It's the complete package of presentation, story and puzzles that make Braid into a masterpiece amongst games.
All this mind trickery is due to the minimalism used to portray Braid, fooling you into believing that this game will unfold nice and easy. Nothing could be further from the truth as there's more than meets the eye, as Transformers so eloquently put it. Presented in a unique artsy way, each level resembles a tableau vivant, as if some unreal painting spouted to live before your very eyes. The delicate details from the background setting, such as falling snowflakes, make that each environment is vibrant without any use for extravagant effects and other such excess. The less is more aspect gets beautifully presented, from the mysterious beginning to the intertwined tutorials.
Furthering this classical appeal, the soundtrack containing of mostly strings and plucking instruments are the most befitting you can think of when trying to give life to a work of art. Combining these two elements creates a dignified Gregorian setting, like walking the halls of the Louvre. The range from softer to sweeping sounds composes the exact emotion for every situation, which will make you revolve around the whole barrage of desires available in this melancholic tale of hope and despair.
You see, our little story sees Tim searching the world, but also his mind, for his Princess. Rather than a straight forward kidnapping story with some plumber, Braid is more of a psychological take on the matter. His Princess, though real, is also more a metaphor for the desires he's lusting after, just as Tantalus, staying just passed his fingertips. Before entering each world, you get to read a series of books, giving you details about Tim's history. And while it's a fairly olden way to capture the essence of the story, this prologue opening your mind and making you ponder more than just the story is exactly how the story should let itself unfold. The more you think about it, the more you unlock about Tim, but also in general about philosophical ponderings.
This is also a good way to set the thinking cogs in motion, as Braid will let you weave those thoughts into puzzling before you know it. Starting off as what looks like an easy platformer, this game quickly unfolds it many facets to reveal the puzzles within. Using a very clever way of time manipulation, Tim can travel back and forth in time and alter his surroundings, to overcome obstacles that his otherwise meager prowess cannot reach. It starts simple with just reversing time, but each world adds new elements to the time manipulation, from objects going back or forward in time separately and even bubbles of slowed down time. As you progress in worlds, puzzles will become frequently more complex and some will require you to set in motion an intricate amount of factors to see you get another piece of your puzzle.
After each puzzle is completed, you'll get one step closer to concluding your search, but this is also the only downside to Braid. Although any world is forgiving and accessible, giving you time to think and explore possibilities, you get cruelly denied the conclusion if not all puzzles are completed. As each of these represent a piece of the ladder Tim needs to climb to reach the top, if you fail at even 1 puzzle, you will not see the end of Braid. And as some puzzles are mind boggling, this will frustrate you to no end. Even so, the end will feel anticlimactic and only the elite few will feel satisfied by the end of their search, whilst the rest will feel slightly emasculated.
Luckily, the trip is more than worth the destination and even that has its positive aspects. You'll finally get some answers whether or not your Princess is even real and what drove Tim's urges to find her. But most of all, you'll feel satisfied to have reached the end of your journey.
On that aspect, there are very little games that seem so simple and yet are so compelling at the same time. Even after failing several times, you as well as Tim will dust off your shoulders and resume your quest, as if caught in an instinctual trance. With clever references towards other classic games, such as pipes and man-eating plants, Braid is a game that can lure you in and then watch you fall into the infinity of space it opens once it unfolds.
But most of all it's the complete package of presentation, story and puzzles that make Braid into the veritable masterpiece amongst games. Comparable to a classic film or a good book, Braid and its personifying protagonist Tim will make you think and not just about matters relatable towards the game. Such a feat is hardly set aside for any good game and that makes Braid a true work of art.