The Binding of Isaac

[dlevere]

The Binding of Isaac takes on religion in a randomly generated Zelda-styled Roguelike

By Ben Kuchera

What if God told you that you must kill your son? The story of Isaac is an often-discussed test of faith from the Hebrew Bible in which Abraham is told to sacrifice his son Isaac, only to be told to spare the child's life at the last moment and slaughter a ram that was entangled in the brush nearby instead.

The game's story begins much the same way, with a modern day child trying to escape his mother's attempt on his life due to a religious vision. The game's graphics may be cute, but the content is chilling. Isaac escapes through a trap door in his room, and finds what amounts to hell under his house.

The game was created by Edmund McMillen, one-half of the team behind the indie hit Super Meat Boy, and programmer Florian Himsl. Why create a game so soon after the success of Super Meat Boy? "I was bored... honestly. Tommy (Refenes, the other half of Team Meat) was going to take a vacation and I wanted to do the same, but I hate traveling," McMillen told Ars. "I thought instead I'd do a little game jam with another friend of mine, Florian, who I'd done a few games with in the past. It was supposed to be a game in a week.. and it just ballooned."

The game is out now on Steam, works on both Mac and PC, and is only $5. It has obvious influences, but after a few moments of play, you'll find a unique experience.

[dlevere]

By Steve Watts

Indie game The Binding of Isaac won't be coming to the Nintendo 3DS after all. Indie developer Edmund McMillen says that the game was considered by Nintendo, but was ultimately rejected due to "questionable religious content."

McMillen announced the news in a series of tweets. "Thank GOD Steam exists!" he quipped. In a reply to a fan, he said that Nintendo was "fine with the M rating" and didn't object to some of the heavier content like gore and suggested child nudity. According to his account, it came down to the religious aspect. The game is loosely based on the Biblical story of Isaac and Abraham.

The game always seemed like a long-shot for Nintendo's handheld system. In December, McMillen said that a publisher was "asking Nintendo if they would be OK with Isaac on the 3DS." Nintendo has a long history of being very protective of its family-friendly image. The company likely isn't keen on inviting the ire of religious groups, but it also sets a precedent of blocking controversial content.

Shacknews has contacted Nintendo regarding the rejection, and will update as more information becomes available.

[dlevere]

The Binding Of Isaac DLC This Month

Source

[dlevere]

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

By Ben Barrett

Quick, the RPS hivemind has retired to a snoozing chamber in London to absorb more knowledge into the glorious whole, so let’s have a party. It’ll be full of blood and guts and dead animals and religious subtexts! Not your sort of party? You probably haven’t played enough Binding of Isaac, the gory 2D roguelike from way back in the mists of time, 2011.

It was one of the first in the long line of every-run-is-different action games from the past few years and (particularly with the DLC) is fucking brilliant.

Since we last heard from dev Mr. Edmund McMillen, he’s been hard at work on a remake/expansion and putting updates on the game’s blog.

The main purpose is to get away from its Flash trappings so it will run acceptably on a larger number of machines, plus allow some console ports. However, there’s also been music, item and enemy reveals, the best of which I’ve hunted down, cried at until they died and hung the corpses of on the wall below.

New jam discovered, along with two others remixed from the original game into glorious new forms.

Alright, now you’re ready for some sweet killer-baby action. In case you’re here without any prior knowledge, the titular Isaac is able to pick up various power-ups as he progresses through his mom’s basement and destroys the horrific creatures that lurk there. These upgrade his tears to be more fearsome projectiles, cause his little legs to waddle faster or make him harder to kill.

Or it might be something totally different that switches up how the game plays significantly. An example: it’s possible to have a positive fleet of floating fetuses destroying all who stand in your way.



There’s some work-in-progress looking stuff here, like the slightly out of place UI elements, but it does a good job showing off the sort of ridiculous situation the game can evolve into. Nice new art on the floors and ally sprites too – Ed said in his Q&A that he half-assed it originally and he wanted the game’s Zelda roots to shine through a bit more, but I think it just looks better now.

What about the enemy department? Ed’s being cagey, stating he hates showing off his games when they’re a WIP, but one he’s been willing to let slip is the Nest. It’s similar to the fly vomiting Hives from the original game, only focused on spiders. With the caveat that many of the visual effects are still to be implemented, you can have a look at the sprite below.



There’s a much softer edge to everything here, and it should look proper gorgeous now the game can be high-resolution’d properly. Gorgeous and horrifying: while no details on the promised new bosses or chapters have been announced, I’m willing to put my neck out and assume a couple of nightmares is an inevitability after first experiencing them. The original final boss, a hairy, wart covered leg, still makes me shiver a little.

[dlevere]

The Modding Of Isaac Installer – Manage And Install Your BoI Mods

Developer Red is back with more Binding of Isaac modding goodness

http://wololo.net/2016/09/30/release...tall-boi-mods/

[dlevere]

The Binding Of Isaac: Four Souls is now available at retail

[dlevere]

A post on NME outlines how modders have discovered a console command in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance that allows local co-op play in the roguelike.

https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news...p-mode-2917959

Source