The Binding of Isaac is a 2d roguelike where you start each run with no items, or characters specific items. You’ll start the game with just Isaac unlocked and as you get further and further into the game you can unlock more and more characters. There are a total of 34 characters so there’s a lot of options to play as. This game was released in 2011 by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl which means it’s also an indie game. Throughout the years it went from a simple flash game to now a game with over 100 unique bosses, over 700 items, and 641 achievements. There are three DLC’s that each add way too much to pass out on which are Repentance+ and Afterbirth+. While the DLC’s and bass game cost around $60, if you get them during steam’s big sales they’ll cost far less. I believe I got them for around $20 which even the $60 price tag is worth it since there is literally hours of play time.
Gameplay
The gameplay controls are very basic; you’ll use either wasd/arrow keys to shoot/move, or use an analog stick on a controller to shoot/move. Other controls include placing a bomb, using an active item, opening the map, and using a tarot card/pill/rune. You can pick up passive items, one active item at a time, 99 cents, 99 bombs, and 99 keys. All the controls are customizable so switch things about if you don’t like them. Different pick ups that Isaac holds are coins, bombs, and keys. As you play there will be enemies in each room and they’ll get much harder as you advance through the game, floors and modes. Each of the first few floors have a treasure room (free item), a shop, a secret room, super secret room, and a boss room. You should always head into your treasure room since it’ll be a free time to make the run easier, but it’s not always helpful. Secret rooms are hidden rooms connected to multiple other rooms that you enter by bombing, and super secret rooms are harder to find since they are only connected by one room.Beating the boss allows you to head to the next floor and will give an item. The first few runs are locked into the final floor being the same boss but after beating it a few times you can go further. If you’re ever stuck beating the same boss and the run ends after the final boss, beat it a few times and you will be able to progress.
Sound design
The most memorable part of the sound design is either the main menu music or when Isaac dies. There are no words said in Isaac other than a voice that say what card/pill/rune you use which is honestly really satisfying to hear. Picking up coins is also really satisfying with pennies, nickels, and dimes each sounded so good. Keys sound pretty good as well. Each floor type also has its own music and Cellar 1 sounds the coolest to me.
Enemies/Bosses
As you get further and further into the levels the enemies sort of evolve and get stronger. There’s basic flies which have a really basic AI with really low hp, then they’ll be replaced by other enemies that spawn those flies. Another example is some enemies walk into a fire and turn into a burning version that is quicker and better in their AI. If I’m being honest, nearly all the enemies are pretty gross when you really stop to think about it since there’s mutated spiders, fat dudes with two heads, some guys who lose their heads and start shooting tears at you, but the art style is really good at turning into a visual to something presentable.
There’s 9 main bosses which give completion marks and unlock more items after beating them. The bosses in order are Mom’s heart or It Lives, the Cross is beating Isaac, the inverted cross is for beating Satan, the polaroid is for beating ???, negative is for the lamb, Brimstone for Mega Satan, bloody marks for beating delirium, Knife for mother, Dad’s note for the Beast, and the cent for beating greed. Some time sensitive marks are beating boss rush and Hush. I would say that the final bosses of the game are Delirum, Mother, and Beast. My favorite boss is Hush since it rushes you to beat the floors quickly and rewards you very well to set you up for the rest of the run.
Recommendations/Mods
I highly recommend having either an item guide on standby, using the internal item description, or using external item description (mod) in steam workshop because not having any of those on and it being your first time playing, you don’t know what any item does at all. In settings you should also turn on high visibility bullets to see enemy projectiles easier. Finially, in the native settings, turn on extra hud to see your stats. That just makes it so you know what to prioritize when making choices.
Some people tend to shy away from modding games since it can become very complicated and take away from the “true” experience, but the creator of the Binding of Isaac is supportive of mods. Internal item description was added because of external item description, and tons of other in game items came from previously modded items. I personally don’t play with mods that add items, it’s just an option that you can take. I play with quality of life mods which makes playing a more enjoyable experience. Most mods that add items are just way too overpowered, not needing much thought when picking them up.
Important Items/Things to note
There’s a tier system for the items but I wouldn’t let that dictate if you pick them up or not. Think about it like choosing either a legendary tack or a purple pump, depending on how you play you’ll choose the less rare one. It goes from 0-4. The best items are ones that let you reroll others since you can roll from a quality 0 into a quality 4. An unfortunate thing about items is that you have to beat bosses on a certain character to unlock more. The best item in my opinion is locked behind beating ??? with blue baby, the d6.
After unlocking a bunch of items some characters start with them. Isaac starts with the d6, cain starts with lucky foot and a few other items, and the rest have something.
Synergies
Many items that sound trash by themselves turn into either a straight upgrade or overpowered. There’s an item called the Whiz that makes you shoot double tears but diagonally from you. People don’t like this item since you can’t hit anything in front of you but if you get a tiny planet before getting the Whiz you should always pick it up. Tiny planets make your tears orbit around you so them being shot diagonally just doesn’t matter. This means that you get double damage for free. To literally break the game if you get lump of coal+piercing+splitting shots there’s so many high damaging projectiles that you reach the projectile limit of the game. This effectively means that no enemy is able to shoot you any more, the only way they can damage you is by contact damage. A lot of synergies start off not too bad and snowball into game crashing. One time I shot once and I couldn’t even move anymore from the amount of explosions going off.
Different Characters
There’s a total of 34 characters but technically there’s only 17. Each character has a tainted version of themselves that has a different way to play. For example, normal Isaac has his d6 so you try to reroll as much as possible but tainted Isaac has a perk where better items spawn more frequently but you can only hold 8 passive items and the normal one active item. Tainted Isaac makes you really prioritize what you want since wanting an item means you’ll have to give up one of your eight. That’s drastically different from any other character since you can have infinite items with anyone else.
