And for all those wondering, YES you should go buy & play Braid if you haven't already. It's an astounding game. A 2D platformer-style game that deals with in-game undo, time travel, time distortion, and multiple realities. It's mind bending, fun, and beautiful. Watch the trailer for it here if you haven't seen it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqtSKkyJgFM
There is actually an official walkthrough[1] that just says... don't use walkthroughs ;)
I remember when I was originally playing the game right after it came out, and I was stumped by a puzzle and then found the "official" walkthrough and it inspired me to try my best at the game to get through it. And it really made the game way more rewarding, enjoyable, and memorable.
I think a lot of times people tend to over-exaggerate when using terms like 'masterpiece', but in this case it's warranted. The puzzles and gameplay are brilliant, and then when you discover what the story is actually about it really blows you away.
I don't mean to invoke any sort of death of the author, the story isn't about anything except what you bring to it kind of vagueness...but part of the genius of Braid is that it's intentionally unclear what the story is about.
The famous quote in the epilogue makes you think of an important historical event, but plausibly that's metaphorical and the game is about something more personal, existential. Maybe the game isn't about anything but making you reflect. Maybe it's an expression of particular events in Blow's life. Maybe all of the above.
There was an interview with Jonathan Blow several years ago in Game Informer, close to when Braid came out. Blow said he'll never explain publicly what the game meant to him so people could have their own explanations not be overshadowed by his authorial intent.
He also said he responded to people who emailed him their interpretation. At the time of the interview only one person correctly guessed Blow's own interpretation.
I can't even imagine what the real answer could be.
I agree, I've played through it twice now and don't think there's anything concrete. Even the "real" ending is just confusing. Still, it's one of the best games I've ever played, for the puzzles alone.
Braid is on the short list of games I've played where I could spend an hour bashing on a puzzle unsuccessfully, then sleep on it, then come back the next day and do it first try. That happened at least twice as I recall. I generally find that impressive.
(The game that did that to me most often was Catherine. At least five or six times. And given that I never got very good at the puzzle version (in the arcade game in the bar), probably still at least a couple more still lurking in there if I picked it up again.)
Steam has a growing and vastly improving group of games. However indie games tend to be your best bet. I have a 100+ steam games for mac and around 80 for linux. It's getting better!
From what I can see, it's not available for OS X at all. According to Wikipedia[1], it is currently available for PC and PS4 and will be released for iOS "at a later date"
I tried my best to enjoy it (Fez too) but I can't seem to get past the fact that they are platformers, which I have discovered I just flat-out do not like.
