Braid (2008)
It may not have been the first of its kind, but it's definitely one of the most beautiful. It was wildly successful on the download market – and deservedly so. Braid's beautiful soundtrack meshed wonderfully with its maddening time puzzles. Add to that a storyline that's wide open to interpretation and a controversial "secret ending," and you have one of the catalysts for the artistic indie platform puzzler movement. Aided by the development of download platforms like Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live Aracde, indie games were finally starting to face up to the triple-A titles. Along with other fantastic titles like “Limbo,” “Bastion,” and “Unfinished Swan,” Braid is one of the first examples to point to when people question the idea of video games as art.
