(Note: This review is a re-write of an older review on Steam, and I haven't played the game in a while. Not everything may be perfectly accurate.)

Since the release of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, like other proteges of their fields, many have attempted to do what it does- and to little success. Though others have come and gone, declaring their own quality and worth through such attributes as "skill-first design", "intense gameplay", and "consistent enjoyment", The Binding of Isaac has no need for such frivolous matters- not next to its own "rng-first design", "economical, frustrating gameplay", and "incredible variance in enjoyment". In all seriousness, it really is shocking to me so few other roguelikes have attempted to emulate Isaac's formula of lengthy, heavily randomized but variety-packed runs, where your progression is tied to items drawn from a massive list that either directly upgrade your character stats or synergize together in a cascading whirlwhind of symbiotic chaos. I have a suspicion that it's tied to the drop in rng-oriented mechanics that followed from the release of this and other titles, like Darkest Dungeon, and that making a game like this requires a pinch of Edmund's personal madness. With this game, he seems to posit that an incredible spike of frustration tied to specific moments are integral to the design and quality of the game. This is a belief I once whole-heartedly disagreed with, but now I might think there may be a touch of truth to it.

The Binding of Isaac is a game fueled by an incredible amount of individuated content, funneled to the player through a stream of randomized generators. Level types, rooms, bosses, enemies, drops, procs, and so on are all entirely generated in the moment, following only a specific set of memorizable and memorable patterns. This variety, along with the incredibly long list of items, many of which are capable of combining into extremely powerful effects, as well as the huge character roster, are able to fuel hundreds or thousands of hours of gameplay (not even mentioning, of course, the incredible modding community that has been built up since the game's release, adding entire exapansion's-worth of content to the game). This randomness does come at a cost, however- I cannot count how many times incredible frustration followed from certain moments in Isaac. Whereas in many other roguelikes, especially those that emphasize player skill like Nuclear Throne, suffering and death are the natural result of a gap between the player's current skill and what it needs to be to win- it feels like the player's own fault for their loss. In Isaac, however, the same often feels circumstancial. Bad rng in the random items given, unlucky extra-difficult rooms and enemies spawned specifically, a bad boss chosen from a handful of possible ones- a slippery slope of bad luck, which the player will take full advantage of to skirt responsibility for the end of their run. And then, of course, this has the possiblity for the player to suddenly realize that their own wins are not even their fault either. I believe this effect is the general reason for the decline in rng-oriented mechanics in games over the last decade. But, as I have thought about Darkest Dungeon before: managing luck is a not a bad mechanic for a game to be designed around. Like the historical card game of poker, managing a bad hand or taking advantage of a good one are the core thesis of their design, and it is not easy to make a fullproof argument that any mechanic relying on luck must be bad in its own right. Even still, there has been many a moment in my time with the game that I believed Edmund held a personal hatred for me specifically, and it was not a very good feeling.

Luck aside, and now putting on the shelf any qualities or criticisms related to "variety", this game became an icon of the roguelike genre for many reasons. The simple controls make the game comparatively accessible, and playable on many platforms (but not as many as you would expect, sadly. I don't think the mobile version has been updated since it was first released). The soundtrack is incredibly good, as expected of any roguelike worth its salt. Really, though, the most lovely aesthetical aspect has to be the general theming of the game- basing itself off of the backing story, which Edmund has said was drawn in some part from his own experiences, the thematics present pervade themselves through every aspect of the game. Nearly every enemy, boss, item, and sprite seem to have something that connects them to the game as a whole (along with, as well, the random handful of roguelike-pop-culture references throughout). This sort of theming with a game that has as much as it does is lovely to see, and wraps the whole experience in a lovely little bow. Then, as well, of course, the artstyle as a whole is good- consistent with others of its genre (and, no doubt, something of an inspiration for others in the style of relatively simple art design, also known as "that cartoony look").

Finally, the last note worth mentioning are the DLCs. For the most part, they are simply more of the same, but with some variety in "how much more" they each offer. Afterbirth adds some new content, generally good and palatable, a quality addition for the Isaac fan. Afterbirth+ was, as is known to most anyone who has ever been around the Isaac community, a general disappointment, adding barely anything but some meager and frustrating content, and some mediocre modding tools. Reptentence was the final DLC and was an incredible blowout- nearly doubling the hours' and quality's worth of content in the game. No surprise, as well, given that the developers made use of the modding community this time around to be packaged as offical content. This connection between studio and community so often seems so sparse, even among indie titles, but is always a wonder to see- and, as we note here, is more often than not beneficial for everyone.

I have a lot of good memories with this game. Many, many hours were spent here, and, even as I write this review, I have not played it in quite a while, and a feeling wells up inside me that wants to hear that "la daaaa la daa ladadadaa" again. Probably just nostalgia... Anyways, this game is a gem. Most anyone who has ever read this review has, at the least, heard of it before- its not exactly an underground cult classic. Even still, it feels like my civic duty as the roguelike guy to recommend it wholeheartedly (as long as ye are not the type to harm objects nearby when led to incredible frustration. In that case, you would spend more money replacing your monitor, computer, and other expensive items than you ever would have on the game itself).

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