Back in the day, I used to think that Braid was overrated as hell. The short duration and simplistic gameplay didn’t exactly captivate me back in my teen years, so I had never given the game that much credit, even though it was basically the game that kickstarted the indie scene as we know today. More than fifteen years have passed, another incredibly overrated game by its created dropped a few years ago (and this is one statement I back to this day), and Braid is now back in a completely remastered package, with more levels, improved visuals, voiced commentary from its creator, and another chance for me to sit down, play it, and try to understand if I was wrong all along.

Dude is way too sharply dressed for a day jumping on top of some innocent creatures.

At this point, we already know what Braid is, and its impact on gaming as a whole. At its core, it was a game like no other back in 2008. It had hand-drawn visuals, references to old-school gaming, a 2D perspective, a small pricetag, but enough substance to make it stand out from the rest of the Xbox Live Arcade games of its era. It wasn’t trying to be a smaller arcade game. It was the dawn of indie gaming. One thing you may have noticed is that, to be fair, I don’t think its time loop mechanics were THAT impressive, and that was mostly due to Prince of Persia being all the rage back then.

With that being said, even if the usage of time looping wasn’t exactly the most impressive thing the world back then, and certainly now, I have to give credit to one thing I used to barely pay attention to back in the day: the quality of its level design. Some of its puzzles are still incredible to this day. It requires you to think like very few indies do in 2024, let alone games back in 2008. Do I think some of them are still massively obtuse? Absolutely. But all in all, it’s a great testament on level design.

I’m pretty sure this was inspired by the first castle in Super Mario World. The coolest castle. Don’t at me.

And of course, the visuals. The original version of Braid was already gorgeous, even for today’s standards. Jonathan Blow did not need to go this hard and revamp the game to look even more like sentient pieces of art moving on top of gorgeous watercolor paintings. The weird thing about it is that it looks gorgeous, but no one would have complained if not a single improvement had been done in this department. You can alternate between old and new graphics by pressing R3, and yep, it’s gorgeous regardless. Oddly enough, in some instances, the puzzles look better in old-school visuals mode than revamped graphics mode.

The other additions are more substantial. The vast amount of new levels effectively doubles the original game’s length, even if it goes at odds with Braid‘s overall plot (which, frankly, I don’t think was actually that good to begin with, especially with how it is presented). If you are not exactly into the lore part of Braid, this is a mouthful. It makes what was once considered to be somewhat pricey an absolute bargain. Each level features voiced comments from Blow as well. I don’t exactly have a proper opinion on those clips, but hey, they might interest you.

Using that tray as a platform, genius.

Now, after having finally replayed it for the first time in possibly more than a decade, did my opinions on it change? Yes, I respect it a lot more now, but I still feel like it’s a tad bit overrated in terms of its gameplay, at the very least. When you compare it to other early indies like Fez, I feel like Braid is a lot more limited in its scope and creativity, and I still don’t dig its plot twist or means of storytelling. But I do think it’s still impressive to realize that a game from 2008 barely needed any tweaks in terms of gameplay and level design; it managed to stand the test of time like very few games released at the same time.

Any screenshot you take whilst playing Braid can be turned into a large, classy portrait to be put on your living room’s wall.

I still think it’s not the single greatest indie of all time, but there’s no denying there’s a lot to like about Braid, especially if you decide to pick up this Anniversary edition. Having this on the Switch, with downright gorgeous visuals, a neat screen resolution, and so many additional levels, is just a no-brainer. Even if you don’t consider it to be the big daddy of the indie scene, it’s an important title, and it’s worth checking out, at the very least, for you to learn a bit more about the history of gaming, and how this little piece of software changed the world without even trying that hard.

Braid: Anniversary Edition is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch. The original Braid is available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Reviewed on Switch.