One of the biggest surprises of Thursday's PlayStation State of Play event was the return of Braid, a game now 12 years old. In fact, it's officially Braid's 12th anniversary today, August 6, making it the perfect opportunity to announce that a Braid Anniversary Edition is currently in development. The announcement was made by Braid creator Jonathan Blow himself, who described that he wants modern gamers to experience the game as it's meant to played and not as an aging relic.
In a blog post on the official Braid website, Blow goes into detail about what he wants for the Braid anniversary edition. Braid was originally developed for the Xbox 360, part of a generation of consoles that struggled pushing games at above a 720p resolution. The team decided to make its art assets at 2x720p just for future-proofing. Of course, since then not only has 1080p arrived, but 4k display devices are standard and 8k is nearing. Blow says that playing Braid on 4k is blurry and unpleasant. Something had to be done.
First Blow asks how it'd be best to upgrade Braid for modern computers. His answer, to start, is to have Braid's artist David Hellman repaint the entire game, which he's doing. And while it's being repainted, why not add extra animations and effects to make Braid's movement feel better, which they're doing. Some scenes could have more detail, the game's sound effects could be upgraded, and why not add some remixed tracks to the late game? Those are all improvements that Blow has moved forward with.
Authenticity was still a guiding principle for the Thekla development team when improving Braid. While there have clearly been a significant amount of improvements, it's still the same Braid. A feature has even been added that will swap between the classic visuals and the new visuals, so players can compare. It will also swap the game's sound effects, music, and so on. The classic will be the original game in every sense.
Then, just because Blow could, he's adding developer commentary to the entire game, and not just a simple standard overview kind of developer commentary. Rather, Blow says, "the goal is to make it the craziest, most in-depth commentary ever put in a video game." He says fans can expect coverage of every aspect of the game, including its gorgeous art, programming, or even 20-minute long explanations for why a certain puzzle is the way it is.
To get an impression of what the Braid Anniversary Edition looks like, a new trailer from today's PlayStation State of Play comparing the differences between the two versions of the game has been released. Otherwise, fans can look forward to the rerelease in 2021.
Braid Anniversary Edition releases in early 2021 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
