The Binding of Isaac review

We have a confession to make. Despite the potential repercussions - angry letters, excommunication and such, we were really temped to deliver a personalized, in-depth view on the Biblical story that is The Binding of Isaac.

Fortunately for our immortal souls, the task given to us wasn’t to interpret ancient texts but to play and review a 2011 indie game. Released in September, The Binding of Isaac is a procedural 2D action RPG title developed by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl which tells the story of Isaac, a little boy whose easy, carefree life is turned upside down when his deeply-religious mother hears the voice of God, asking her to sacrifice her son. Faced with the terrifying image of his mother holding a butcher knife, Isaac flees through a trap door that leads to the house’s basement. Here’s where the player comes in, taking control of Isaac as he moves from room to room, in a quite NetHack-resembling  way, trying to stay alive.

Now, a common basement may be ‘inhabited’ by spiders and mold but that’s not the case here as Isaac will have to face all sorts of more or less lethal creatures during his exploration. And there will be tons of exploring to do as the game randomly generates levels, so even if you finish, you can have another go to test your skill in ‘new’ locations. Beside levels, the game will randomly put in items and bosses so if you want the full experience, to kill all the baddies while finding all items, you know you’ll need another play through. And another.

Story wise, The Binding of Isaac doesn’t motivate much (although it’s a good base for the twisted world you’ll be experiencing) but the serendipity of the gameplay is something that can keep you glued to the PC for hours. In this day and age, when AAA titles like Call of Duty and Battlefield (we won’t even mention Homeland) are uber-scripted, The Binding of Isaac offers the player the change to experience both excitement and frustration at the same time. It’s both exciting and frustrating to not know what’s coming up, what monsters you’re going to encounter in the next room, what item, if any will pop up, and if you’ll be able to stay alive although you only have one more hit point (half a heart in this case).