The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

So, for the longest time, two of the writers on this blog have been nagging me to pick up the Binding of Isaac and for the longest time, I’ve been putting it off. Enter the Steam Winter Sale, where subpar in almost all respects, had a few gems here and there. Amongst those gems was a very conveniently priced, special edition of the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, which had a pretty little graphic update and the Afterbirth expansion pack.

A mother lives with her son Isaac, mother hears the Lord God Christ tell her that Isaac is potentially corrupt and must be destroyed, mother chases Isaac, Isaac hides in basement, and that is where every playthrough begins, a basement.

The game is a beautifully rendered top down 2D game with the occasional 3D element to keep things interesting, I’m currently about 22 hours in, and my dying flame of achievement whoring was rekindled and now burns brighter than the fire of a million suns.

Reminiscent of the progressive Rogue Knight in overall gameplay, the Binding of Isaac is a randomly generated gauntlet of increasingly difficult enemies and levels, with randomly generated powerups and random events that can either make the game surprisingly convenient or stupidly difficult, either way, it keeps you on your toes.

When things get too convenient, one can only begin to wonder if the game is going Bane you, where it will give you all the hope in the world before stripping it away by way of random debuffs scattered randomly throughout the levels. With a mini boss fight at the end of each level, also randomly generated. From gigantic stools (and I don’t mean chairs) that shoots corn at you, to disturbing renditions of the seven deadly sins and the four horsemen of the apocalypse, this game has something for everyone!

There are two game modes, one is simply a gauntlet of levels that you need to see through to the end, the other is Greed Mode, where the goal is to survive an onslaught of several random waves enemies in an arena, followed by a boss, before moving on to the next zone. It sounds pleasant, but none of this really is. Only your stubborn pride will keep you going.

There are a whopping 276 achievements in this game, and a plethora of characters with varying starting buffs and stats to keep things interesting. The replay value is massive due to the randomly generated goodness. You'll be literally pissing and shitting your way through this game for hours on end without knowing where the time had gone.

Overall, The Binding of Isaac was what made the sale for me, I’m likely to keep having at this sadistic little venture until it is maxed out, or die trying. If you’re a fan of Roguelike games, this one is definitely one you should watch out for.