“The Binding of Isaac” was a hit almost immediately after it was released in 2011. Its expansion, “The Wrath of the Lamb,” added more items, levels and characters and was even more popular. Now, three years after the first release, the brains behind the game, Edmund McMillen (whose previous claims to fame are “Gish” and the original “Super Meat Boy”) and programmer Florian Himsl have teamed up with Nicalis, Inc., the company that’s behind “1001 Spikes,” “VVVVVV,” “Cave Story” and the remake of “Super Meat Boy,” to put out a brand new, completely revamped version of “Isaac.” What does “Rebirth” bring to the table?
A completely rebuilt engine, for one thing. The first two games were built in Adobe Flash, a software platform used to create animations, games and annoying banner advertisements. “Rebirth” was originally planned as a second expansion, but many of the changes McMillen and Himsl wanted to include weren’t possible in Flash. The solution was to build a whole new engine from scratch. The new engine is a marked improvement over the old Flash game, and offers brand-new graphical improvements like dynamic lighting and improved visual effects. The new engine is more powerful and efficient than the last, and the game runs at a constant 60 frames per second on most hardware.
But perhaps the most important upgrade is controller support. Previous versions of the game had no native support for controllers—players had to download a separate program to get controllers working, and many times it wouldn’t work correctly. But despite the cobbled-together controller solution, or even just using the keyboard, the game was perfectly playable. Native controller support just makes it even better on PC, and means that the game can now be played on home consoles and handhelds.
There were some changes to the aesthetics, as well. The pixel-style artwork is new for “Rebirth,” replacing the hand drawn artwork of the original game and bringing the game closer to its NES and SNES-era influences. On the aural front, there are new sound effects and a new, original soundtrack, created by Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans of Ridiculon especially for the game.
As far as gameplay goes, “Rebirth” is still the top-down, dual-joystick shooter the original game was, but with new characters, new items, new bosses and new enemies, all of which are seamlessly integrated with what was already present in the original “Isaac” and its expansion. There’s even local co-op play, so two players can explore Isaac’s troubled maternal relationship together, with the second player controlling a randomly generated baby.
That last sentence might have given some readers pause. Make no mistake, the imagery and themes in “Rebirth” are dark, darker than black coffee at midnight in Germany’s Black Forest. For proof, take the game’s story. The protagonist and first player character, a small child named Isaac, lived with his mother in a life of relative normalcy. One day, his mother started hearing voices, telling her that her son was living in sin and needed to be shut away from the world. Eventually, the voice commands Isaac’s mother to sacrifice her son. The game begins when Isaac finds a trapdoor into the basement. Want more proof? Isaac’s weapons are his tears, which shoot out like bullets in regular shooters, and certain items change them to blood or lasers or urine. Many of the game’s enemies, bosses and even items are based on dead babies, insects, lumps of flesh and mutated fetuses. The player can make deals with the devil, gaining increased firepower or health in exchange for certain penalties. Eventually, the player goes toe-to-toe with Isaac’s mother, and killing her unlocks a whole new set of challenges that take the player into even darker places. Oh, and there’s poop. Lots of poop.
The game is also chock full of biblical references. The title and plot of the game are a reference to the biblical “Binding of Isaac,” where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a test of his faith. The seven deadly sins serve as randomly-spawned mini-bosses, and later bosses include the four horsemen of the apocalypse and Satan. The unlockable characters are all characters from the Bible—Cain, Samson, Eve and others, save for one character that’s a reference to McMillen’s early work on Newgrounds.com.
But despite the dark themes, dead babies and scatological humor, the gameplay is top-notch, requiring fast reflexes, skill and no small amount of luck in order to make it through the later levels. The game does not hold the player’s hand. It tells the player what the controls and basic mechanics are and sends them on their way. Many times, the player won’t know what the items they’ve picked up actually do until the use them. But this lack of clarity is part of the game’s charm—there’s always something new for players to find.
For veterans of the series, “Rebirth” gives players what they already loved, plus a lot of new items, enemies and bosses and tweaks to the game that make “Rebirth” superior to previous versions. For new players, there’s no better time to get into the “Isaac” series. This is the best one yet.
“The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth” is available on Steam, Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita for $14.99. The game is free through November for Playstation Plus members.
