The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

The Binding of Isaac – a game that answers the question: 'What if Zelda had a baby with a B-horror movie, and their grandparent was RNG?
You cry, throw poop, die a thousand times... and come back for more. Every run is like a Kinder Surprise: you either get something awesome or end up in hell with your build.
10/10 – best tear therapy ever.

This is a great game. Each run is randomly generated and it only takes about 30 minutes to an hour to play through the game, win or lose. Then you start at the beginning. However, there are so many different items so it never feels like you played the same run twice. There are lots of different paths to take as well. So many unlockable items and endings... It's just an endlessly replayable game. 10/10

One of the greatest indies on Steam. Limitless roguelike enjoyment. You will be turn around 1000 hours later, and still enjoy every run. Buy the game.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☐ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☑ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

This is a forever game. By which I mean - you're going to play it heaps when you first get it, but you're going to keep coming back to it afterwards. It's a great time waster, gap filler between game releases, and generally fun arcade-style roguelike package. Playthroughs are short, but diverse in terms of build potential and consequent play experience. Bad runs can be flipped on their head depending on a single room/item, and the game has plenty of secrets to rat out for those who don't like using guides.

Overall, TBoI is one of the best-put-together games I've ever seen in terms of scope, gameplay, and overall experience. It does exactly what it was made to do, does it well, and does it in a way that doesn't get stale.

To say The Binding of Isaac hasn't been a big part of my life would be an enormous understatement. At the time of writing this I have achieved Dead God with 970 hours on steam and I promised myself that I would write a review of how impactful it was to me. No matter how unorganized it may be. I found out about Isaac from two Youtubers. Northenlion and Bisnap. I watched Northenlion for Super Meat Boy and Bisnap for Spelunkey. None of their playlist compared to the number of episodes they made for the Original Binding of Isaac. I was HOOKED. The game's art style was infections that a young me would draw the characters on sticky notes to make them stand up, I didn't stop there In 6-8th grade I'd draw them next to the notes I'd write for Social Studies, Science, and Language Arts. I bought Rebirth according to steam on:Jan 31, 2015 and also bought Isaac on the PS-Vita, My Phone,and Nintendo Switch. I played the HECK outta rebirth it is a major upgrade from flash. I'd download mods so I could reskin them beacuse I had no idea how to extract the sprites from the game nor did I know that was even a thing at the time. I only had ms paint so when I did reskin them they would always have a white background which lead me down to finding paint-dot-net a program that I still use to this very day! Anyway I think that's all I wanted to say about Isaac that I can think about on the top of my head. Lastly I'd like to thank Edmund and his team over at Nicalis! Thanks for reading my messy ""review"" of The Binding of Isaac.

All information based on Repentance (the best way to play the game) after getting all achievements.
After playing this game to completion, it only felt right to review it. The Binding of Isaac is easily one of the best games in the rogue genre (I don’t care if it’s a -like or a -lite). No other game has made me cheer in victory, cry laughing, and groan in anger on such a frequent and regular basis. The main draw of this game is the gameplay (no doubt). There certainly is a story that you can slowly reach the core of as you play through the various routes each run can offer, and while I do enjoy it a whole lot, it should by no means be the thing that inspires you to play the game. Below are some nicely labelled sections about different gameplay elements. I’ll try to keep things as devoid of context as possible, since discovering niche mechanics or interactions is best done organically.
Characters:
The game starts with just Isaac to play as, allowing for an open yet controlled period of exploration. Soon enough you’ll unlock a handful of other characters and be able to explore their unique traits. Each character encourages a different style of play, from simple high-damage/low-health archetypes, to focusing the build on a specific type of item. Some characters are naturally strong, while others require time and a good few deaths to understand (the latter of which I found much more rewarding to play). The game never feels as if it’s overwhelming you with character choice, as the roster is filled out at a steady pace while you progress through the game’s routes and defeat new bosses. While I would not say that there are any unfun characters, some are certainly less fun. To keep it brief; a set of twins and a man who can’t make his mind up have caused me some slight anguish. Through fulfilling certain criteria and/or beating set challenges, there are a slew of permanent upgrades certain characters can receive. While I do wish some of these had a bigger impact on how the character plays, they are largely interesting and enhance the relevant character.
It's fascinating what you can find in your own home.
Items:
This game has a lot of items, over 700 by the time everything is unlocked. Some items give standard boosts to health or damage, while others radically alter how you play. Simply pick something up and see what it does; Some extra range? Homing projectiles? An infinite stock of bombs? Everything is part of the learning experience and even a mix of shoddy items can show you something new. Each item also has its own wonderfully depicted sprite, which is invaluable when you recognise an item you enjoyed previously, or indeed, one you did not. Even the most simplistic of runs will still net you around 8 items to play with, and that number will only increase the more you learn and improve. Almost everything you do with a character will unlock more items for you to find, expanding the game in a way that is proportionate to your experience and skill.
Looking between the walls is far more rewarding than it is in real life.
Enemies and Bosses:
Every dungeon has its monsters, and in this game that means every area hosts its own assortment of horrors. Enemies are widely varied in design, attacks, movement patterns and sounds. Every room will mix enemies in a way that tests your movement and understanding of your items. All encounters test and build upon your ability to prioritise threats and move effectively around projectiles and obstacles. Your experiences culminate in the many boss fights each run provides. Bosses can range from ‘that enemy you saw earlier is bigger now’ to completely unique encounters. Each floor hosts its own pool of bosses, keeping each run fresh and making you consistently apply your skills. Every run will end with a battle against an End Boss. These are, naturally, some of the hardest encounters in the game and are literally the culmination of not only your current run, but every run before it. Each End Boss is unique in design and attacks, and always feel satisfying to beat, whether that’s through a tense whittling down of their health or complete obliteration.
Things aren’t always as you remember.
Art:
Every item, character, enemy, boss, environmental piece, attack, room, and door is rendered in some of the best and most consistent pixel art I’ve seen. I wouldn’t say that the art is the reason to buy the game, but it’s incredible how distinct and clear every element of the game is.
A few more things:
Want to alter the game somehow? Download a mod, there’ll (most likely) be one that does what you want.
Stupid stuff you can do:
- Drink soy and almond milk
- Eat playdough
- Fill a room with faeces (helpful more often than you might think)
- Assemble the corpse of your pet cat
- Blow yourself up (in many fun and exciting ways)
- Heal by setting off a grenade in your face
- Pee on the floor (this will save a run at some point)
- Sneeze (for crit damage)
- Make the game ‘Pay-to-Win’
- Put worms in your brain
- Get cancer (in two unique ways)
- Mandatory self-damage boomerang bombs
- Fake items
- Pay off angry debt collector
- Clip out of bounds because you’re too small
- Clip out of bounds because you can’t count to 13
- Donate blood
- Open your eyes and see
The Binding of Isaac is a true feat in game design and should be played by anyone who somewhat knows what a rogue game is. It is a game that teaches you to appreciate what you have, face your fears, persevere in the face of danger, and that hardships can be overcome. It is entirely possible that you won’t have the same experience I did playing this game, but (in a funny sort of way), maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be.