It Doesn't Sound Like Braid: Anniversary Edition Quite Set the World on Fire

Jonathan really does Blow so it’s hard to feel much empathy.

The indie market of 2024 is so much more brutal than it was in 2008. There are so many good games coming out all the time

One of the main keys of Braid original success was the fact that at that time digital games were pretty new so a hand painted game with rewind and some similarities to Mario on the 360 was impressive.

The harsh truth is most of the xbox live 360 hits of that time are already history not a lot of consumers remember. Super Meat Boy ended the moment McMillen left Team Meat, Fez and Phil Fish banished from the world, The Witness is fantastic but the only correlation with Braid was Blow good and bad reputation, The Behemoth was basically invisible for a whole generation thanks to their weird loyalty to xbox (loyalty I respected btw). The market is not the same and the big names already changed.

Is weird how he was expecting the bags of money when remasters are something big companies like Sony and Nintendo do to get some quick money and he always preached about not trying to be like them.

The thing is Braid was a product of it's time, the competition was small the indie scene was nowhere near as big. I think it gave him a reality check.
You had your moment, make a new game or move on.

It’s not even PS news if it wasn’t available on PlayStation but hey ho. (Misread the article)

There’s way too many indies released weekly for every one to do well (especially as people can play lots of them on sub services)

As consumers we have limited time and resources it’s why many games that get 6:7 out of 10 don’t always do well. (Even if fun) people want good experiences for their £50+.

Its why early sales don’t always do well, people are becoming wiser to waiting for a discount and patches so the game is as it should be on release

Agree with most folks above but also worth pointing out he has slightly tarnished his own indie darling persona. I heard him recently on a podcast espousing some pretty fringe political opinions based purely on his own experiences rather than the entire world around him. While I don't think badly of him or anything, I'm sure there's plenty of people who were simply a little turned off and less interested

Times have changed. In 2008 they're weren't many indie games in comparison to 2024. So a re-release of an old game is going to have to do something special to stand out.

Personally I never got into it. I don't like the art style and found it a tad dull

Perhaps these devs all competing for our money should at least try to make their games seems like value for money. I'm sorry but charging £16 for a 15+ year old game meant this didn't even get a look in from me.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Its not PS? Interesting considering i own the remaster on PS5.

@DennisReynolds totally read the article wrong. I’d read it as only released on steam.

My bad!

It's a remaster of a 15 year old, niche game in an extremely crowded indie scene, that didn't have all that much marketing behind it. What did he expect?

Sure, the people who were there when it launched and helped kickstart the indie scene still remember it fondly, but I also wonder how many of those feel the need to replay it. I know I don't, and I liked it back then. Feels like he didn't do enough to reach a new audience.

Didn't braid rely on a unique for the time gameplay loop and sell itself on a storyline twist which most people are now aware of?

The market has moved on, and I feel there are more games that have built on braid's mechanics since its initial release.

It feels like one remaster too many. I haven't heard people asking for a rerelease of Braid anywhere, so it's hardly a shock that it hasn't sold well.

I was one of the few who bought on steam. Enjoyed it but can see why it never sold, it's so similar to the original which has been on sale for pennies for years. The lick of paint & commentary are nice, but difficult ask at 20 bucks if you have it already.

Braid, Anniversary Edition's player count peaked at 570 on Steam around launch

More people bought LOTR Gollum

I think braid was one of the earliest examples of why I should ignore critically acclaimed indie darlings.

No one mentioning the obscene timeframe of announcement to release for ultimately a rerelease. Not suprised at all that it didn't do well because most who were interested would've seen that fade, not know it came out or thought it was cancelled.

I had my fun with it back on the 360, about two years ago I remember being interested in it again and was surprised the rerelease was still not out. Once it finally did I just wasn't that bothered.

"Did you pick up a copy of Braid, Anniversary Edition?"

No and i don't played the original game either. Is it good?

"Are you surprised to see Blow's reaction to the game's disappointing sales?"

My sympathy for Blow. But welcome to video games industry where good games can get dissapointing sales or unfair bad reviews. Just ask Alien Isolation, God Hand, Haunting Ground, Gungrave GORE, Nier, or Medievil remake. So, take your seat and enjoy the ride 🫡

Is there much of a market for indie re-releases? And by indie I mean small, individuals or teams, not calling normal developers "indie" because they aren't owned by corporate overlords.

Even in the "normal" market, remasters are not guaranteed to take off. Which is probably why many supposedly obvious ones haven't happened yet (no I'm not talking about Bloodbourne)

Never played the original, always wanted to. . . but Jonathan Blow is a bad guy so this is one of the few indie games I didn't buy on principle. Haven't played The Witness for the same reason.

I played via netflix on mobile as I was already a subscriber and the game is free to play for subscribers. It plays really nicely on mobile and all the extras such as commentary are done really well. I am personally ecstatic it was released and ported in the ways it was.

@mlm043 why is he a bad guy? I know he is notoriously difficult but don't know of anything 'bad' he has done

Interesting that he mentioned Jeff Minter and that he outsold his stuff. I wonder what he is specifically comparing.

Honestly it's weird that this was expected to be a massive hit? Braid is a great little game and I'm really glad it and others are sticking around and remaining easily accessible for new players. But I don't think it was ever going to be the hit it was first time around, the space has changed so much since then.

There are so many great indie games now, it's hard to fit them all in and it's hard to stand out amongst them.

It just feels pretty niche, which is awesome but not something that generates huge sales.

Well it’s backwards compatible on Xbox. Not sure why I would buy it again 🤷‍♂️

@MechanicsAreKing He's got tweets/replies less than 24 hours old that are perpetuating myths about mail-in ballots and voter fraud, in relation to the next US election.

The fault lies in the offer/expectations ratio - simple as that.

When will it hit publishers and devs that there are too many ***** games coming out with no visibility especially in the indie side.

Especially in an age where small releases are expected to come day one on subscriptions. We can constantly bring up that stupid Twitter ' cheaper, shorter, less pretty' nonsense but that is not reality.

The game is good but I already have it on steam, and since 2D games aged better, and it already have widescreen, I think it's not worth it to buy it again.

ps. Also I already have 100+ wishlisted games on steam, most of it is indie games, so I don't think I want to buy an old indie games that I already played.

I never got into the original, and Blow’s public persona is so off-putting, I didn’t even think about giving the game a second look with this remaster. It’s not a game that seems like it would particularly benefit from a graphical refresh, and the only other meaningful update is the opportunity to hear him talk all the way through it? No thanks.

I’ll probably get it on sale one day. Have already purchased it in the past, possibly multiple times, so not in any rush to grab it at full price.

I do like the game however. Replayed it about 5 years ago and it holds up nicely still.

I would like to play the game again, but $20 is too much. I will pick it up at $10 eventually.

The industry is harsh these days. Great games can come out and be entirely overlooked in the churn. That something as influential as Braid didn't manage to make waves might suggest a poor marketing strategy.
I picked up a copy because I loved the original Braid and while Blow has some weird views, I can respect him as a game dev and wanted to hear what he had to say in the commentary on the game. I'm yet to get really stuck into the Anniversary Edition, but looking forward to doing so once I've finished a few other things.

Honestly this paints Braid more as a product of its time rather than a commercial failure.

Same thing would happen if a Super Meat Boy or Fez Anniversary Edition were to release, not many people would buy those games because, well, you got way too many options of indies nowadays and many of those games are more polished than what we had back then.

I was happy enough to play it on my iPhone via Netflix. Wonder how much money he got from that deal?

@Yousef- So the full name would be Game of the Rear: Lollum? Yeah that actually sounds about right.

Though I don't want any developers to fail, I would thoroughly enjoy seeing re-releases and remasters of any video game absolutely bomb with everyone made. I believe it to be the bane of the industry. Thank God for the indie developers who still produce original games.

Soulja boy won

@Yousef- I see. I just check Braid gameplay trailer and it looks kinda okay but the 2D graphics looks quite charming though. I'm not a fans of puzzle games but i played and enjoyed some of them like Echochrome, The Swapper, Super Puzzle Fighter, or Puzzle Bobble.

@JuiceboxMeister remaster / re-release have important purpose to introduce classic games for new generation. Many young gamers nowadays never play classic games like Contra, Castlevania, SF II, etc etc. But with remaster / re-release, they can try and appreciate classic games.

There's also good games that doesn't sold well but deserves a second chance. Example like Nier Replicant. The PS3/360 version doesn't sold well and it got dunked by a lot of reviewers just because it has unusual story plot & characters, graphic isn't looking high budget as Final Fantasy, multiple gameplay style outside action hack & slash, and whatever weird reasons from Gamespot / Eurogamer / 1UP or any reviewers who gave it a bad score. The remaster gave it a second life and it sold + received well than the PS3/360 version.

Dev be like: What is it the Braids? You dont wanna play my game no more ok.

I really enjoyed Braid when it came out. It was a great, influential indie of the early days of digital storefronts. With all that said, it's not nearly as inventive as it was then, I don't think the style of the graphics has aged well, and I just don't think it's a game people were itching to revisit. I certainly was never interested in this re-release.

I really liked the original, but it didn’t need a remaster. A basic port to modern consoles would have been nice. Developer commentary is like DVD commentary: something I think I’ll want but never actually get around to.

Hope he’s working on something new soon. The Witness was so interesting.

The reality is that Braid is a dime-a-dozen in 2024. Go on Steam and the Nintendo eshop and you'll probably find yourself tripping over a few hundred artsy platformers in this vein. That's a world Jonathan Blow helped to inspire and create, granted, but all the same, it's also one within which he must compete.

The Witness was excellent. Supposedly he's been developing a game in a programming language he designed himself? I'd love to see it.

That said, I feel no need to revisit Braid, and apparently neither does anyone else.

Never played. Dude sounds like a clown from what you all say. Perhaps should've looked for some Game Pass or PS money.

I remember this anniversary edition went MIA for awhile after its initial announcement. Having a reveal trailer in early 2021 only to drop a few months ago with minimal fanfare couldn't have helped.

@Rob_230 I totally agree with you if you lose the surprise of the ending or plot then you lose so much of the game.

This was not very well thought out. The only real target markets were Switch and PS5/PS4. Xbox and Steam you can still buy the old version. A few new levels is not gonna force a purchase for such a niche older game. PC especially. I'm all for consolidating old fabulous indie titles on my Switch, but complaining about how terrible the sales were is pretty weak. This was never gonna be a juggernaut. Or even a shadow of its originality.

I would why so many indie games often end up on game pass, because in addition to money up front they get lots of exposure. And the other issue might be is that the original x360 version is backwards compatible so there is no reason to get a new version. Not the same for the ps4/ps5.

@mlm043 thanks for your reply. I can see a tweet related to this. I really don't usually follow twitter which means I'm often out of the loop with such stuff which I'm generally ok with!

@Yousef- Funnily i'm pretty sucks at Super Puzzle Fighter lol but not with Street Fighter. I can see why you got addicted to it though like the moment when you line up all those gems & diamonds for a long chain reaction and see them crumble is pretty satisfying + always fun to watch the cute 2D chibi sprite of Ryu, Ken, Chun, Morrigan etc doing special moves.

What was he expecting? As far as I'm aware this is the exact same game that was released a couple generations ago, one that is still easily playable on PC and Xbox at the very least. This wasn't exactly going to set the world on fire.

We can't compare the indie market between 2008 and 24. Back then there was a handful of indie simple games like this and castle crashers. Nowadays there are videos of best Indies games of July 2024!!! and the games are not common between the videos, an overkill

Didn't know it was 360 exclusive in 2008. I think it's fair for it to reach a wider audience on more platforms and modern platforms but there is a lot of Indies so yeah the competition (kind of like with Switch early on many getting to play Fast Racing/Shovel Knight and more made for a lot to go for besides Breath of the Wild). If the next consoles maybe but that's a while away besides Switch 2.

I think the game was fair, Crush was on PSP before Super Paper Mario had the same mechanic, yet who even knows what Crush is PSP or 3DS version (remaster I think it was as new art, some other tweaks, exactly Mario is remembered more even if the RPG sub series and Crush on 3DS was Sega published too).

I think it probably hold up well, I never played the original, I know that others go the original when it released on modern platforms though as family member played it and anniversary edition wasn't a thing yet and it was on PS4/5, so an anniversary edition besides visuals/tweaks/content or whatever and for the new consoles too I assume yeah not too sure about that. It depends if people want a remaster/definitive edition or something else whatever Anniversary edition offers.

I think he makes great games, the GDC talks were good, I have seen stream clips and I get what he is going for and how some people miss the point, or even if I disagree I still see his points and are valid ones, even if not played Braid but did the Witness during the Play At Home for free and it's good. I think all developers have their vocal responses for fair reasons and the unfortunate state of the industry, experiences with the industry/development/audiences, etc, some people go oh person shouting at the world but at the same time it is valid, just because people don't want to listen their points compared from somewhere and based on many factors. I don't think shouting is funny it isn't comedy, but when valid points are made from their perspective I get it.

I got Limbo + Inside combo physical (then digital which gets them more money but I buy physical as prefer it) and it's great value I think Playdead's past titles while like a Daikatana and Doom, some staff splitting and how Summerville I think it was, some games just don't turn out a certain way.

I mean I hate the way the industry is in a gameplay sense yet we get people jumping on visuals, we get boringt themed games with shooters in the SWAT/military corner forced that way, platformers by Indies are too underdeveloped currently, racing games are just as safe and boring with milking brands/licenses no matter the motorsport we get boring mechanics or 1 to 2 devs if lucky pull out a good mechanic but most are safe and boring.

So audiences wanting visuals, what looks cool of set pieces which take a while to work around and are subjective on if impactful enough (so feeling then how well constructed/ambitiously cool it is), oh this and that wants when games change all the time.

I think SW Outlaws needs a better reputation system with it connecting to more of the game but it's going to release soon so I doubt it will get that change, I doubt the staff cared/maybe they didn't have time, didn't think about it or weren't skilled enough, anything is possible, nor do I care really, the rest is there and works.

It isn't my type of game but I still care enough for what is offered in the product, same with Foamstars with my mode ideas and a game I didn't play there either.