"Everything flows, everything changes" - opinion about the game.

Greetings!

Written with emotions. Attention! Spoilers abound, consume only after playing the game! Thanks to @Surt for proofreading and editing. Also, a huge thank you to @R0ndo. And thanks to everyone who upvoted this post voluntarily! And thanks to those who helped turn it into a diamond!

"Everything flows, everything changes" - review of Braid.

Story.

The game takes place in 1945 during World War II. The city in the game is most likely New York. Americans strive to develop "nuclear war" technologies to the utmost.

Tim is the main character. A scientist, one of the developers of the nuclear bomb project. Additionally, he is a dreamer.

The essence of the game lies in finding the so-called Princess, which is actually, believe it or not, an atomic bomb! It is what Tim seeks, or more precisely, the path to its creation, which turns into a story about the search for the Princess. Time - how fleeting it runs, one moment you are sleeping, and by morning you are awake. In Tim's dreams, not only is the "search for the Princess" realized, but also memories of the past that, unfortunately, cannot be returned. Rumor has it that the prototype of the hero is none other than Albert Einstein - a scientist who was ahead of his time, going against the grain. A bit crazy and strange, whose theories shook the world in the future.

1.

Tim returns home through the dark streets of the night city. He enters it and begins to dream. Doors to other, non-our dimensions appear before him, through which he can read pieces of history and begin his journey. An important feature of the game will be puzzles: failing to collect 5 puzzles from all worlds, you will not gain access to the level with the rescue of the Princess, but the essence of this review is not about them, so the item "remind just for formality" is successfully accomplished.

The very puzzles in the house.

2.

Journey to another world.

The first world that greets our hero is filled with bright and vibrant colors. The atmosphere is entirely friendly and provides no discomfort to the player. Here, we will be taught control and shown the characters and items with which we will interact in the future. We will also learn the hero's main and most important feature - the ability to control time! We can rewind it forward and backward, speeding up and slowing down the process. We will also be introduced to charming creatures, which I'll call hedgehogs, as it's simpler, and they indeed resemble these little animals. Hedgehogs are the second most important characters in the game. They will: die, die, die, bring us keys, die, die... in short, help our hero on his difficult journey.

From the very beginning of the game, we will be taught "how to properly interact with hedgehogs". Let's try!

At the level itself, we will encounter various trials, and in case of failing them, we can always rewind time back. However, reaching the very end of the level, we will see a beautiful castle, and upon entering it, a cute little dinosaur will greet us and say, "The Princess is in another castle."

3.

In the next world, we will see darker colors, what could this mean? Tim's approach to the cherished goal or the destruction that this goal heralds, should it be found? At this stage of the game, we also meet new cute characters - rabbits! Be careful, they disguise themselves as flowers, lying in wait to ambush you! A feature of this world will be that not all objects will yield to time, meaning they will simply ignore it. Usually, such objects will sparkle with green flashes.

An example of such objects. To pass over clouds, time will need to be slowed down, waiting for the uncontrollable clouds to be at a jumping distance.

Also in this level, we will meet the first boss (there are two of them, indeed the same :D). Most likely, it is the leader of the hedgehogs, as he becomes aggressive upon sighting our hero, avenging his kin, perhaps.

Oh, I'll check back later...

4.

A new world where everything moves along with you. Moving forward? The world is with you! Standing still? So is it! Moving backward? Of course, don't forget about the world! The world itself, its surroundings, become somewhat "indifferent," with swirling clouds in the background, ready to accept the hero forever into their dreams. The tasks are complicated by the fact that everything interacts depending on the direction of your movement, so sometimes you have to sweat quite a bit to solve them.

- Standing still?

- Yes...

I mentioned that the game also possesses a degree of sparkling humor, good and kind. Just consider the moment when you run past a castle (you can't stop, as the world, accordingly, will also stand still), and a little dinosaur runs out behind you, trying to say something pitiful, it looks very funny. :3

He looks at me like I'm a dinosaur. :(

5.

I didn’t like the fifth world the most, although many say it turned out the most successful. Here you get the chance to control Tim's clone, who will replicate all your actions precisely as you do. However, this feature will only work if you use "time rewind," and even then for a limited period. There will even be special items (like levers) that can only be activated by the clone of the hero.

- What are you waiting for, jump already!

6.

Entering the next world, we notice a significant darkening of colors. Clouds gather overhead, everything behind us is shrouded in fog, and homes may be burning. What could this mean? I think you've already guessed, Tim is approaching the cherished goal he has long sought. And the developers do not spare any effort to communicate this to us with each level, as this atmosphere is felt by the player, especially if he understands what the game is about, what secret meaning is hidden in it, although for each person this truth is their own. But back to this world of the game, a new feature here will be the ability to create a field (using a wedding ring) that allows you to slow down time depending on how close objects or characters are to it. A very interesting idea.

This hedgehog already lived longer than he was supposed to.

7.

Here is the final world, you can only enter it after collecting puzzles from all the previous worlds. The most amusing thing is that upon entering the door, we look at the level's name, and it says: "1", what could that mean? Might we have returned to the very beginning of the game? And the color tones of the level itself are the same as in the very first world. Perhaps, but the feature of this level is not only that you will meet the Princess, but also that here time flows backward regardless of you. It seems to me that this is a hint to return: why find something that can only bring destruction and pain? After passing three sunny levels, we proceed to the next one, where we are greeted by black tones, and finally we encounter the Princess, well, how do we encounter her, for now we simply observe. We see her fleeing from some big guy, asking for help. He, seeing that he can no longer reach her, starts stomping his feet angrily on the ground. Reaching out, a destructive wave of fire follows Tim and the Princess, sweeping everything in its path.

The most interesting thing is that this "wave" likely does not bring bad omens to anyone (although it may kill the hero), it merely warns him. For finding the Princess (the atomic bomb) would cause a huge upheaval in the world. But one can think and speculate about this for a long time, since there can be many variations, I have only presented to you my version of such events. While escaping from the "wave," you will not need to solve any puzzles; you will simply have to run. In the end, you will meet the Princess, but you will only be able to approach her in an alternate ending (you need to collect 8 stars), otherwise she will be peacefully sleeping. Then the level rewinds back, and Tim sees how the heroine returns to that villain, but the dialogues are no longer the same, she, on the contrary, asks him to take her away, while the hero is left empty-handed.

It smells like something's burning...

Going back through the same door that brought us to this level, we will no longer return to that sunny valley, where time only flows back, but instead, we will enter the Land of Dreams, I would call it that. Here everything is made entirely of clouds. But in this world, we will finally learn the story to its very end. Reaching the end, we will return to the street where the game began...

So close, and yet, so far...

Conclusion.