Source: 5 Reasons The Binding of Isaac Has Aged Well (& 5 It Hasn't)
Hey, gang!
Today I'm going to tell you about one of my favourite games, The Binding of Isaac. I have only recently stumbled upon this game in my Steam games list and I've been blasting through this game for multiple hours on end.
Intro
There are lots of games out there that you could spend hours on and not get tired of it. Some of them are online games, which put you in the computer chair for at least an hour (i.e. FPS games like CS:GO or MOBAs like League of Legends), but some can be played and paused whenever you want them to. You wouldn't want to get yelled at by your mom, girlfriend or wife, because you spend too much time behind the monitor. That is why single-player games are created and The Binding of Isaac is one of these games.
How I got introduced to the game
It might've been about 5-7 years ago when I first stumbled upon the game. The way I stumbled upon it is rather strange - at the time, I was a huge Minecraft nerd and I loved watching Minecraft streams on Twitch. I had one specific person (whose name I sadly don't remember anymore) that I never skipped watching. I would at least spend an hour every day watching his stream.
While he was an avid Minecraft player, he also liked indie games, for example Spelunky, LIMBO, Super Meat Boy and, frankly, The Binding of Isaac. At the time, the only version of this game was the one released in 2011 with the DLC Wrath of the Lamb, which added a lot of new items, monsters and other randomness to the game. I was quite young 7 years ago and didn't have the money to buy myself the game, but I would spend hours watching this guy. And because I was his most humble viewer, he gifted me the original game along with the DLC.
What this game is exactly about
Isaac after defeating his mother. Source: Lore in The Binding of Isaac
There are lots of characters you can play as, but the main character is named Isaac. The story talks about Isaac and his mother, who live together in a small house. One day, Isaac's mother receives a message from God saying that she needs to sacrifice Isaac to prove her faith. She then tries to attack Isaac, but he escapes. That's the TL;DR anyway.
In reality, the game is a randomly created experience every single time. You run around as the character, shoot your tears towards enemies, progress on with every level and collect items that make you stronger. You are essentially fighting your way to safety, and, in the end, you kill your mother. Obviously.
What makes the game fun
Maybe some of you have played a game named Borderlands (which I am currently binging as well) and the game has a huge amount of different weapons to choose from. The newest version, Borderlands 3, is said to have 17.75 million different weapon combinations. While this is not the case in Isaac, there are still about 200 different items to acquire and they all have different combinations of effects.
Just a reference to the game-breaking possibilities in The Binding of Isaac. You just have so many items that no monster stands a chance against you. Source: Steam Community
There are lots more different ways to break the game and every single item combo is very well thought through. You can have fun with this game for multiple hours on end. Take, for example, a YouTuber named Sinvicta, who has a running win-streak of 1099 games in the newest version of the game. And he's still going, he ain't stopping.
Lots more to come
A screenshot of the upcoming DLC, Repetance. Source: Steam
Since the initial release of the game in 2011, there have been lots of new versions of the game. The main version is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, which was released in 2014. This game was built on a new engine and runs much more smoothly (than the initial version, which runs on Adobe Flash). This new version of the game includes 450 items (+ 160 unlockables) from the initial game as well as whole new items.
After the release of Rebirth, two more versions have been released called Afterbirth and Afterbirth+, which both have added numerous items, bosses, monsters and much more. The newest version/DLC, Repetance, is soon to be released on the 31st of March!
That about wraps up most of the game...
without spoiling too much of it. Let me know down in the comments below if I've managed to convince you to try this game. If you've ever played it before, let me know as well! I would love to hear cool stories about your game-breaking item combinations.
Be sure to follow me for more interesting content about games I like. I also love to write about programming, post my low-level photography and make people laugh in any way I can!
Peace! <3