# Braid

36 Hacker News commenters recommended Braid and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People praise Braid as a brilliant puzzle game whose mechanics express its story, and an early indie landmark. Critics find its writing pretentious and self-indulgent.

## Why people recommend it

- Brilliant puzzle design (4 comments): "I think Braid is brilliant as a puzzle game. As a narrative, it's pretentious as all hell." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009156)) "Braid is a very good game that stands the test of time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009237)) "But Braid is one of the best puzzle games ever made." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50128929))
- Mechanics convey story and theme (2 comments): "The way the mechanics represented both the internal mental state of the protagonist and the physics research being conducted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50006759)) "how it told the story through mechanics was really well done" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46316556))
- Stands the test of time (3 comments): "Braid is a very good game that stands the test of time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009237)) "I mean Braid is still good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46315205)) "Braid was fantastic though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46319997))
- Influential early indie game (3 comments): "both great games and for their time, technological feats, especially from an indie" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46315014)) "Braid started off the indie boom" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46314349)) "To me, it is a piece of art." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47435672))

## What people warn about

- Writing seen as pretentious (5 comments): "I think Braid is brilliant as a puzzle game. As a narrative, it's pretentious as all hell." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009156)) "as you go deeper, just like with Braid, you find more and more self-indulgent windbaggery" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46312685)) "The writing of Braid wasn't fantastic imo. But the game really spoke for itself." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46312278))
- Hints too obscure to solve (3 comments): "stars which are so well hidden that I can't imagine anyone finding them without a walkthrough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46316928)) "the game hasn't given you enough information to know you need come back for it later" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46317392)) "the game never bothered to even hint at how it could be solved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46313611))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Outer Wilds](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outer-wilds.md): 65 recommend
- [enclose.horse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enclose-horse.md): 64 recommend
- [The Witness](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witness.md): 60 recommend
- [Blue Prince](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blue-prince.md): 30 recommend
- [Baba Is You](https://hackerapproved.com/p/baba-is-you.md): 25 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://braid-game.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Braid", https://hackerapproved.com/p/braid/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).