Trying to explain designer Jonathan Blow's much-buzzed-about art game Braid to the uninitiated feels a bit like using semaphore to articulate what coffee tastes like. Imagine what would happen if David Lynch were to abandon film, attempt a remake of Super Mario Bros. and populate it with haunting impressionistic artwork, a hero wading through the detritus of a failed romantic relationship and an interface that asks players to probe the essence of time, and you'd have a glimpse at the achievement that is Braid. In a medium commonly charged with being "escapist" and "juvenile," Blow's independently produced work demonstrates that games can provide emotional and intellectual experiences not easily replicated in other media.
Consider, for example, the game's core mechanic: the player's ability to "pause" and "rewind" time. By fusing this intriguing (and, just as importantly, fun) feature with an opaque narrative steeped in revisiting -- and trying to alter -- the past, Braid becomes a sublime experience. Like film, modern games are typically the product of large, industrialized teams. To produce Braid, however, Blow spent roughly $180,000 of his own money in a development environment more akin to Jim Jarmusch than Steven Spielberg. "My attitude," says Blow, "was -- I am going to do whatever is necessary to make this thing. What I care about is creating it and making it available to people who will appreciate it."
Braid is currently available for the Xbox 360 via its online Xbox Live service.
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