Microsoft Game Studios

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Lore & Background

The basic story elements in Braid unfold as the protagonist, Tim, attempts to rescue a princess from a monster. Text passages laid throughout the game reveal a multifaceted narrative, giving clues about Tim's contemplations and motivations. The final level, in which everything but Tim moves in reverse, depicts the princess escaping from a knight, and working together with Tim to surpass obstacles and meet at her home. Tim is suddenly locked out of the house, and, as time progresses forward, reversing Tim's actions, the events show the princess running from Tim, setting traps that he is able to evade, until she is rescued by the knight. Tim is revealed to be the 'monster' from whom the princess is running.

In Their Own Story

In August 2008, a small indie puzzle-platform game called Braid appeared on the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service, published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game featured a protagonist named Tim who could rewind time, and its narrative unfolded through text passages revealing Tim's quest to rescue a princess from a monster. The game's six worlds each introduced unique time-manipulation mechanics: Time and Forgiveness allowed rewinding actions; Time and Mystery introduced green-glowing objects unaffected by time; Time and Pace linked time to horizontal movement; Time and Decision created a shadow of the player's rewound actions; Hesitance provided a magic ring that slowed time nearby; and the final world, labeled simply "1," had time flowing in reverse. The story's final level revealed that Tim himself was the monster from whom the princess was running. The game won the "Innovation in Game Design" award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival for its preliminary version, and the final version received additional accolades. Blow and the game's production were documented in the 2012 film, Indie Game: The Movie.

Reader's Guide

Braid is played by solving physical puzzles in a standard platform game environment. The player controls the protagonist Tim as he runs, jumps, and climbs across the game's levels. Tim jumps and stomps on enemies to defeat them, and can collect keys to unlock doors or operate levers to trigger platforms. A defining game element is the player's unlimited ability to reverse time and 'rewind' actions, even after dying. The game is divided into six worlds, which are experienced sequentially and can be entered from different rooms of Tim's house; the player can return to any world previously visited to attempt to solve puzzles they missed. Each world has its own time-based game mechanic. Each stage contains puzzle pieces that must be collected to create jigsaw puzzles that tell the story, and to unlock the last stage. On completing the main game, a speedrun mode becomes available for select levels and the entire game. There are also eight stars hidden throughout the world of Braid that correspond to the stars in the constellation of Andromeda just outside the main character's house.

Did You Know?

• A preliminary version of Braid (without the final artwork) won the 'Innovation in Game Design' award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival.
• The game had total revenue nearing $6 million, which Blow used to fund his next game, The Witness, a 3D puzzle game released in 2016.
• A remastered version titled Braid, Anniversary Edition, featuring new levels, commentary, overhauled visuals and remixed sound was released in May 2024 for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Win
• Jonathan Blow put about US$200,000 of his own money into the game's development.