Braid Anniversary Edition Review: Jonathan Blow’s Masterpiece

15 years after its original release on Xbox 360, Braid is getting a wonderfully crafted remaster with a ton of new content. Called Braid Anniversary Edition, Jonathan Blow’s seminal indie platformer arrives with enhanced graphics and a new world filled with informative developer commentary. It’s a great celebration of one of the best puzzle platformer games ever made.

If you’re lucky enough not to know much about Braid, just stop reading this and buy a copy so you can go in relatively blind. One of the first early breakout indie hits on Xbox Live Arcade, Braid — an intensely artistic and difficult yet rewarding game — became an unlikely phenomenon due to its ingenious rewind mechanic and the fact that you can get through most of the levels (but not beat it) without much trouble. As Soulja Boy excellently demonstrates below, there’s a central enjoyment that comes from just jumping into a spike-filled pit, rewinding, and going, “See that? It didn’t happen.”

However, what makes Braid truly special and has helped it stand the test of time is its layered story and incredible puzzle design. While it doesn’t get quite as complex as designer Jonathan Blow’s next game, The Witness, the concept of rewinding is fully explored as additional mechanics are added in subsequent worlds. From time manipulation to shadow versions of the character, there’s a lot to explore, and there’s a haunting story that slowly comes together as you nab hard-to-reach puzzle pieces.

The new Anniversary Edition features new sound effects and graphics for the game, and you can even do the Halo Anniversary Edition trick of instantly switching between old and new looks. What’s interesting, though, is how much has been improved and tweaked, yet the game still looks largely the same. In fact, Anniversary Edition largely looks like how you remembered Braid looking, with the original version looking rougher in a lot of small ways that have been polished up. It’s a really intelligently repainted version that updates the assets for higher resolution while maintaining the vibe and look of the game that won people over 15 years ago.

The other major addition is an incredible amount of commentary that can be interacted with. Beyond Blow just giving his thoughts on every aspect, it also features insight from Cris Moore, Casey Muratori, Marc ten Bosch, and Brian Moriarty. Never afraid to get granular, there’s a staggering amount of thought on every aspect of its design, from its lack of a traditional title screen to how the game came together graphically. There’s a lot of great work-in-progress screenshots and videos as well, showing how the game looked in development.

Now, both the coolest and likely most divisive part is how the commentary is accessed, as it acts as a seventh world in the game. Yes, you’ll have to put on your thinking cap to access all of the commentary, as there are new puzzles to solve and another painting to put together. It’s an extremely Blow addition to the game and it’s genuinely cool to see him remixing old puzzles and creating some new ones years after the fact. However, I do wish I could simply listen to the commentary, as it’s hard to keep track of in its current format. Regardless, you’ll get a ton out of the addition even if you don’t have it in you to venture out and access all of the commentary, as there are over 12 hours of recorded audio.

Braid Anniversary Edition Review: Final Verdict

While I wish it was easier to access all of the great developer commentary, those who work their way to accessing the conversations are rewarded with great information from Blow and other guests. Along with a wonderful new graphic set that keeps the original look and art style, Braid Anniversary Edition is a lovingly crafted upgrade that is well worth picking up whether you played the original 15 years ago or not.

SCORE: 10/10

As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 10 equates to “Masterpiece.” This is the rare release that transcends genre and must be experienced by all fans of the medium.

Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for our Braid Anniversary Edition review. Reviewed on version 1.000.002.

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