, the player progresses the story by finding and assembling jigsaw puzzle pieces.