I love Braid so much. First, the soundtrack, songs by Jami Sieber and Shira Kamman, were phenomenal. The gorgeous cello and violin are so atmospheric, and they

I love Braid so much. First, the soundtrack, songs by Jami Sieber and Shira Kamman, were phenomenal. The gorgeous cello and violin are so atmospheric, and they also sound good backwards and sped up -- necessary for a game like Braid, and chosen for that reason. Secondly, the artwork - that naive 2D platformer style but combined with gorgeous and subtle shading and depth that really showed it was something special. We're used to games doing this now, maybe. Thirdly, the structure of the game itself as a critique of the traditional Mario-style platformer with its jumps, princesses and castles. It was like playing a postmodern game. Then there's the relationship between the level's gameplay theme and the lesson it's trying to teach. This was something I saw Elizabeth Sandifer point out. The first level is all about being able to undo the mistakes of the past. But then we learn some mistakes are too big to undo. We learn about how a ring can change things in a relationship... And then there's the two levels of twist ending and how they relate to games and gaming, especially a decade ago when it was much more a male pursuit. Honestly I could talk about Braid for hours.