And Yet It Moves, a puzzling solving platformer from independent developer developer Broken Rules for the Mac, PC, and soon coming to WiiWare, will instantly make you think of Braid.  Though the two games look and play nothing alike, Braid has somewhat become the mantle-piece for indie games in the gaming subconcious, the shining example of the greatness than can be achieved without a big-name publisher and developers who want to think outside of the box.  It doesn’t help that both are platformers, either, but as soon as you set your fingers to the five keys that control the world of And Yet It Moves you will become engrossed in a game that stands alone.

The most jarring element of AYIM is its graphics; the world itself is a land of paper, a dystopian collage of landscape photographs and discarded shreds.  Though the world of AYIM is definitely not one of harmony and synergy, the disjointed results culminate in a visual style that is stunning and refreshing, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Better still, despite how uniquely gorgeous the game is, the game requires very little computing power to run at its highest settings.  For instance, my regular ol’ Macbook, which used to cry whenever I would play World of Warcraft, runs AYIM at its highest settings as smooth as silk.

While the visuals alone help the game stand out from the platforming crowd, the way you travel throughout the world is equally innovative.  Your only controls in the game are to move left, move right, jump, and to rotate the world clockwise or counterclockwise.  Yes, you change the orientation of the entire world.  Maybe a tunnel is too skinny to walk through, so rotate the world so you can fall through it.  That jump look too far?  Rotate the world one way so that your jump that was carrying your horizontally is now carrying you vertically, and then rotate back so you can land safely.  It’s extremely hard to describe how the game looks and plays in motion; you’re honestly better off checking out this trailer to truly grasp all the puzzling possibilities this simplistic sounding system opens up.

The music is a perfect compliment to the bizarre visual style, a disjointed yet hypnotic blend of synths and beats that perfectly set the mood for whatever stage you’re playing.  You probably wouldn’t go out of your way to pick up the game’s soundtrack for its musical qualities, but it provides the perfect backdrop and atmosphere for the game.

And really, that’s kind of how all the independent parts of And Yet It Moves could be described.  On their own, the visual style, gameplay, and music would really not shine; it is the synergy they have the and culmination of their combining that is absolutely stellar, refreshing, and mind-blowing.  While I’ve only been able to play the free demo that is available on their website (http://www.andyetitmoves.net), this will be the first game I spend my next ten dollars on, easily.  You would be doing yourself a grave injustice by overlooking this game.