i probably don’t need to tell you about braid, because someone’s probably already told you. but i will tell you the thing i most admire about the game: the way the game’s central mechanic, rewinding time is introduced. you die; either by touching an enemy, falling onto spikes, getting chomped by a piranha plant. the game stops, an image of the X button appears, and you press it to rewind time to prior to your death. it takes just a small bit of insight to realize you can use this ability anytime.

this is the player death as narrative progression i’ve been talking about. furthermore, it’s discovery, in this era of tutorials which disrespect both my time and intelligence. i am allowed to discover this ability and its uses on my own – through playing the game, IMAGINE! – rather than being explicitly told the solution in a text dump (outside the game, remember, not in the game).

and i know jonathan blow had to fight xbox live arcade for this, to allow his game to start in media res instead of at that ugly and cluttered menu that live arcade typically forces developers to slap on top of their games.

the other thing i’ll add is that david hellman’s art is beautiful and perfect. david is a genuinely humble person, and his humility balances jon blow’s ego well.