The Chained Princess

The secret objective of Braid is to get eight hidden stars. When you accomplish this, the constellation outside your house shows for its full effect.

Once again after completing Braid, I am left with the convoluted feelings of satisfaction and emptiness, fullness and sorrow. It's over (again), and I can't help but wonder what would have happened next. Or first, as the case may be. The final screen of the game sums it up pretty well: "He cannot say he has understood all of this. Possibly he's more confused now than ever. But all these moments he's contemplated — something has occurred. The moments feel substantial in his mind, like stones." Very substantial, but I'm not entirely sure to what purpose the stones serve. Maybe they are simply what they are.

(Yeah baby we were savage, we existed to kill. Our history is damaged, at least it was a thrill. But now we can see. Now that our vision is strong we don't need to admit we were wrong. Now we can see, but the images don’t stick. Our enemies lay dead on the ground and still we kick.)