Braid
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
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.
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.
41 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 36
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 36 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Brilliant puzzle design
“I think Braid is brilliant as a puzzle game. As a narrative, it's pretentious as all hell.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)” “Braid is a very good game that stands the test of time”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)” “But Braid is one of the best puzzle games ever made.”
Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” - Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)”
Mechanics convey story and theme
“The way the mechanics represented both the internal mental state of the protagonist and the physics research being conducted”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)” “how it told the story through mechanics was really well done”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” Stands the test of time
“Braid is a very good game that stands the test of time”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)” “I mean Braid is still good”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “Braid was fantastic though”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” Influential early indie game
“both great games and for their time, technological feats, especially from an indie”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “Braid started off the indie boom”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “To me, it is a piece of art.”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “Rob Pike's 5 Rules of Programming”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Writing seen as pretentious
“I think Braid is brilliant as a puzzle game. As a narrative, it's pretentious as all hell.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Time Travel in Braid (2015)” “as you go deeper, just like with Braid, you find more and more self-indulgent windbaggery”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “The writing of Braid wasn't fantastic imo. But the game really spoke for itself.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles”
- Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles”
Hints too obscure to solve
“stars which are so well hidden that I can't imagine anyone finding them without a walkthrough”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “the game hasn't given you enough information to know you need come back for it later”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “the game never bothered to even hint at how it could be solved”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| BraidThis page | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Blue Prince | 30 | 6 | 83% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
38 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“But Braid is one of the best puzzle games ever made.”
“The moments of player-antagonism are the most interesting parts of Braid/Witness”
“Perhaps he never made a sequel because he doesn't want to repeat the same things ad infinitum?”
“I predictably didn't finish Braid or The Witness, I like both”
“a big step backwards compared to Braid and The Witness”
“drm free with native linux ports”
“Braid is a very good game that stands the test of time”
“I think Braid is brilliant as a puzzle game. As a narrative, it's pretentious as all hell.”
“I think it might change your interpretation of the game somewhat.”
“I was lucky enough to have played it before the Xbox release back in June 2008 on PC as a beta tester”
“The way the mechanics represented both the internal mental state of the protagonist and the physics research being conducted”
“Braid was a standout inclusion”
“What a unique and amazing game that was.”
“Beautifully written. Beautiful game.”
“Much cleaner than submodules.”
“replaced my Synology machine, though I've been working on this for months”
“To me, it is a piece of art.”
“One thing you should look into is the work of https://braid.org”
“He made two hit games, Witness was released 7.5 years later.”
“it was an awesome game, and it sold well”
“Essentially Braid Anniversary edition”
“completed them with no assistance”
“Braid was fantastic though”
“when I really get a piece of creative art, like I thought I did with both Braid and The Witness”
“the game hasn't given you enough information to know you need come back for it later”
“stars which are so well hidden that I can't imagine anyone finding them without a walkthrough”
“how it told the story through mechanics was really well done”
“Despite adoring The Witness and Braid”
“I mean Braid is still good”
“both great games and for their time, technological feats, especially from an indie”
“Braid started off the indie boom”
“takes the piss out of Braid's self-indulgent windbaggery”
“the game never bothered to even hint at how it could be solved”
“It's not good but its unobtrusiveness made it easy to forgive.”
“as you go deeper, just like with Braid, you find more and more self-indulgent windbaggery”
“the writing in Braid being memorably shallow, clumsy, and pretentious”
“The writing of Braid wasn't fantastic imo. But the game really spoke for itself.”
“I enjoyed Braid and this revelation doesn't change that”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.