Author's Note: This is a review of the original game, not Rebirth. It was originally self-published on FA on January 16th, 2012. This means that the base game + the Halloween Update, before the release of Wrath of the Lamb DLC. Also included is the original image I posted on FA for the review
Drawing inspiration from the Old Testament story of the same name, 'The Binding of Isaac' is a game that puts players into the role of Isaac. Your job is to help Isaac through his trials as he attempts to survive the religiously-driven, homicidal rage of his Mom.
The story goes that one day, Isaac's Mom hears the voice of God speaking to her. God tells her that her son has become corrupted by evil, and must be saved. Following the commands, she quickly strips all the evil from Isaac's life, such as games, toys, even clothing! She then locks him away, and upon hear the voice command that he be a sacrifice, she grabs a knife and heads to his room. Peeking through a crack, Isaac panics and manages to find a trap-door into the basement, where he escapes...only to have to eventually face his mother if he is going to survive.
The gameplay is an interesting mixture between old Legend of Zelda dungeon crawling, and what is defined as a 'rogue-like' game. The term 'rogue-like' refers to the fact that if you should perish in your attempt to escape, it is a permanent death. You start back at the beginning of the game, sans any power-ups you have acquired on the previous run. The game also randomly generates dungeons, so one power-up you got on the last play-through may not spawn this time.
Add on top of this that some of the monsters can very easily wipe you out, especially when you encounter a new variant on one you've already seen, can make this an incredibly challenging game. the high difficulty of the game is likely to make some players turn away from it, but anyone who grew up hammering their way through the likes of say Legend of Zelda and Mega Man are likely to be in heaven....hell...whatever.
Those that choose to stick with the game will begin to discover that they can unlock more and more items, often much to their benefit. Some of these newer items quickly make the character extremely powerful, and it's not uncommon to reach a certain point in the game and start plowing through enemies. The game will then ramp up the difficulty at times, which gives a satisfying upgrade to the difficulty right when you feel you can just continue to breeze right through.
The game has a lot of hidden tricks and treats, such as mini-bosses based around the 7 Deadly Sins, or unlocking the Four Horsemen to fight as alternate bosses. That's really just a small taste of all the content in 'Binding of Isaac', which is a lot considering the game is only 5 dollars. I've honestly seen more expensive games contain a lot less playability than Isaac.
There are only two major draw-backs to the game, and that's sometimes the room design will keep you away from items you desperately need (such as placing a bomb you need within a circle of rocks...which means you need a bomb to get the bomb), and enemies can fire in all 8 directions, while you generally only have 4 ways to fire. You can compensate by moving while shooting, but it does suck that they just can fire better than you can.
The music and sound effects do a very decent job of setting the atmosphere, and becoming tense when facing particular bosses. It gives a kind of desperate, lonely sense to the overall game, lending the child-like drawings some much needed weight.
Do be forewarned that the title isn't the only religious symbolism in the game. There are a lot of references to Christianity contained within, with everything from the crown of thorns Jesus wore upon his head, to the Book of Revelations. Those who are squeamish about such things may consider avoiding Isaac altogether; if not, then this violent, religiously fueled dungeon-crawler just might be for you!
Final Thoughts: Isaac is a disgusting, religiously themed dungeon crawler game that, despite its flaws in design, has a really addictive nature to it that keeps you coming back to just try and get the kid through one more time. There's multiple endings, and the game has a few ways of ramping the difficulty up, so when you feel like you've plateaued, the game can take you by surprise. A satisfying 9 out of 10.
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9 years, 5 months ago
24 Sep 2015 02:43 CEST
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