Braid/Gameplay

At it most basic core, Braid is simply a platformer game. But looking at its whole, it's more than that. It's a well-told story and a journey of exploration. To the player, the game will be a much greater experience if played without any sort of aid like this guide. Even the official walkthrough pleads the player to find the solutions to the problems in Braid by themselves.

Please do not use a walkthrough. Braid does not have a linear story the way most games do, so Getting To The End is not necessarily what you would expect. The idea of "beating the game" does not apply so much, here. Braid is about the journey, not the destination. If you use a walkthrough to bypass some of the puzzles, you will be robbing yourself of that journey.

—Official Walkthrough

All puzzles and conundrums in Braid are solvable in no-nonsense, thought-through ways.

All the puzzles in Braid are reasonable. They don't require you to do anything random; they don't require guessing. They don't require trial and error. The solutions tend to be simple and natural. They flow directly from the rules of gameplay in each world.

—Official Walkthrough

That being said, there are still concepts and mechanics that are reasonable for players to familiarize themselves with before playing the game.

Mechanics

Select controller:

Xbox 360,PlayStation 3,Keyboard (Arrows),Keyboard (WASD)

Controlling Tim(e)

Braid is a story about Tim, the character you, the player, will be controlling. Standard platforming tropes apply: Tim can run, jump, climb etc. However, Braid is most interestingly controlled with the use of time manipulation. The effects and means of that manipulation changes through the game's worlds, and are explained in the walkthrough as they are introduced. Read about them there; or better yet, find out about them yourself.

The most basic form of time control is available right from the start, however. Holding  Shift  Shift  will rewind the time, and all actions Tim—and indeed all actions of everything around him—will begin to be reversed. The  ↓  S  and  ↑  W  buttons can be used to control the speed of time while rewinding. Pressing  ↓  S  while rewinding time will decrease the speed of time (to a maximum of -8x; backward at eight times real-time). Pressing  ↑  W  will have the opposite effect a will increase the speed of time (to a maximum 8x, forward at eight times real-time). Right between the maximums is a 0x mode which will pause time. It can be useful when contemplating the conundrums of the game. More about the rest of the game's controls can be found in the Controls section.

Friends and Foes

The will be both friendly creatures and not-so friendly creatures to encounter in Braid. Who they are and their purpose in Tim's adventures are however largely integral to the story of Braid and are huge spoilers. The Appendices section of this guide document the enemies and the characters encountered through Tim's journey, but read at discretion.