Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl independently developed The Binding of Isaac, a roguelike video game. It was released for Microsoft Windows, then ported to OS X, and Linux, in 2011. The game’s title and plot are inspired by the Biblical Binding of Isaac, according to its creators.

Gameplay

In The Binding of Isaac, the player controls Isaac or other unlockable characters as they explore the dungeons located in Isaac’s basement. The characters have a variety of characteristics, including speed, health, damage, and other features. The game’s mechanics and appearance are identical to the dungeons of The Legend of Zelda, while randomly generated levels are like those of a roguelike game. The player must go to each floor of the basement and defeat monsters before proceeding to the next room, which is accomplished by the character’s tears as bullets in the role of a twin-stick shooter or by using a limited number of bombs to clear out areas of the room.

Story

On a hill, a small house is occupied by a young boy named Isaac and his mother. They both keep to themselves, with Isaac drawing pictures and playing with his toys, and his mother watching religious television programs. God, according to his mother, speaks to her from the heavens and sentences her son to salvation because of his evil. She removes all of his objects of evil, including his drawings and clothing.

The voice once again pleads with Isaac’s mother, urging her to sever him from the evil world. His mother, feeling that she has accomplished something, locks him in his room. The voice once again addresses Isaac’s mom, advising her that she did well up to this point, but that she still has questions concerning her loyalty. It asks her to sacrifice her son, and she accepts. Isaac, watching through a large crack in his door, is horrified as his mother enters his room with a butcher’s knife. He finds a trapdoor buried under his rug, and as soon as she enters his room, he leaps into it.

How long is The Binding of Isaac?

When it comes to the primary goals, The Binding of Isaac spans approximately 12 hours. However, if you’re a dedicated gamer who wants to explore every aspect of the game, it could take you around 138 hours to achieve 100% completion.

Reception

The Binding of Isaac received generally positive reviews from game critics. Reviewers have praised The Binding of Isaac for its high replayability and wide variety of power-ups, saying that it presents an accessible Zelda-inspired framework that most gamers would grasp.

When McMillen released the game on Steam, he only expected it to sell a few hundred copies. For the first few months of its release, sales were approximately a few hundred per day, but shortly thereafter, McMillen found sales suddenly increased, a fact he attributed to numerous Let’s Play videos that had been published by players to showcase the game. By November 2012, the game sold over one million copies.