If I hadn't read about it, I would've never guessed that the reverse of time was actually happening on the top part. The princess is actually running away from Tim, and the knight rescues her. Tim is the monster. Although there are many interpretations of the story as said by John Blow himself.
This is one of those moments where you just go "I have discovered something I wasn't supposed to. I have made a grave mistake..." Which is really the message of the whole game, being about the creation of the atomic bomb and all.
There isn't only a Manhattan project quote, there are lines about ethics, animal research and chocolate. The game seems more about humanity's furious but shortsighted drive for progress in general than only about the atom bomb. I saw Tim as humanity and the Princess as mother Earth--hence the lines about Tim's mother holding him back from all of the things that he wants to understand and have (in the candy store's window), of which the atom bomb was the worst, but not the only.
They show burning cities. They use several quotes directly from scientists that took part of the manhattan project. 'Now we're all sons of...'' and ''On that moment hung eternity'' The city of Manhattan is mentioned where the bomb was tested and it wouldn't have anything to do with the 'story'. And why do you think the princess then blows up when they meet? They successfully create the bomb when they meet. With all this in mind it is no longer speculations. The ending is about the atomic bomb.
The Princess is Tim's work towards creating the Atom Bomb. Forever out of his reach, he spends night after night chasing her, getting so close but only to find her still yet elusive. This is why the ending level has the Princess running away from Tim - she doesn't want to be found, she doesn't want to be created, she doesn't want to scar the world. This is why when Tim finally catches her, she explodes...because she is an atom bomb. Tim lives in Manhattan - working on the Manhattan Project.
when you have 7 stars the levers that you pull are **glowing green**(meaning not affected by time) so when you reverse it, the princess can get farther ahead since the levers are pulled before you get there. if you don't have 7 stars the levers aren't glowing :/
More. Layers. Damnit. There's the obvious explosion angle with the atomic bomb but I'm not a fan of that one. Seems a bit contrived. And the city on fire? I never thought it was on fire, I just thought it was the glow of the streetlights in the sunset. These impressionists, eh? Can never really tell... A different explanation would be that Tim finally caught The Princess. The Princess being an actual woman and Tim being a stalker. This is implied by Tim finding the final star in her bedroom. He went outside the accepted path of the game, and found contrived ways to eventually find himself in her house. This interpretation is also supported by the Andromeda constellation, and the chained woman in the sky. In this instance, the Princess is Andromeda, and Tim is Cetus, the monster in her pursuit. Take the rest of the myth as you will. Either way it's a powerful twist and while I'm not sure it's worth the ridiculous effort required to get the stars, it does add something to the narrative while making it no clearer at all...
+Callum Morgan It's pretty well accepted that the atomic bomb plot is the real plot since the text from the books is direct quotes from the Manhattan Project. Not really contrived at all.
This is *Braid* we're talking about. It's open to interpretation. There are at least 3 reasonable threads you could draw from it and the atomic bomb is just one
Time paradox too; in order for this to happen, he had to rewind time significantly, likewise, if anyone did that the chain of events would differ leading to a very alternate outcome in this case, he catches the princess so she and time itself explode and he re-appears in a new dimension perhaps as his consciousness' energy has to go somewhere.
Learned about the stars after I finished the game, and I don't think I have the skill to speed run the level fast enough to get on the chandelier. Thanks for uploading this.
Braid is about regret, and moving on from regret. Sometimes we do things we really wish we didn't. Maybe its a relationship. Maybe its a project we're so engrossed in we forget about the social ramifications. In Braid the creation of the atomic bomb is compared to that of a failed relationship. Tim tries to grab on to what he can't have-be it love or knowledge-and ends up losing something dear to him as a result. And in post modern style, the game is about him ruminating through the pieces.
@mackdallas No, if you pay very close attention, you'll notice that the levels are REVERSED. And at the end (more appropriately the beginning), you go into Rewind and it shows the whole story where Tim is chasing after the princess and she's trying to get away by dropping chandeliers on him, trying to catch him in traps, until the brave knight comes and rescues her from that sick sadistic man (He was ripping rat brains to shreds and depriving monkeys of water to find her).
True. It's very interesting to see just how complex these puzzles can become without being entirely impossible. Especially with the added mechanic of reversing events in this game.
They're additionally awesome because many of them leave the player with a lingering sense of wonder, curiosity, and confusion. Games like Braid where you're the bad guy for an unknown reason keep games alive.
The constellation at the end is Andromeda, the Chained Woman. She was chained to a rock as an offering to the Leviathan, to appease Poseidon, and was rescued by Perseus.
@Priderage That is exactly why I love this game! The entire thing was a giant metaphor. Every statement of the books related to that as well! This game is a giant artwork because of the message so carefully hidden behind it all!
My description of this ending: And them some of the switches become timeproof. So you can get to the chandelier sooner, and actually rescue the princess. And that's when she explodes.
Just to save anyone else the trouble, you can't jump on the chandelier unless you have the stars on the go. The second claw-plant keeps you back and you don't have time to get over to the chandelier.
"He scrutinized the fall of an apple, the twisting of metal orbs hanging from a thread. Through these clues he would find the Princess, see her face. After an especially fervent night of tinkering, he kneeled behind a bunker in the desert; he held a piece of welder's glass up to his eyes and waited." "It worked." "Now were all sons of bitches."
@buggyiscool A lot of people say that, but just because of a single quote in the game "We're all bastards now". The simple explanation for why she explodes is that he destroyed the "time-space" continuum by touching her when that's not what actually happened. Keep in mind, during the part where you CAN touch her, everything is going in reverse. So you're essentially reliving previous events. It's impossible for him to "change" what happened, and in doing so, she explodes.
Another awesome thing about this level is apparently it's reversed, and the princess is running from the guy and setting traps so he can't catch her, and she jumps into the knight's arms at the end and he climbs away with her. mindfuckery
-from what I can see, the game has been edited, allowing the switches to glow and not be affected by time, and also by placing extra blocks of scenery to the right of the chandelier.
That's but one of countless perspectives. To me, it's sin and obsession. This ending is just as much about rape as it is about mass destruction. When contact is made at 2:37, the girl is completely destroyed. Where do you get the last star? 3:00 shows that it's in her room. Touch the girl, destroy the girl, get the prize in the girl's bedroom. Just as it's a metaphor for the atom bomb, it's also a metaphor for rape. Just as the effects of the bomb can't be reversed, so is rape.
@SahjanS That's the constellation Andromeda, named after a princess from Greek mythology who was chained to a rock to be sacrificed to a monster, as punishment for her mother's sins. She was saved from death by Perseus, a hero and founder of the Mycenaean civilization.
I heard the whole game was a metaphor for people wanting to go back in time before the invention of the Atomic Bomb. I mean, she exploded, their was a whiteout, the city was on fire. The time going backwards was people wanting to go back before nuclear weaponry was made. Idk maybe I've been looking at too many easter egg blogs
How anyone found this out is beyond me. What an awsomely confusing, frustrating, challenging, exhilaratingly deep, well thought out masterpiece of gaming. I even went and bought the soundtrack!
what I was supposed to be accomplishing by playing it. Jonathan Blow, you have a great idea here, now explain it to us, or at least let us experience the entire thing without torturing ourselves.
You play as the scientist who created the atomic bomb. You try to create the atomic bomb (try to catch the Princess). The "correct" ending, which is without grabbing the 8th star, is where you see how you are actually chasing the Princess and she is running away from you (the bomb doesn't want to be found because of the chaotic consequences it would have in human history). If you manage to grab the princess (you finally create the atomic bomb) she explodes and you realize your mistake.
If you read the article on Cracked, you should know now that the game itself is a 'metaphor for the creation of the atomic bomb'. The princess is the bomb, and when you catch the princess the bomb explodes, or when you complete the trinity project, you've essentially caught the princess. the bomb explodes. something long those lines.
The Darkness is one of those games full of those twists. Unfortunately, you might not fight a game with this type of subplot in the newer games, but mostly in the older games on the PC and older consoles.
yeah I've been searching for games that put a dark twist on the story and this is one of them, unfortanatly I can't seem to find any other games that put such a twist on the story.
I can't remember much, but there's also a quote at the start of the game, and it's by a person who was one of the main researchers in nuclear bomb creation, or something.
@17thknight dont take this offensively but every review and breakdown of this game says the princess is tim's work toward the atom bomb (it has quotes about the manhattan project) and if its not about a nuke..then why does she explode?
The girl is actually the manhattan project, thus the explosion. Tim is the designer of the bomb and is obsessed with its/her creation. Re-read all the lore again with this in mind. Sorry for the spoiler but if your watching this video you probably came here for one anyway.
Maybe that constelation represents him, see how that fire tries to get to him? Maybe thats because something is trying to avoid him from changing time. he manages to catch up to her just for her to explode. After he goes through the door he goes back to the first level forced to start all over again, but this time you can see the constelation of someone in chains, that is him stuck forever. Maybe
I wish i still had the Destructoid podcast with Jon Blow where he explicity denied the whole Nuclear Bomb theory. Its an amazing podcast. If anyone still has it pls upload it.
@caturday456 It is a reference to the Manhattan Project; the one were Albert Einstein and a bunch of other scientists created the atomic bomb. When you think about it, the entire thing can be a metaphor for that, or simply just a way to describe how much of a catastrophic disaster their relationship was. However, there were actually 2 direct quotes from workers of the Manhattan project, and the whole story makes sense as the princess being life/bomb and Tim being a scientist/death.Think about it
@chesita maybe that is the idea. the door is LOCKED. it is a path he could have gone down but he cannot anymore. and though he sees the door, he cannot go beyond it after what he did
This level of Braid is quite a good metaphor of human existence: the fire catches you if you don´t do the right thing. But, there is something that tells us the game is flawed: we all are going to die of old age, or of any illness, so what are we going to do about it?. WE WE WE, ME ME ME. The answer to that, is not in having any faith in individuality.
I know the concept of the time manipulation has something to do with it. Its just that trying to wrap your had around all this at once causes philosophical brain damage from the ammout of things going on in the background. Ill reply what I manage before my head falls out.
I think that Tim is a time traveler. Bending time to his will. He falls in love and they become a couple. But something happens, he happens to become insane. His mind broken from all the years he has witnessed and skipped. He wants his love to be with her forever, locked away in time. So he breaks time open so he can get his way. He splits into two, one who has no memory and one who is mad with power. In the end the both find the truth. But one reality end with sorrow. One ends in ash and greed.
the whole Easter egg is related to the game itself, actually the game is related to reality itself. it portrays how we wish we could stop the nukes from ever happening, braid is i word that means Nuclear weapons (i think, i may be wrong) and the start is a burning city for gods sake.
It is about reject about the creation of the Atomic bomb, hence the reversed theme. Wishing you could reverse time to make it not happen. It's not for nothing.
1. He makes her slow down by not pulling levers that move obstacles in her way until he catches up. 2. The game is a conspiracy about the manhattan nuclear bomb project. The reversing time part is about how the creators of the bomb wish they could reverse time. And no, he couldn't. The princess was supposed to be the bomb. It looked like something you needed to achieve, but it ended terribly in the end.
this game blew my fucking mind in the same way that the movie memento did. there need to be more games with excellent, ambiguous plots like this, instead of dumb plots that piece everything together for you.
@Priderage The manhattan project had nothing to do with manhattan in new york.The statement that mentions it is a metaphor.The books that reference the princess are speaking of the bomb,those that don't but still talk of "her" are referencing his wife whom he neglected and regrets leaving.There are a few that speak in reference to his mother attempting to stifle his creativity and ambition when he was a child as well,driving him to become who he is. 3 stories all intertwined, like a braid...
*SPOILER* Apparently, once you have all the stars, then go stand under the constellation, if you look up, the stars disappear, allowing you to better see the image of the princess...which shows her chained around her waist.
