That very last stage stands in my memory as one of the best uses of game mechanics as part of the story telling I've ever seen. It's the rare sort of thing that truly makes games an art of its own, rather than some sort of "interactive movie".

Ludonarrative resonance. It's fun to see the critical/theory sphere develop alongside the medium. We sometimes forget just how young videos games are. Compared to film, they're completely in their infancy, and narrative film isn't even 100 years old yet.

I can't think of many other games where the mechanics themselves reinforce the story. Papers, Please does it pretty well.

Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons is another example.

Yeah. The phantom limb sort of sensation was surprisingly powerful.

Yes it is. Hopefully Blow's the Witness will as awesome.

Also consider playing the following if you have thirst for puzzle games

    - The Swapper
    - Snakebird
    - Spacechem
    - Starseed Pilgrim (this one I haven't played but Blow recommended it, iirc)

Currently playing Snakebird and it is driving me _nuts_.

Also check out The Talos Principle [0], it resembles The Witness (based on little clips I've seen of it), and feels like Portal with a dash of Isaac Asimov and a sprinkle of Religion.

Beautiful audio, beautiful scenery, clever puzzles. One of the best games I've ever played.

[0]: http://store.steampowered.com/app/257510/

Also, watch Mushishi.

Thanks Mushishi! These are great recommendations!!

Braid was fun, but it didn't tie together very well. The mechanics are disjointed. From an artistic point of view, Limbo outshines Braid.

I've replayed Limbo, but never Braid.

Gotta disagree with you there. IMO Limbo was mostly polish with little substance (and don't get me wrong, I think it does a great job at that, it has amazing aesthetics).

FWIW I've revisited Braid multiple times, but don't think I'd get anything new out of Limbo if I played through it again.

To make a broader statement: I can count on one hand the times I've played Limbo and Braid. I don't have enough appendages for Spelunky.

Ha! Very true. I've sunk well over a thousand hours into Dungeon Crawl Stone soup, and hundreds into Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, and other roguelike/lites.

I don't think I'd consider them better games than Braid, however, they just have (much!) more replayability/content.

(I would consider them better than Limbo, but that's neither here nor there).

Make sure you collected all the secret stars and got the second ending. It's pretty hard to do, though.