The critical darling Braid originally launched 2008 on Xbox Live Arcade, then hit PSN in 2009. It counts among the first digital-only titles to truly showcase the strength of indie projects. The puzzle-platformer remains a high watermark for the industry in general, too. Thankfully, it will mount a return sometime in early 2021 on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as Braid, Anniversary Edition. This release from Thekla, Inc. will come packed with a bevy of graphical enhancements, environmental revisions, and developer commentary.
Braid, Anniversary Edition’s announcement came during the most recent State of Play stream, courtesy of the following trailer:
To reinvigorate the title, original artist David Hellman has “hand-repainted” Braid’s gorgeous world, with the environment looking like a painting in motion. On top of that, many of the environments are undergoing revisions to make them appear even more unique. The team at Thekla also added improved animations for fluidity of movement, as well as enhanced the audio and music, all of which you can see demonstrated in comparison to the original in the trailer above.
In terms of sound, it seems the crew is taking things up a notch for the Anniversary Edition. Martin Stig Andersen (Inside, Control) and Hans Christian Kock (Max: The Curse of Brotherhood) are helming sound design, studio President Jonathan Blow says in a PlayStation Blog post. Players will be able to toggle back and forth between the Anniversary Edition and the classic 2008 edition at any time to see and hear the differences.
According to Blow, the aforementioned developer commentary will span many hours. Fans will gain insight into Braid’s “programming, art, design, video game history, and many other things, using in-game hyperlink portals so you can jump between levels to follow the various conceptual threads.” In the PS Blog post, Blow notes the developer commentary will be “a lot;” though, he can’t divulge how long it may last just yet. As of now, the content for it is still being written and recorded. He says it dives into the game in “deeper detail than you’d get from blog postings, or gaming news sites, or the usual kind of in-game commentary,” with the player having full control over how deeply they explore specific aspects and mechanics.
Braid, Anniversary Edition launches in early 2021 for the PS4 and PS5.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
