Sometimes, parents can be jerks. If they aren’t taking away your television and video game rights, they are trying to kill you because they heard the disembodied “voice of God” speaking to them while watching television. Okay, so maybe these results are not typical. The Binding of Isaac is actually very loosely based upon a story in the Hebrew bible called, appropriately, “The Binding of Isaac”. In this story, Abraham’s God asks him to sacrifice his son upon an altar as to prove his loyalty to said God. Abraham complies without a second thought, and Isaac is bound to an altar for what appears to be a very gruesome death – hence the “binding” portion of the title. At the last minute, Abraham is stopped by his God because practically going through with the whole ritual was proof of his fear in of the Almighty. Presumably, Isaac was pissed – or at least traumatized.
Isaac’s mother is watching television and herself hears the “voice of God” telling her that she should be a terrible parent. First she takes away all of Isaac’s privileges and everything he views as fun. That seems not to be enough, so, in one final requested sacrifice, she is asked to kill her son. Wielding a butcher knife she attempts to kill Isaac, but he escapes into the pit ‘o doom they apparently have underneath their home. What awaits in this basement is actually probably not worth escaping death for: monsters, human waste, and eventually Isaac’s mother – who found a way into her own basement.
The style reminded me a lot of Castle Crashers, with its heavy emphasis on cel-shading and simplistic animations. It works well for the game; especially since most of the imagery would probably be incredibly disturbing if it were realistic. The walls of this pseudo-dungeon crawler are covered in filth. I would think if it were more realistically rendered, it would come off as a terrifying survival-horror atmosphere. There are many different enemies, and they all are disturbing looking – even in cartoon form. They all look like deformed versions of humans, although some of them take on more obscure forms.
Combat is pretty much you throwing projectiles at enemies. Your first throwable weapon is your own tears (how sad). At first I didn’t even recognize that they were tears; they appeared to be green ping-pong balls. Tears made more sense, as Isaac is deeply traumatized and is constantly crying. You also have bombs, which can be left on the ground and will blow up after a few seconds. You can pick up other things to throw, and they seem to do more damage. Although they all look like little blobs of color, it can be assumed that they are other forms of human excrement. It would be really gross if it were not portrayed in such a cartoon style. I watched Ren and Stimpy as a child, though, so perhaps that is just me being desensitized. Regardless, it would be really difficult to get offended by anything in this game. The morbid world may actually keep you playing out of some gross fascination.
Various projectiles are not the only things you can pick up: coins, keys, syringes, and pills await you. Some of them are functional, such as keys; others are just collectibles, which definitely provide some draw. The major hook of the game is its randomization. Levels are completely randomly generated, so you won’t play the same “game” twice. The layout, as well as the enemies, is different each time you enter a new room. You can just imagine the sort of replay value this feature generates.
There are at least 15-20 bosses in the game, and they vary in difficulty. Even if a particular enemy is not super challenging, the fact that the overarching gameplay isn’t very forgiving can more than offset some simple foes. There are no lives in The Binding of Isaac, and when you die it is game over. That aspect combined with the plethora of collectibles and things to do makes Isaac feel Zelda-esque. A lot of people will take comfort in knowing that.
Fans of old school dungeon crawlers will find a lot to like here. And while some gamers may find it a little disturbing, it most likely will not be enough to drive them away. Despite its rough exterior, The Binding of Isaac is a well-designed title.
[Images via Steam]
