Finally, on 27th July, Blow noted the “whole industry is having a hard time” and then, when asked how many of his development team are working on the compiler for programming language Jai, Blow replied: “None, because we can’t afford to pay anyone because the sales are bad.”
Oof. I don’t like Jon Blow, but I do like Braid. Sad to see nobody really cares about it anymore.
Or the people who care about it already have it. It doesn’t have archaic controls or graphics or whatnot, so the need to buy a new version is way lower than the likes of a Resident Evil remake.
Yep! I would be much more interested in a Braid 2 rather than a remake of a game I already own and enjoy. I actually didn’t realize until writing this comment that Braid Anniversary Edition even had more puzzles than the original.
Exactly. I own it four times in fact!
Braid was a solid game all its own, and a remaster certainly wasn’t needed (yet or at all). The Witness was freaking phenomenal, and I hope there will be other iterations of games like it to come. Blow can go blow away though. He’s an anti-vaxxer and Covid conspiracy theorist, and that is something I can write off as anyone worth acknowledging. Plenty of other amazing games in the sea.
I appreciate letting me know about the anti-vaxxer conspiracy stuff. Makes me feel better about never finishing The Witness (not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because whatever filters were on there, it made me cripplingly motion sick for hours every time I played it).
I never finished The Witness either, but I kinda wished I would have, as the philosophical nature and puzzles were both very engrossing, such a unique take on the “walking simulator” style of game. Granted, it was much more than that, and I’d actually compare it closer to Myst and Obduction than such. The puzzles were repetitive but just incentive enough to be engaging and twisted in just the right way, though they got devilishly difficult later on. Sucks about the motion sickness though. Wonder if there was an .ini swing which could’ve turned the filter off?
Though, all in all, this was definitely a difficult “separate the art from the artist” scenario.
Yeah, I had the same reaction - The puzzles were definitely “learn how to think a new way,” my favorite kind. I ended my play on one perspective-shifting pattern puzzle that I was so close to beating, so I kept pushing myself through the motion sickness, and just ended up disabled on the bed feeling ill and unable to move for two hours (without completing the puzzle).
I tried a bunch of things - permanent reticle in center of screen, disabling walk shake, etc. I still play high-motion FPS shooters with no issue. It’s just some games (The Forest was another). I am guessing it’s a middleware-introduced visual filter that adds 15-25ms delay to screen latency, just enough to mess with inner ear visual/motion sync in sensitive people.
What was the business case for doing a remaster of Braid? Either terrible market research or this was super cheap to make.
A pretty terrible one. Remasters are for games that are high on replay value and deeply nostalgic. Braid was cool and innovative and I enjoyed it when I played through it the first (and only) time, but I have no desire to play it again.
I already own the OG on steam. If I want to play it, I will. But I don’t. Because it’s fuckin boring. Always has been.
I liked Braid, but I liked his other games since then a lot more. Put out Witness 2 and I’m all over it.
OTOH, put out a graphical upgrade and a couple new puzzles for Witness and try to charge full price again, and I wouldn’t bother.
Edit: Wait, Braid Anniversary didn’t even include new levels? No wonder it didn’t sell! All it has is a documentary track and some visuals.
Edit: Wait, Braid Anniversary didn’t even include new levels? No wonder it didn’t sell! All it has is a documentary track and some visuals.
“Braid: Anniversary Edition launched in May and adds 40 new levels, as well as over 15 hours of commentary”
From the article.
I looked on the Steam page and didn’t see that, but I thought I remembered it from launch. Perhaps I was just tired and missed it, but I think they didn’t do a good enough job calling it out.
Put out Witness 2 and I’m all over it.
If you liked the puzzle design style of the Witness, check out Taiji. It uses a similar open-ended structure that leaves puzzle rules for you to discover on your own.
That does look good. Thanks!
No one wants to buy the same game again. Who saw that one coming?
Yeaaah, kinda seems like people just didn’t want a remastered Braid.
First off I didnt know Braid was remastered until now and secondly Jonathan is an anti vaxxer which means I’m not gonna give you any money.
And I thought Braid wasn’t very engaging when I first played it ages ago so I’m not really interested now. Apparently Jonathan has been spending his free time working on a programming language that isn’t public yet (for a while now) and just talking a lot of shit on X/Twitter.
Unfortunately, I feel like only console developers that long ago released their games for arcane bi-flagonal deprucified CPUs get to put out expensive anniversary editions. Everyone who owns Steam copies can still run it just fine.
(Yes, those words are made up)
Are you telling me that this late 90’s game priced 19,50 won’t sell as well as a modern indie game sold for less???..
…shocking
Missed his chance to Blow
