As a typing game, you have to leave the typing way too much to maneuver the character. As a top-down action game, you have to type a lot. This makes it a bit of "worst of both worlds" and it's a pity. The typing mechanism is good, the way it integrated in the game is well done, the art is very good for a pixel-art game, and the story is engaging. But above it all it's just a mess to play, and that's the overall issue.
Braid is a Puzzle-platformer where you collect puzzle pieces. It's definitely a meta-experience that gets very complex as you go on. Elements of time and movement are being played upon and expanded in the narrative and in the actual gameplay. This is also a sad game. There's a beautiful, poignant aspect to the art, the music and the overall design. It's a story of regret and the attempt to redo the past. It's one of the best games I ever played.
I'm not a big fan of dungeon crawlers, either the old, ASCII types (although I was a huge Rogue player once), or the modern version, aka "Diablo-clones". I usually get bored from all the meaningless clicking and give up after 2-3 dungeons. However, I found Din's curse to be perfect for me, and I am drawn to it without any feeling of boredom or repetitiveness. The dynamic nature of the game, randomly generating a town-dungeon and infesting them with different monsters that create different quests keeps generating interest. The difficulty level is very well balanced by default, and the upgrade system is simple enough to understand but complex enough for tweakers. The nature of the game creates what is commonly referred to as "emergent narratives", either heroic or catastrophic, and always very engaging. This game is for both dungeon crawler fans who want a new take on the formula, and for non-fans, who might find this game answering all their issues with said formula. Highly recommended.
It is one of the best games I ever played, and the enhanced edition makes it even better, with great control schemes, mouse look, and updated resolution, all of these were detracting from the immersion of the original, and with the update, it's almost as if this is how the game was meant to be played. I used to run through hoops to get it running, even on DOS, and definitely later, so I was really hoping GOG will make it happen, and they did, worth every penny.
