The Binding of Isaac has been out for a couple years now, but with the release of the new DLC, Afterbirth+ as well as it’s port to the switch I feel like now is as good a time as ever to review it. Isaac is, at it’s core, a randomly generated dungeon crawler with rogue like elements and featuring perma-death. Simply put, every run is going to be different and if you die you start over. Now, that may sound unappealing to some of you but rest assured a full run takes less than an hour if you take it slow and can be done in about 20 minutes once you master the mechanics, or get some over powered synergies. Now, there are a lot of dungeon crawlers out there that do similar things, so you might be wondering “what makes Isaac so special?” and frankly there are a lot of things that make it so addictive. For starters the soundtrack is amazing. The special bosses each have their own theme and they do an excellent job of getting you pumped for the fight, even if you have half a heart left and are pretty sure you’re going to fail instantly. (example)
Another thing that makes Isaac so addicting is that it is brutal. My first times playing it I found myself dying on the second floor over and over again. The game is unforgiving and until you learn enemy behaviors you’re going to struggle, but once you start getting the hang of it it feels so rewarding.
In my opinion, the last thing that makes Isaac so unique and fun is dark subject matter mixed with a weird sense of humor. The basic premise of TBoI is that god told your mom to sacrifice you, so you ran into the basement to hide. If that isn’t messed up enough the monsters in the game are often deformed children that often resemble Isaac, implying that this isn’t the first time this has happened. In Isaac everything is dark and disturbing, even the simple act of gaining a powerup can leave Isaac deformed, so that by the end of the run Isaac looks like a monster himself.
Lastly I think that what makes this game so addictive is the replay ability of it. It can take hours to just beat mom for the first time, and after that happens you realize she wasn’t even the final boss, so you have to go back and play through it again, unlocking more and more with every run. There are also several different characters you can play as, each with their own starting stats and items that makes playing as them unique. There are challenge runs you can complete to unlock new in game content, or you can do daily runs to see how you compare to Isaac players all over the world.