The story follows a man, named Tim, who attempts to rescue his princess from a monster. The game features traditional aspects of platform titles; the player runs, jumps, and climbs through a linear set of stages, while solving puzzles and defeating enemies. The player may also control time, allowing actions to be "rewound", even after death. Using these abilities, the player progresses the story by finding and assembling jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Braid is played by solving physical puzzles in a standard platform game environment similar to that of Super Mario Bros.. The player controls Tim, the protagonist, as he runs, jumps, and climbs across the game's levels while avoiding being touched by enemies. Tim can jump and stomp on enemies to defeat them, and can collect keys to unlock doors or operate levers to trigger platforms. One of the fundamental game elements is the player's unlimited ability to reverse time and "rewind" one's actions, even after dying. The game is divided into seven worlds, along with an "overworld" in the form of Tim's house. The worlds are entered through doors in the house. Each world has its own time-based game mechanic:

Ai Ui