The Binding of Isaac
| The Binding of Isaac | |||
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| The Binding of Isaac logo | |||
| Publisher |
 Edmund McMillen (Download) Headup Games Merge Games  |
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| Senior Developer |
Edmund McMillen Florian Himsl |
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| composer | Danny Baranowsky | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
September 28, 2011 | ||
| platform | macOS , Windows , Linux | ||
| Game engine | Adobe Flash | ||
| genre | Action-adventure , rogue-like , dungeon crawl | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM , download | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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The Binding of Isaac is one of Edmund McMillen developed and Florian Himsl Independent - computer game . In the game, first published on September 28, 2011 via Steam , the players control a naked, crying child by the name of Isaac or one of six other unlockable characters. After his mother receives an order from God to kill him, Isaac flees to the monster-infested cellar.
The Binding of Isaac was part of the Humble Bundle several times . On November 1, 2011, it was added to the Humble Voxatron Debut . The game was also included in the Humble Indie Bundle 7 , including the Wrath of the Lamb expansion .
The title of the game and the plot refer to the binding of Isaac . The game contains a lot of black humor and, in addition to allusions to internet memes and Edmund McMillen's previous games (such as Gish or Super Meat Boy ), also touches on many topics that are traditionally avoided in computer games, such as illness, child abuse, gender identity, suicide and religion.
Gameplay
The Binding of Isaac is a 2D action-adventure game in which the player navigates Isaac or one of the six other unlockable characters through the basement under Isaac's room. The surface and presentation are very reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda , but the levels are generated randomly, similar to many rogue-like games. The basement is divided into several floors, which consist of several rooms. On each floor of the dungeon there is a boss who must be defeated in order to get to the next floor below.
Before another room can be entered, all monsters in the current room must first be defeated. To do this, Isaac initially shoots his tears as projectiles. The projectiles are modified depending on the objects picked up. For example, the damage or the rate of fire can be increased or completely different types of weapons can arise. Since there are several hundred different objects, of which only a few randomly appear in certain places, new combinations are created each time you play through them. In addition to new weapons and power-ups , the player collects money to buy new equipment and keys to unlock special rooms and treasure chests.
action
The plot of The Binding of Isaac is based on the biblical story of the same name about the binding of Isaac . A boy named Isaac and his mother live happily in a small house on a hill. Isaac plays with his toys and paints pictures while his mother watches Christian TV shows. Suddenly Isaac's mother hears a "voice from above": Her son is corrupted by sin and needs to be saved. The voice demands that all evil must be removed from Isaac, whereupon Isaac's mother takes away his toys, pictures, game console and even his clothes.
The voice speaks again, claiming that Isaac must be kept away from all evil in the world. His mother obeys again and locks him in his room.
The voice speaks to Isaac's mother one last time: she did what was asked, but her faith must be tested, and so the voice demands that Isaac's mother kill her son as a token of her devotion. The mother obeys, takes a butcher's knife and goes to Isaac's room. Isaac, watching through a crack in the door, panic. He finds a trap door under his carpet and jumps in just before his mother opens the door.
During the game's loading points, Isaac is depicted crying and curled up on the floor. His thoughts are visible and range from being rejected by his mother to being humiliated by his classmates to a scenario of his own death. The game contains 11 end sequences, which are shown one after the other when the game is successfully played through again. Over time, additional floors and bosses will be unlocked, increasing the overall level of difficulty. The Wrath of the Lamb expansion pack adds 3 more endings.
extension
On May 28, 2012, an expansion called Wrath of the Lamb was released for the game . The expansion contains 50% additional content, for example more than 10 new bosses, over 100 items, over 40 challenges, a new ending and more.
Nintendo 3DS port
The developers announced that the game would include a port for the Nintendo 3DS . Nintendo later refused to include the game in the Nintendo eShop because of "questionable religious content".
That decision led developer Edmund McMillen to praise the Steam platform and the freedom it gives publishers . Many gaming websites were outraged by Nintendo's reaction.
The official successor, Rebirth , was finally added to the 3DS shop.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Edmund McMillen worked with game developer Nicalis on a remake called The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth , which was released on November 4th, 2014. The new version includes completely re-tuned items and enemies, redrawn graphics in 16-bit style, additional game content, a local co-op mode and support for game consoles. The main reason for the new development was that the Adobe Flash previously used does not support all the required features, causes errors and cannot be ported to all game consoles without any problems. It should therefore be replaced by a more flexible in-house development.
The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls
On June 27, 2018, McMillen started a Kickstarter campaign for a physical tabletop card game in which, similar to Munchkin , two or more players develop a game character and use a variety of objects to fight monsters in order to earn victory points, the so-called souls , to get. Hundreds of items, monsters and treasures were published as early as September 2018 (current status). The game is scheduled to appear on the international market in November 2018.
Response and success
The Binding of Isaac had sold over 2 million copies as of March 2013. The game received mostly positive reviews from critics. The high level of difficulty, the gloomy atmosphere and the varied game mechanics were emphasized. It achieved a metascore of 84%.
In Germany, the USK gave the game a rating of 16 years and over, which was justified by a "generally blasphemous message":
“Because of this setting and the simple game principle typical of the genre, [...] a release from the age of 12 would have been conceivable. However, the biblical background issue spoke against this further release. Due to the blasphemous message that tends to be blasphemous, it cannot be ruled out that religious children under the age of 16 will be affected. The review committee feared that the basic idea of the game could be perceived as hurtful or even disorienting. "
Web links
- Official website
- The Binding of Isaac at MobyGames (English)
- The Binding of Isaac demo at Newgrounds
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Humble Voxatron Debut (pay what you want and help charity). In: The Humble Voxatron Debut. Humble Bundle, archived from the original on November 3, 2011 ; Retrieved November 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Jason Scheirer: Nightmarish Indie The Binding of Isaac Shooting Up Steam Next Week. In: Wired . September 19, 2011, accessed January 27, 2012 .
- ↑ Trailer on Youtube. December 2011, accessed January 10, 2013 .
- ↑ JC Fletcher: The Binding of Isaac's Wrath of the Lamb begins May 28. (No longer available online.) Joystiq , May 7, 2012, archived from the original on July 10, 2012 ; Retrieved May 7, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Jeff Marchiafava: The Binding of Isaac Expansion Dated. Game Informer , May 7, 2012, accessed May 7, 2012 .
- ^ Phil Kollar, Binding Of Isaac Blocked From 3DS Due To "Questionable Religious Content". Game Informer , February 29, 2012, accessed March 1, 2012 : " In a follow-up tweet, McMillen confirmed that the decision was due to the games' questionable religious content." He then took the opportunity to praise Steam for being such an open and supporting platform for independent and digitally distributed games. "
- ^ A b Nintendo won't allow Binding of Isaac on the 3DS eShop. Destructoid , February 29, 2012, retrieved on February 29, 2012 : “It's a disgusting and sad situation, and I can only hope that something is done soon to change the way both Nintendo, and the industry in general, views the role between the hardware developers and software artists. (...) "All this stuff has opened my eyes so much more to the freedom devs have with Steam. Censorship like this doesn't pop up that often in games, and there really are only a handful of" banned video games "or highly censored ones. It's nice to have the freedom to publish something that speaks its mind about religion on a platform like Steam." "
- ↑ The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Nintendo, accessed January 5, 2016 .
- ↑ escapistmagazine.com
- ↑ kickstarter.com
- ↑ Edmund McMillen on Twitter. Retrieved March 23, 2013 .
- ↑ metacritic.com
- ↑ Class 16 because of ... blasphemy. January 4, 2012, accessed February 9, 2012 .
