The Winter Sale 2022 on the Steam gaming platform runs until January 5th and offers tons of reduced games. Also included is the indie hit The Binding of Isaac. A top-rated gritty adventure that also features local co-op. MeinMMO briefly introduces the pearl to you.
Hard games are all the rage right now, if you don’t mind my pun. The worldwide success of the action-adventure Elden Ring at the beginning of 2022 proved that.
The trend has also been observed in the shooter genre for years – in a battle royale, even the smallest wrong decision can ruin many minutes of play, in extraction shooters you lose all the stuff that you may have collected for hours.
The indie game The Binding of Isaac has been there since the beginning and has delighted players for more than 10 years with a high degree of difficulty and a lot of variety.
You can currently get the Steam version of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (2014) with a 50% discount in the winter sale. You can find out here on MeinMMO who the popular game is worthwhile for.
In 2021 The Binding of Isaac got its last DLC “Repentance”. Check out the trailer to get an idea of the setting and gameplay of the game:
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance – Trailer
The Binding of Isaac: Twin-stick shooter meets rogue-lite
What’s the matter? The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a twin-stick shooter with many rogue-lite elements. In the beginning you control Isaac, who fights against nasty demons in a dark pixel world. Your only weapons are your tears.
Each level is randomly generated when the game starts. Rooms are arranged differently, opponents are changed, you find other treasures. At the end of each level one of the many bosses is waiting for you.
The deeper you delve into the world, the more skills you collect in the course of a run. Each item makes you more powerful, your tears become poisonous, cause more damage or get crazy effects that you can use to your advantage.
If your life energy is used up, you have to start all over again.
The aim is to survive all levels and unlock one of the many available endings. Certain actions in the game or the unlocking of new endings unlock new content – more items, new levels, sinister bosses or characters with other starting advantages.
I’m infatuated with games that I can only lose
Varied & challenging – also in co-op
how does it play As usual for games in the rogue-lite genre, the beginning in particular is hard and mean. There are only a few strong items in the pool, you have not yet internalized the controls and do not know the behavior of the opponents.
But with every run it gets a little better.
The fluid gameplay, the rewarding level of difficulty and the great variety of the individual runs lead to an exciting motivational spiral that keeps you pressing the “Start game” button over and over again.
There is also room in the game for couch friends. A second player can take on a little buddy who can give Isaac a little help. This can be a different companion each round, with different abilities.
With the DLC “Repentance” even 4 players can control a full character at the same time.
Top 25 Best Co-op Games 2022 for PC, PS5, Xbox and Switch
Cute yet uncomfortable
Who is this for? Basically, The Binding of Isaac can be recommended to any player who likes to do a small, entertaining round in a game. Rounds can last up to an hour if you make it all the way to the end. But not longer.
If you are also always looking for a challenge and like a game to unfold gradually, then hit this one too. The developers state that you can sink 500 game hours.
However, The Binding of Isaac’s graphics and design style might put you off. It’s fairly basic comic graphics, and many of the enemies and bosses are… a little unappetizing.
How is the game doing? The Binding of Isaac is already well known and loved. The ratings on Steam look accordingly. At the time of writing, the game has received 198,854 reviews – 97% of reviews are positive.
We’re not going to make a specific comment about the game at this point, but simply show you the hours of play of some players who have recently written reviews:
If you like the game, you can get it in the winter sale on Steam for €7.49 (50% on sale). The DLCs are also half the price. The game is also available on PlayStation, Xbox and the Switch.
If you want to improve your gaming experience even more, here are some powerful mods: 10 awesome mods for The Binding of Isaac: Repentance that you should try