The Binding Of Isaac

The Binding of Isaac is an indie shooter/roguelike created by Edmund McMillen, most well known for his previous game, Super Meat Boy. Playing as Isaac, a small child trapped in a basement, you'll attempt to survive as you work your way through procedurally-generated dungeons full of deadly creatures. Like other games in the roguelike genre, the aim of The Binding of Isaac is to collect power-ups and survive until the very end, killing bosses and dodging hazards along the way. With its dark tone, unique art style, and callbacks to classic adventure games, The Binding of Isaac is some bloody good fun.

Main Game Features

• Addictive twin-stick shooter gameplay
• Dark and violent storytelling
• Tons of unlockable items and powers

Story

The Binding of Isaac tells a sad and somewhat upsetting story that highlights the dangers of religious indoctrination through silly and exaggerated illustrations. The story starts as simple as it should, with the young Isaac and his mother living alone in their quaint and small home. One day, while watching religious television shows, Isaac's mother claims to hear a voice from God himself. Convinced that Isaac has been soiled by the world of sin, his mother locks him and his toys away in his room.

However, this isn't enough to satisfy the voice in her head, which continues to tell her that Isaac has been corrupted. As a last act of faith, Isaac's mother attempts to kill him with a knife. Fortunately, Isaac is able to escape down a small trap door that leads to the basement. Betrayed and left to die, Isaac must travel through a series of increasingly dangerous dungeons in order to find redemption.

Gameplay

At first glance, The Binding of Isaac draws a lot of comparisons to the classic Nintendo game, The Legend Of Zelda. Playing from a top-down perspective, you control Isaac as he moves through rooms, defeating enemies and collecting items. The game is designed to be tough and consistently challenging, as dying is pretty common. When you lose all your health, you'll start all the way back at the beginning with all of your accumulated items lost for good. Since the levels are procedurally-generated, the layout of each map will always be different, providing a high level of replayability. With hundreds of items to collect and over twenty bosses to defeat, there's always something new to see.

While The Binding of Isaac can be significantly difficult, its addictive nature makes it easy to continue playing attempt after attempt. When you first fall into the basement, you'll have nothing but your tears to attack enemies with. However, as you discover item rooms and defeat bosses, you'll earn various items that enhance and upgrade Isaac. Items can strengthen and modify his tears, make him stronger and faster, and occasionally hurt him as well.

Learning what all of the items do and what items to grab is a game within itself, but a big part of the Binding of Isaac fun. Despite how many frustrating deaths you might encounter, it's all worth it when you get an exceptionally good stack of items and start destroying horrors of the basement.

Pros

• Items give awesome powers
• Bosses are tough and well-designed
• Highly replayability

Cons

• Difficulty level might be too high for some
• Occasionally frustrating room designs