Braid

Braid is a 2D puzzle-platformer with painterly visuals, in which you manipulate time to solve puzzles. From a house in the city, you travel through a series of worlds, search for puzzle pieces and try to rescue an abducted princess. Each world gives you a different way to change how time works.

Time and puzzles

Time mechanics include rewinding, objects that cannot be rewound, time linked to space, parallel realities and time dilation. You use these effects to solve puzzles, including by creating parallel universes and pockets of dilated time. The challenge comes from working out the puzzles rather than repeating difficult jumps: you cannot die or lose.

Worlds and story

A nonlinear story connects the worlds and uses real-world metaphors for your time manipulations. Those manipulations, in turn, project the story’s themes into playful “what-if” universes where you can explore consequences. You do not have to solve every puzzle to progress; you can move on and return to one later.

The painterly art style is paired with a lush, organic soundtrack. The game’s puzzles are designed to introduce new ideas about its world, without filler.