Today, I'm gonna talk a little about each of the characters in Isaac. For the sake of keeping it fairly short (and avoiding (some) spoilers), I'll only be talking about the original 11 characters for now.
A pretty okay character all-around, but not too special in the beginning. That said, once you unlock the D6, he becomes very good- you start with decent stats, but also get the choice to re-roll any items you don't like (assuming you can fully charge the D6 first). He's a really good pick for most situations, but not necessarily always the best.
Personally, I don't like Maggie's lack of speed (she starts with 0.85, compared to Isaac's 1.00). That said, she starts with an extra heart, and the ability to heal every few rooms, which can be really good when paired with, say, a demon beggar, blood donation machine, or even just a curse room. Maggie isn't someone I play as often, but I can see the appeal, especially for someone still relatively new to the game (she was one of my favourites when I first started).
Cain was one of my favourites in the original Binding of Isaac game, since (at the time) he couldn't get bad pills, and starts with high damage. I still consider him a good pick for greed mode- he starts with a key, meaning he can enter both item rooms straight off the bat, and once you get the paper clip, you can get into golden chests for free. He does start with slightly lower range, though I don't feel that's much of an issue.
I used to think Judas was horrible- I was always afraid to use his item, since I wanted to save a charge for the bossfight, and his base health is too low. That said, now I've got more experience, he's become one of my favourite characters. In greed mode, starting with 8.9 damage (after using the Book of Belial) makes clearing waves very easy, and once you get enough practice, it becomes possible to avoid damage to the point where starting with 1 heart isn't a huge drawback.
This character isn't much worse than Isaac, really- not being able to pick up red hearts is pretty limiting, but stats-wise, they're not any worse than Isaac. On the other hand, if you play as ???, odds are you'll beat Isaac in a relatively short time, and in doing so, unlock the D6 that makes Isaac significantly better. It's a bit unfortunate, really- by playing as a new character, you quickly make them obsolete.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of Eve. She starts with low damage and health, and Dead Bird doesn't have good enough AI to be worth taking damage for. The only way for Eve to be viable is to get an item like Abaddon (or just take devil deals and get enough soul hearts to survive), in order to transform and gain a boost to damage and speed, but since that requires getting to the second floor boss without taking red heart damage (or preferably, any damage), it's not a very easy task.
Samson is a bit of a weird character. Like Eve, you have to take damage to become strong, but unlike Eve, you don't have to stay at low health, and can heal (though the damage resets every floor). He's not a character I play often- his only real benefit comes from getting hurt, which isn't something I tend to aim for, though he's not really any worse than Isaac, pre-D6.
Azazel is very strong, but in a very specific way. He has very high damage compared to most other characters, but with almost no range- it can be difficult against some enemies to kill them without getting hit. Technically, Azazel starts with the same health as Isaac, but in the form of black hearts- this means getting hit can help clear rooms, but on the other hand, you can't heal with red hearts. It also means you can't take devil deals without first getting a health up, which is rather inconvenient.
Lazarus is actually pretty good. He's slightly lacking in range and luck compared to Isaac, but starts with a (hopefully good) pill. He also has the benefit of being able to respawn once upon dying, without leaving the room like you would with, say, Dead Cat. His respawned form has better damage and speed, so if you're clever about taking devil deals, you can essentially get a free damage and speed up. He's still not my favourite character, but pre-D6, he's a solid choice.
I can't talk much about how good Eden is, really- it's different every run. Eden is definitely an interesting pick though, since you'll never get the same thing twice, so that's fun. My brother is always afraid to play as Eden, since you have limited tokens, but realistically, with the amount he has, he isn't likely to run out any time soon.
A very weird character to play as. You can technically get hit an unlimited number of times in a single run, just so long as no two of them are in the same room (once you've unlocked Holy Mantle for the Lost anyways). There's no real benefit to playing the Lost, apart from flight and spectral tears, but since this is essentially a bonus challenge character, it doesn't exactly feel unfair. You can take devil deals for free though, so that can be a huge help in some runs.
Anyways, that's gonna be it for today- hopefully you enjoyed this post!
