The Binding Of Isaac came from the twisted mind of Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl nearly a decade ago, and it appears to finally be reaching its climax after a slew of DLCs and titles that continued to expand on the premise that, for some, hit a bit close to home with overarching themes of maternal abuse and the usage of religion to excuse the behavior.
Granted, The Binding Of Isaac isn’t some profoundly deep look at the fortitude that it takes to survive abusive parental units; it’s a bizarre roguelike where the titular character dives into his basement to escape his mother who has been told by God to murder him.
Isaac dives down multiple levels, meeting new hostile denizens of the basement as he inches closer to the Mother as the final boss, with the ultimate objective of killing her evil heart. Along the way, you’ll make deals with Satan and God, throw your tears (you have an endless supply) to vanquish hostile fecal matter, gamble with the few pennies you managed to find, and upgrade yourself into new synergies as multiple abilities begin to overlap and offer amazing new powers.
It’s strange; it’s also the genre-defining title that took what roguelikes were in 2011 and iterated upon them with deft vision and competence resulting in a franchise that has continued to impress fans of the series.
Now, the self-ascribed final DLC is inching closer with The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance and it’s bringing new characters, bosses, abilities, synergies, items, levels, enemies, and dang near everything else you can think of into Rebirth, the stand-alone expansion of Binding of Isaac that has the DLC Afterbirth which brought modding to the title with varying success.
If you’re a roguelike fan, or an Isaac fan, then Repentance is an absolute no-brainer as it will be the feather in the cap of the wildly successful series, yet this doesn’t necessarily mean an absolute end for the characters nor setting.
The Legend of Bumbo brought about a strange new means of playing in basements with Bumbo in a deck-building take on the standard enemies; poo, angry flies, and skeletons being just a few of the enemies that will be faced. Considering how wildly successful the franchise has been as a whole, it seems a bit premature to bury it just yet.
Binding of Isaac: Repentance will be available for purchase on Steam on December 31, 2020, as it’s currently scheduled, and is bringing with it a massive amount of content that Nicalis boasts will last upwards of 500 hours. Getting back at mommy has never felt this good.
