10 Ingeniously Clever Video Games That Will Mess With Your Mind

3. Braid

braid game
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The second Jonathan Blow game to make this list follows a stumpy man called Tim across six 2D platformer worlds as he tries to track down a princess.

Despite its classic-platformer veneer, Braid is much more a puzzler, relying on time-bending mechanics to defeat enemies, find keys, and progress through the game. Each world makes you bend time in a different way, whether it's by time moving only when you do, or by using your 'shadow' from your previous run to help you progress. True to Blow's style, you're regularly forced to re-evaluate the rules you need to follow.

While not everyone loved the overarching story about saving the princess, it's in fact awesomely subversive, as in the end (SPOILERS INCOMING) it gets revealed that she didn't even want you to save her in the first place (because Tim, as we suspected, was a bit of a douche).

And there we all were thinking this was just another Damsel in Distress tale...

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Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.