- Designer - Edmund McMillen
- Developer - Nicalis
- Genre - Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler
- Platform - Steam/PS4/PSV/New 3DS/Wii U/XBO
- Release - November 4th 2014 (Steam, PS4, PSV) / July 23 2015 (New 3DS, Wii U, XBO)
- Price - $14.99/€14.99
- Players - 1-2 (Local Co-Op, PC/PS4 Only)
Mom is back, and the Lord still wants her to bring him Isaac's head on a platter.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a complete remake of the original 2011 release. Originally conceived as another expansion for The Binding of Isaac, the game became too cumbersome to work with due to the restrictions imposed by the archaic Flash engine the game was running under. With the original project file being rendered unstable and impossible to work on, Edmund decided it was time to completely start from scratch. Developed by Nicalis, the game sets out not only to remake the entire game and it's expansion under a different engine, but also add a slew of new content worthy of a Wrath of the Lamb-sized expansion.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a complete remake of the original 2011 release. Originally conceived as another expansion for The Binding of Isaac, the game became too cumbersome to work with due to the restrictions imposed by the archaic Flash engine the game was running under. With the original project file being rendered unstable and impossible to work on, Edmund decided it was time to completely start from scratch. Developed by Nicalis, the game sets out not only to remake the entire game and it's expansion under a different engine, but also add a slew of new content worthy of a Wrath of the Lamb-sized expansion.
The Binding Of Isaac is an action game with dungeon crawling and roguelike elements, taking cues from top down classics such as Smash TV and the dungeons of the original Legend of Zelda. The controls in the game are reminiscent of twin-stick shooters, as you can move and fire your projectiles separately in four different directions.
In this game you take on the role of the titular Isaac, making your way down an insidious basement in order to escape his fanatical, christian mother who wants to kill Isaac as an offering to god, to prove her faith. The goal of the game is to conquer each level of the basement, and in order to advance deeper you must overcome the deranged, malformed creatures stowed away in the depths below.
The big draw of the game is the random, procedurally-generated content. The game is meant to be replayed a multitude of times for varying runs. The basement is a constantly shifting place with map and enemy layouts that are different in each playthrough. This extends to the items you collect that will help you on your way. By collecting a rich variety of upgrades you can buff your attacks, change your movement properties, add sub-weapons/consumables, receive familiars and more. In the original game, with all the possible collectibles accounted for, there are around 200 items to find, and a large majority of them can be combined for even more ridiculous attacks. No one playthrough is ever the same, and you will be unlocking many new things and scenarios upon each replay. All of that is now about to get even bigger.
In this game you take on the role of the titular Isaac, making your way down an insidious basement in order to escape his fanatical, christian mother who wants to kill Isaac as an offering to god, to prove her faith. The goal of the game is to conquer each level of the basement, and in order to advance deeper you must overcome the deranged, malformed creatures stowed away in the depths below.
The big draw of the game is the random, procedurally-generated content. The game is meant to be replayed a multitude of times for varying runs. The basement is a constantly shifting place with map and enemy layouts that are different in each playthrough. This extends to the items you collect that will help you on your way. By collecting a rich variety of upgrades you can buff your attacks, change your movement properties, add sub-weapons/consumables, receive familiars and more. In the original game, with all the possible collectibles accounted for, there are around 200 items to find, and a large majority of them can be combined for even more ridiculous attacks. No one playthrough is ever the same, and you will be unlocking many new things and scenarios upon each replay. All of that is now about to get even bigger.
The biggest change on a surface level when it comes to the remake is it's change of graphics. Having formerly been entirely illustrated by Edmund McMillen in Flash, the game is now instead redone with 16-bit style pixel graphics.
On a mechanical level, the most important change going from BoI to Rebirth was the engine. The original game was a small collaboration between McMillen and Florian Himsl, programmed originally as a simple game in Flash. The game eventually grew with it's numerous updates to the point that it would take days to re-open the build and succeed in exporting a new one, even if it were just a matter of applying a patch. More importantly, the CPU-heavy load of Flash would also cause a load of inconveniences on the player end when too many details ran in the background. With the new engine all that is now but a past memory, as BoI:R runs at a consistent 60 FPS, even with heavy details in the background. With all that comes a host of abilities that wouldn't have been possible to do in Flash.
Rebirth also adds a slew of new gameplay content.
On a mechanical level, the most important change going from BoI to Rebirth was the engine. The original game was a small collaboration between McMillen and Florian Himsl, programmed originally as a simple game in Flash. The game eventually grew with it's numerous updates to the point that it would take days to re-open the build and succeed in exporting a new one, even if it were just a matter of applying a patch. More importantly, the CPU-heavy load of Flash would also cause a load of inconveniences on the player end when too many details ran in the background. With the new engine all that is now but a past memory, as BoI:R runs at a consistent 60 FPS, even with heavy details in the background. With all that comes a host of abilities that wouldn't have been possible to do in Flash.
Rebirth also adds a slew of new gameplay content.
Co-Op. By sacrificing a heart container, you can spawn a familiar (baby) that is controlled by a second player. The co-op partner can take hearts from Isaac to add onto their heart container amount by pressing the start button on their controller. The type of familiar the second player will spawn as is random, and while most of them are cosmetic changes, a few of them will have differing properties. A co-op partner will not be able to pick up items but it can still use pickups such as bombs, however this is only able to be activated by the first player, meaning you will have to strategize. The second player can drop out of a session and respawn at will how many times they want even after death, however if the partner dies they will have to take another heart container from Isaac and will spawn as a different kind of familiar.
Bigger Rooms. Adding a new level of strategy and suspense, some rare rooms will have much wider layouts not confined to a fixed camera, providing room for a lot of thrilling encounters.
Seeds. Each run can now be redone through a “seed” that determines rooms, item generation and so forth. When you enter the pause menu during the game, you will be presented with a code upon which after re-entering it during the character select menu, you’re able to replay that same run. Note that this function isn’t just for redoing old/failed runs - there are plenty of easter eggs that can be found if you use specific codes, some of which can alter game play properties, Isaac’s base properties or even the look of the game itself! (How about trying out the code in the image above?)
- Multiple save files
- Mid-game saves, allowing you to return to an unfinished session
- Difficulty levels, with a hard difficulty tailored for Binding of Isaac veterans
- More than a 150 amount increase on collectible items, pushing the item amount well over 450
- Up to 500 generated rooms per chapter, as opposed to the original's 150
- Increased familiar cap
- Three new playable characters
- More than 50 new enemy types
- More than 15 new bosses
- New environmental hazards
- Improved Champions
- Dual Boss Battles
- New chapters, new unlocks, new endings
- Improved shops
- Bug fixes
The Basement is a treacherous place which is never once the same. This section is for newcomers to learn and and for veterans to brush up on the gimmicks of Isaac. Keep in mind that most of this guide is written mostly based on what was in the original Binding of Isaac, and some new things in Rebirth might change.
When starting off the game, you can only play as Isaac, who is a balanced blank slate. However, during the course of the game you will start unlocking more characters to choose from after meeting certain criteria. Playing as these yield different stats and properties that can provide advantages and disadvantages, such as the amount of hearts you start off with, the base strength of your projectile and whether or not your character has a particular item at the start of the game which might assist you. Some of these characters exist to simplify, while others are there for a greater challenge.
In Rebirth, the character count has been upped from seven to ten. We recommend newcomers give each character a chance. Each behooves a particular style of play and the only way to know which serves you the best is to try them out.
In Rebirth, the character count has been upped from seven to ten. We recommend newcomers give each character a chance. Each behooves a particular style of play and the only way to know which serves you the best is to try them out.
Progressing through Isaac is simple in theory but can quickly turn to hell in a handbasket. When you enter a room with enemies you cannot progress without either killing the enemies, blowing up a regular door or using a specific item that can get you out of the room. Many obstacles besides the enemies will come into your way, including boulders, bonfires and pits, all of which you can avoid given the right items and circumstances. Once all your foes have been vanquished, it is possible for them to drop a pickup. This, more than often, tends to be coins, keys, hearts or bombs. Don't question the possibility of a secret area or item lying hidden behind an environmental hurdle or even a concealed crack in the wall.
Keep in mind that the map itself can throw you for a curveball once you think you've got it all figured out. Every now and then a level will be stricken with a curse at the beginning of the stage which can do things such as sizing up the stage considerably or rendering your map useless.
Keep in mind that the map itself can throw you for a curveball once you think you've got it all figured out. Every now and then a level will be stricken with a curse at the beginning of the stage which can do things such as sizing up the stage considerably or rendering your map useless.
The layout isn’t the only significant thing to pay attention to when it comes to the map, as it's important to consider the unique rooms you will come across and whether or not to take advantage of them when given the chance. Here are some of the common rooms you will find on your quest.
- Treasure Room - The most common special room you will find in the game. There exists one in every stage (not counting potential curses) up until a certain point in your run. Beyond the first stage they require keys to open. These rooms contain an item and are usually the rooms you prioritize when starting off your run.
- Boss Room - As the name implies, it is the room where you face the stage's boss before advancing to the next level. Be sure to enter well prepared, as just like regular rooms you can't leave this room until you beat the enemy. NEW TO REBIRTH: Double Trouble boss fights square you off against two previous bosses at the same time.
- Shop - Requires a key to unlock. You can buy pickups and items from these stores, occasionally on a discount. NEW TO REBIRTH: Rather than providing a random selection of items, Shops now provide a wider selection of items from its own exclusive pool and features a donation machine that can upgrade your stats.
- Challenge Room - A room that will not open up unless you are at full health. This room contains an item or a treasure chest. If you choose to collect it, the door will lock and require you to face off against a set wave of enemies. There also exists a Boss Challenge variation where you will be forced to take on multiple bosses.
- Arcade - Costs a penny to enter. This is a slightly versatile variation of the shop which focuses mostly on gambling and various non-refundable luck based games that can reward you with a pickup. You can also find the Blood Donation Machine in here which exchanges hearts for coins.
- Library - The doorframe to the Library is indistinguishable from the Shop and uses the same method of opening it, meaning you won't know which of the two it is until you open it. The Library contains two items to choose from, both of which are books (a pool of activated items).
- Curse Room - This room contains most of the time either one or two red chests. The catch is that the door is surrounded by a spiky frame which deals half a heart worth of damage when moving through it. At a certain point in your run, the damage will increase to one whole heart.
- Sacrifice Room - While not distinguishable by a doorframe, this room contains a tile of spikes in the middle surrounded by blood all over the floor. If the player performs enough damage to oneself on the spike, a treasure of any possible kind will spawn. For Rebirth, Edmund has stated that the Sacrifice Rooms will be “more interesting”.
- Devil Room - A room that can randomly spawn after a boss depending on multiple factors. This room offers you one of two items chosen from an Item Pool exclusive to this room, a lot of which are offense based. The catch is that you must sign a pact with the devil in order to obtain an item, in which he permanently removes a number of heart containers. The amount depends on the item.
- Angel Room - Identical to the Devil Room in concept but spawns under different circumstances. Unlike the Devil Room it only presents you with one item for free, as a gift from an angel. The selection of items is from a different pool than that of the Devil Room.
The bread and butter of Isaac. You can very much do a run without ever needing to pick something up, but this game puts faith in your ability to mix and match all your abilities you discover across the road. As an important aside, items and pickups will not disappear when you leave a room, meaning you can come back to them before exiting the stage if you choose. Will you plan your pickups accordingly or take everything that comes your way?
- Items: The most integral collectible. These modify your stats and abilities. They come in two forms; Activated Items which fill the spacebar slot and can only be used a limited number of times before having to be recharged (by completing rooms with enemies), and Passive Items which give a permanent effect to Isaac and cannot be removed. Usually the latter provide a new aesthetic look to him. More importantly, almost all of the passive items can be stacked and combined, meaning crazier effects that can, given enough luck, turn you into an overpowered monster of a character.
- Trinket - An item which provides a passive effect. What separates a Trinket from a regular Item is that you can only hold one at a time, and most of the effects are based on environmental circumstances.
- Tarot Card - A type of activated item which is assigned to a separate slot from activated items and is one-time use only. True to it's namesake each card is based on a Major Arcana. Suit Cards can also be found.
- Pills - Identical to the Tarot Card in concept and occupying the same one-use slot but with the catch that the effects of each pill is random upon every playthrough. A player will not know of the effect the pill provides until they have used it, be it positive or negative. The key to using pills strategically lies in the pill colors. While the effects of the pills are randomized each run, a pill of a set color will always have the same effect during the remainder of the current playthrough, letting the player know whether to use a pill if they come across one identical to one they’ve already used.
- Keys - Used for opening up Shop Doors, Treasure Rooms, Keystones and Golden Chests. Use them wisely. If you find the elusive skull-shaped Golden Key, you will be able to unlock any locks for the remainder of the floor without depleting your key count.
- Penny - The game's currency. They come in several varieties including nickels and dimes. Used for shopping and gambling.
- Bomb - Used for blowing up obstacles and inflicting high area of effect damage. They can also be used to blow up regular doorframes if you need to make an escape tactic. Pickups sometimes come in a pair of two. Its possible to upgrade them in various ways with certain items.
- Troll Bomb - A hazard disguised as a regular bomb. They will flash upon appearance and explode, inflicting damage. A variety of these, Super Troll Bombs, will follow the player upon appearance, trying to explicitly inflict damage on you.
- Heart - Comes in half or whole varieties. Fills your health container. If your container is full, you can't pick them up, but you can return to pick it up later if your health is running low.
- Soul Heart - Gives one non-refillable heart container. Soul Heart Containers always take damage priority unless you're making a deal with the devil.
- Eternal Heart - If a second piece is collected or if the stage is finished without losing it to damage, it turns into a full, regular heart container. In terms of damage hierarchy, the order of which hearts are consumed is Regular Heart < Eternal Heart < Soul Heart.
- Chest - Drops any random pickup.
- Gold Chest - Requires a key to open. Contains a higher amount of pickups or an item.
- Red Chest - Essentially a wild card chest. It either spawns Soul Hearts, Pills, Spiders or Troll Bombs. It will also rarely teleport Isaac to an Angel or Devil Room.
This is all but a taste of what goes down in the world of Isaac and doesn't even begin to encompass everything. Be sure to keep your head up for any and all surprises.
The soundtrack can be bought as a bundle with the game on Steam, or on Bandcamp. If you buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp for a price of $6.66, you’ll get a swell bonus for it.
Q: Why the new art style?
A: The art for Binding of Isaac was allegedly done in the course of less than two months as the original game was never intended to be a big hit. Edmund ended up finding his art for the game very lazy and he disliked the look of it. He originally envisioned Isaac as a throwback to the classic overhead games that inspired it and wanted the graphics to reflect that upon the remake, hence why the new graphics are done by multiple pixel artists. On top of that, taking art duties on his own would set back Rebirth and his work on other projects such as Mew-Genics by a significant amount.
Q: What if I don’t like the new art style?
A: Nicalis implemented unlockable filters, one of them being a “flash filter” to vaguely emulate the original game’s style. More image filters exist, which are accessed from secret seed codes.
Q: Is Florian Himsl still involved with the game?
A: He is still involved, mostly in the role of a tester and supervisor. He's not a programmer by trade and is mostly versed in Flash, but got regular builds during development and provided frequent input.
Q: Does the PC version have Gamepad Support?
A: Yes. No more Joy2Key! Any controller that your computer recognizes as a Gamepad should work in Rebirth.
Q: Does the game offer full screen and resolution options?
A: Yes. Another benefit of abandoning Flash.
Q: Does the game offer online co-op?
A: No, as this would increase the development time by a significant amount, and Rebirth is being worked on by a very small team.
Q: Is co-op available on PS Vita?
A: No, it's only available on PS4 and PC. However, Nicalis have mentioned the possibility of a patch that can make co-op compatible with Playstation/Vita TV.
Q: Is co-op required for any completionist benefits?
A: The game’s signature “Platinum God” stretch of finishing the game and unlocking everything does not require co-op to achieve.
Q: What if I spawn in co-op when the primary player only as one “heart” container?
A: It’ll kill the player and be the quietus of their playthrough. We wouldn't advise doing this unless you don’t like your co-op partner.
Q: Am I able to unlock things while doing a Seeded run?
A: No, as this would make achieving Platinum God incredibly easy.
Q: Is Rebirth easier than the original Isaac?
A: Edmund and Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis posited that the improved graphic fidelity, controller support, and smoother framerate makes the game more accessible, but not necessarily less challenging.
Q: Is Danny B still composing the music?
A: No. Composing duties have been taken over by Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans of Ridiculon, the composers of the upcoming Team Meat game Mew-Genics.
Q: What if I already own the original The Binding of Isaac?
A: If you owned The Binding of Isaac prior to the release of Rebirth, you would have received a 33% discount on the pre-order price of Rebirth. By the time you read this, the offer will have already expired.
Q: Are there any benefits of owning this on a Playstation platform e.g Cross Buy between Vita/PS4?
A: There has been no mention on Cross Buy for the title. However, for November, this game will be free on both PS4 and Vita via the PS Plus service. The game also supports Cross Save between the versions.
Q: Wasn't this game supposed to come out on Nintendo platforms? What about other platforms in general?
A: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is now headed to New 3DS, Wii U and Xbox One on July 23rd. It won't be playable on a regular 3DS due to it's lesser processing power.
Q: What the fuck is the Blue Baby?
A: A nod to Edmund’s Newgrounds username and dress-up games.
A: The art for Binding of Isaac was allegedly done in the course of less than two months as the original game was never intended to be a big hit. Edmund ended up finding his art for the game very lazy and he disliked the look of it. He originally envisioned Isaac as a throwback to the classic overhead games that inspired it and wanted the graphics to reflect that upon the remake, hence why the new graphics are done by multiple pixel artists. On top of that, taking art duties on his own would set back Rebirth and his work on other projects such as Mew-Genics by a significant amount.
Q: What if I don’t like the new art style?
A: Nicalis implemented unlockable filters, one of them being a “flash filter” to vaguely emulate the original game’s style. More image filters exist, which are accessed from secret seed codes.
Q: Is Florian Himsl still involved with the game?
A: He is still involved, mostly in the role of a tester and supervisor. He's not a programmer by trade and is mostly versed in Flash, but got regular builds during development and provided frequent input.
Q: Does the PC version have Gamepad Support?
A: Yes. No more Joy2Key! Any controller that your computer recognizes as a Gamepad should work in Rebirth.
Q: Does the game offer full screen and resolution options?
A: Yes. Another benefit of abandoning Flash.
Q: Does the game offer online co-op?
A: No, as this would increase the development time by a significant amount, and Rebirth is being worked on by a very small team.
Q: Is co-op available on PS Vita?
A: No, it's only available on PS4 and PC. However, Nicalis have mentioned the possibility of a patch that can make co-op compatible with Playstation/Vita TV.
Q: Is co-op required for any completionist benefits?
A: The game’s signature “Platinum God” stretch of finishing the game and unlocking everything does not require co-op to achieve.
Q: What if I spawn in co-op when the primary player only as one “heart” container?
A: It’ll kill the player and be the quietus of their playthrough. We wouldn't advise doing this unless you don’t like your co-op partner.
Q: Am I able to unlock things while doing a Seeded run?
A: No, as this would make achieving Platinum God incredibly easy.
Q: Is Rebirth easier than the original Isaac?
A: Edmund and Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis posited that the improved graphic fidelity, controller support, and smoother framerate makes the game more accessible, but not necessarily less challenging.
Q: Is Danny B still composing the music?
A: No. Composing duties have been taken over by Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans of Ridiculon, the composers of the upcoming Team Meat game Mew-Genics.
Q: What if I already own the original The Binding of Isaac?
A: If you owned The Binding of Isaac prior to the release of Rebirth, you would have received a 33% discount on the pre-order price of Rebirth. By the time you read this, the offer will have already expired.
Q: Are there any benefits of owning this on a Playstation platform e.g Cross Buy between Vita/PS4?
A: There has been no mention on Cross Buy for the title. However, for November, this game will be free on both PS4 and Vita via the PS Plus service. The game also supports Cross Save between the versions.
Q: Wasn't this game supposed to come out on Nintendo platforms? What about other platforms in general?
A: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is now headed to New 3DS, Wii U and Xbox One on July 23rd. It won't be playable on a regular 3DS due to it's lesser processing power.
Q: What the fuck is the Blue Baby?
A: A nod to Edmund’s Newgrounds username and dress-up games.
B33 - For helping out with the thread!
Edmund McMillen
Tyrone Rodriguez
The fine folks over at The Binding of Isaac Wiki
And Guppy, Ed and Danielle’s pet-cat who served as an inspiration for many items in Isaac, who sadly passed away during the development of Rebirth.
