Braid: Anniversary Edition (or Braid, Anniversary Edition as it’s officially styled) has been delayed by two weeks. The remake is now set to launch for PlayStation, Switch, and PC on 15th May, with Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One versions arriving a day later, on 16th May.
Developer Jonathan Blow revealed his time-manipulating platform-puzzler would be getting an enhanced Anniversary edition all the way back in 2020, and a release of 30th April 2024 was finally confirmed last November, placing its launch squarely in the original’s 15th birthday year.
News of a brief delay for Braid: Anniversary Edition’s launch was shared today in a press release, but no reason for its later-than-expected arrival has been given. On the upside, today’s announcement brings news of a previously undisclosed feature: 40 new levels. These consist of 14 commentary index levels (15 in the mobile version), used to navigate the game’s 15+ hours of commentary, 12 alternate design levels with explanatory commentary, plus 13 new full puzzle levels, featuring 16 puzzle pieces that’ll combine to form a new frame.
That’s on top of its previously announced features, which include new visuals “hand-repainted” by original artist David Hellman, improved sound, new mixes and variants of the original soundtrack by Martin Stig Andersen and Hans Christian Kock, plus the aforementioned commentary tracks, promising “thoughts and insights into puzzle design, programming, visual art, math, the history of independent games and many other topics of interest”.
Oh, and for purists, it’s possible to toggle between the original and enhanced Anniversary editions of Braid.
Braid: Anniversary Edition – which is being created by Blow’s Thekla Inc. studio – launches for PlayStation 4, PS5, Switch, and PC (as well as iOS and Android devices, albeit exclusively to Netflix subscribers) on 15th May. It comes to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on 16th May.