The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.

December 2014

	There is quite a bit of poop in this game, but rainbow poop sure is something special!	Bosses like this eventually become more like regular enemies.
	Another boss.	These enemies open up their guts and shoot a stream of what is probably blood.
A screen like this appears before all boss fights.	A screen like this appears after you die.	The loading screen.
One item gives you 99 bombs. You grow fuses out of your head as a result.	A giant enemy poo.
		In between each level Isaac (or whatever character you are playing as) has a little nightmare. In this case, he is going #2 and there is no toilet paper!
An homage to the first Zelda game.	If there's one thing more evil than mother it's her heart.	Fighting mom's heart.
I found a dead cat so now I have 9 lives instead of one, as indicated next to my hearts. The only downside is I only get one red, rechargeable heart.	I've acquired lots of pets that are helping me fight.
Pressing pause will show you your stats for this game, the items you've acquired, and a code in the top left. The code will generate the same dungeon that you are currently playing on, but you can't earn trophies if you enter a dungeon code.	My character has arguably the best ability, which is to shoot a stream of brimstone instead of tears. It does tons of damage.	I got an item which triples my shot, so now I shoot three streams of brimstone!
	This pet shoots brimstone while I still shoot tears.	Dreaming of mom.
		This guy will drop a random item if you give him a key.
If you can manage to get to and kill mom's heart in less than 20 minutes, you can choose to enter the ultimate battle arena and fight every boss in the game without stopping. I did so and, of course, celebrated a glorious victory.
Some vending machines will give you items in exchange for money, keys, or even health. I've been tying my luck with this central machine for quite some time before it simply blew up.	Those red things are my giant tears.

I can't remember the item combination, but I was shooting a huge amount of very tiny, weak tears. The bigger the tears, the more damage they deal.	My face isn't looking too good . . .	One item generates attack fly's eachtime you deal damage. That's why so many flies are circling me.
	Shooting lasers instead of tears.	That is a lot of poo. A lot. Of poo.
One item temporarily turns you into Pac-Man.
	Mom's heart can shoot a lot of projectiles.	That's a big tear!
	The big hair means I can crush anything I walk on.
	Somehow this is a spider.
Evil, yet holy.	Krampus's head lets you shoot brimstone like this every few rooms.

	Games with Satan as a boss character are usually pretty good, as a rule.	Doors with spikes on the side always hurt you when you go through them. So unfair!
Indeed you are, sir. Indeed you are.
	I was shooting brimstone and got an item that makes my weapon circle around me.	Wait, who am I fighting?
Oh man, the enemies didn't stand a chance. I was shooting scythes and they did a ton of damage (as indicated by their size).		Bug-eyed nun.
Those tears are ginormous.	An explosion of huge tears.	Some rooms can be tricky to get through.
My tears were exploding into four smaller tears on impact. So sweet.	That's some serious firepower!
	My appendage is attacking the boss.
Things got a little crazy. I was shooting a billion tears that were all exploding on impact.		If you type in "BASEMENT" as a level generator, then you'll just keep playing level 1 over and over again. Hence, "Basement XXXIV" (normally there are only like 4 basement levels).
	I was shooting tons of tears that would stay on screen for awhile, get larger the longer they stayed, and then explode on impact.	Oh, and leave a pool of acid behind.
The hight of madness. I would shoot a huge amount of giant scythes that would stay on screen and get even bigger. Then they'd finally land and explode. When they exploded they'd break into four smaller scythes that would also explode on impact. Enemies didn't stand a chance!!
Very high stats.	Oh yeah, and I had an item that would double all the money I found. I left this hear because I already had max money.
Purple crimson is technically enemy-seeking, but it doesn't really work.	Shooting crimson from all sides, via an item.	The same as before, but a fraction of a second later when the crimson blast has died down.
	My projectiles were delayed and I also shot crimson, so I could cover the screen in sweet damage-dealing fire.
That's a lot of pets!

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a roguelike game I played on the PS Vita, but it's available on a variety of platforms. The story is brief but intriguing: a little boy named Isaac is enjoying life with his mother until she believes she hears the voice of God telling her to do things. She takes all of his possessions, including his clothes, and locks him in a room by himself. The voice tells her that she needs to sacrifice Isaac to show her devotion to Him and she approaches Isaac's room with an ax, which he can see through a crack in the door. In a panic, Isaac searches the room and finds a trap door. He jumps down and the game begins.

The game is randomized each time and is designed to be played multiple times. You go from room to room in a style much like the dungeons in the original Legend of Zelda. Your offensive technique is to shoot your tears. Throughout the game you'll find some of hundreds of possible power-ups, each with a unique property. One power-up will increase your maximum health, another will increase how many tears you shoot, another may cause coins to magnetically come towards you, and another may cause you to shoot lava instead of tears. Many of the weapon modifications work together, so if you get one item that makes your tears huge an another than makes them zigzag, you'll shoot giant zigzagging tears. The exploration of the dungeon and the different item combinations make the game ever-intriguing.

Perhaps reflective of Isaac's mind (there's evidence to suggest the entire game is simply in his mind), lots of the environment and monsters are juvenile. Poop and urine abound, as are monsters that barf on you. The visuals and subject matter may be too intense for some people, but I found it to be basically goofy and enjoyable. Who doesn't love poop?

It's pretty easy to die, but even after you "beat" the game, you'll want to play more. Not only to discover more of the content, but because there are several characters to play as and multiple endings. The more times you beat the game the more you realize that you haven't really beaten it yet!

The Therapist Gamer

There is quite a bit of poop in this game, but rainbow poop sure is something special!

Bosses like this eventually become more like regular enemies.

Another boss.

These enemies open up their guts and shoot a stream of what is probably blood.

A screen like this appears before all boss fights.

A screen like this appears after you die.

The loading screen.

One item gives you 99 bombs. You grow fuses out of your head as a result.

A giant enemy poo.

In between each level Isaac (or whatever character you are playing as) has a little nightmare. In this case, he is going #2 and there is no toilet paper!

An homage to the first Zelda game.

If there's one thing more evil than mother it's her heart.

Fighting mom's heart.

I found a dead cat so now I have 9 lives instead of one, as indicated next to my hearts. The only downside is I only get one red, rechargeable heart.

I've acquired lots of pets that are helping me fight.

Pressing pause will show you your stats for this game, the items you've acquired, and a code in the top left. The code will generate the same dungeon that you are currently playing on, but you can't earn trophies if you enter a dungeon code.

My character has arguably the best ability, which is to shoot a stream of brimstone instead of tears. It does tons of damage.

I got an item which triples my shot, so now I shoot three streams of brimstone!

This pet shoots brimstone while I still shoot tears.

Dreaming of mom.

This guy will drop a random item if you give him a key.

If you can manage to get to and kill mom's heart in less than 20 minutes, you can choose to enter the ultimate battle arena and fight every boss in the game without stopping. I did so and, of course, celebrated a glorious victory.

Some vending machines will give you items in exchange for money, keys, or even health. I've been tying my luck with this central machine for quite some time before it simply blew up.

Those red things are my giant tears.

I can't remember the item combination, but I was shooting a huge amount of very tiny, weak tears. The bigger the tears, the more damage they deal.

My face isn't looking too good . . .

One item generates attack fly's eachtime you deal damage. That's why so many flies are circling me.

Shooting lasers instead of tears.

That is a lot of poo. A lot. Of poo.

One item temporarily turns you into Pac-Man.

Mom's heart can shoot a lot of projectiles.

That's a big tear!

The big hair means I can crush anything I walk on.

Somehow this is a spider.

Evil, yet holy.

Krampus's head lets you shoot brimstone like this every few rooms.

Games with Satan as a boss character are usually pretty good, as a rule.

Doors with spikes on the side always hurt you when you go through them. So unfair!

Indeed you are, sir. Indeed you are.

I was shooting brimstone and got an item that makes my weapon circle around me.

Wait, who am I fighting?

Oh man, the enemies didn't stand a chance. I was shooting scythes and they did a ton of damage (as indicated by their size).

Bug-eyed nun.

Those tears are ginormous.

An explosion of huge tears.

Some rooms can be tricky to get through.

My tears were exploding into four smaller tears on impact. So sweet.

That's some serious firepower!

My appendage is attacking the boss.

Things got a little crazy. I was shooting a billion tears that were all exploding on impact.

If you type in "BASEMENT" as a level generator, then you'll just keep playing level 1 over and over again. Hence, "Basement XXXIV" (normally there are only like 4 basement levels).

I was shooting tons of tears that would stay on screen for awhile, get larger the longer they stayed, and then explode on impact.

Oh, and leave a pool of acid behind.

The hight of madness. I would shoot a huge amount of giant scythes that would stay on screen and get even bigger. Then they'd finally land and explode. When they exploded they'd break into four smaller scythes that would also explode on impact. Enemies didn't stand a chance!!

Very high stats.

Oh yeah, and I had an item that would double all the money I found. I left this hear because I already had max money.

Purple crimson is technically enemy-seeking, but it doesn't really work.

Shooting crimson from all sides, via an item.

The same as before, but a fraction of a second later when the crimson blast has died down.

My projectiles were delayed and I also shot crimson, so I could cover the screen in sweet damage-dealing fire.

That's a lot of pets!

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth