The Binding Of Isaac (Afterbirth Plus)

[ImmaculateClump]

I really should be arsed about this but it's difficult to be excited about it, isn't it?

The last expansion was one too far.  Just...  just leave it be. 

Yeah, I had my fill with the original game on pc. Thought the remake wasn't as good. I've got afterbirth, but, meh, didn't feel the need to buy any more after that.

If you're looking where to go next, Monolith is excellent. Both the base game and the dlc are on sale at the minute

https://store.steampowered.com/app/603960/Monolith/

[buntyman]

Does anyone still play Binding of Isaac? I started playing it again over the Christmas holidays when I got Covid and have become completely hooked again. I've pumped in tons of hours over the years (probably 200+ - scared to look) but have never really followed any guides or anything so have probably got very close to some unlocks and then taken the wrong path and got nothing. I've probably done about half of the challenges, beaten Satan on easy with most characters and checked off a lot of the other things on hard with Isaac.
Because I just generally liked the game from the beginning, whenever a new DLC came out I just paid for it without really being fully aware of what it added. I still encounter the occasional new enemy or new item every tenth run or so and rarely unlock anything new when I get to the ending.
A bit of Googling about over the weekend made me realise there are huge chunks of the game i've never seen, including pretty much all of the Repentance content. I only just did the boss rush and Hush fights for the first time this weekend and I think they're probably from the first DLC. I also read about the broken shovel that you get if you beat the first floor in under a minute and then go back and bomb the starting room. Apparently that leads to a whole other sequence of difficult things you have to do to reveal another big chunk of the game. That sort of thing's a bit annoying as there's no way you'd figure that out without using internet guides.
Anyway, I'm at the stage now where every playthrough takes the best part of an hour. Fun as it is, I think there's a limit to how much more I'll play unless something majorly different opens up - any advice on some worthwhile things to focus on doing (especially things that are unlikely to happen by chance)?

[gabrielconroy]

I completed the first one to Golden God, which took a long old time but was very fun all the same. Played the DLCs but it got a bit more of a slog after that for me.

Something about the much bigger rooms and how convoluted some of the paths became tipped it more towards being tedious rather than the relentless energy of the original. Maybe if I gave it another bash it would be different.

As for what for you to do now, maybe try completing the original? There will still be a shit ton of stuff for you to unlock and play with if you've only just encountered boss rush - sounds like you're maybe a third complete at this stage.

[druss]

Heard this game was good but looks like there's a crying foetus involved?

[gabrielconroy]

Yeah it has a biblical theme in a grotesque cartoon aesthetic that is a bit try hard but overall works.

[Obel]

I've been playing this on and off since it came out and weirdly I recently got back into it as well. I thought I had done everything until I  found myself going back up the floors to the real final ending. Then I found that you can unlock another variant of each of the characters and I've gotten myself fully addicted again. I'm spending way too much time playing the game while listening to podcasts at the moment.

I've nearly clocked 1000 hours, which makes it my most played game by a bit of a margin. I feel slightly less shame in that I've clocked that over 7 years, but it's still a disgusting amount of time wasted. Oh well though, bang for my buck I guess.

[Bartholomew J Krishna]

Put just over 2800 hours into it and still play every day. (Mainly the 'daily run').
The sheer amount of pickups leads to some really interesting (for better or worse) interactions.
It's still my favourite game.
(As previous poster said, the 'Tainted' characters add a whole new level to it!)

[oggyraiding]

I have over 700 hours across the original and Rebirth. I did buy the most recent DLC but I feel it fucked the balance up and was way too hard and it sort of put me off. Certain items can completely ruin a run, and when you get the curse where you can't see what items, are there's that terrifying risk you'll get soy milk or a similarly shit item.

I don't really like the aesthetic and the "Judeo-Christian religious people are bad" shit. I'm sure there are people out there who love it, and I have no issues with media satirising religious stuff, I just found the execution of in BoI to be a bit /r/atheism.

[copa]

Horrible game. Always get the impression it's played by 4chan types, or whatever their current equivalent is.

[TrenterPercenter]

Does anyone still play Binding of Isaac?

Yep it's the only game I pick up every now again now its just an easy hour of fun then back t'mill. 

Never really given the storyline or theme any thought I just like the synergies with the items and the difficulty of it all - can see that it probably would be popular with n'er do well though.

[Mr Vegetables]

I sometimes wonder if this would have been the most popular game of all time if it had basically any other theme at all

[oggyraiding]

I think it wouldn't work with another theme with some of the items, they'd be hard to explain the effects in say, a modern military theme or a mecha theme or being a wizard.

Though any of those would have been preferable to miscarriages and tumours.

[madhair60]

I'm fully addicted to this masterpiece again on Switch

[Obel]

I am 70 achievements away from 100%ing BOI and to be honest I'm addicted to such a mentally ill degree that I'm looking forward to drawing a line under it so I can move on with my life.

[madhair60]

playing on both Switch and PC now

just beat Ultra Greed with Bethany, Ultra Greedier next. I didn't really rate Greed Mode before but I'm having a lot of fun with it now, simplicity works and it's quite easy to become comically powerful.

I will say that I think Ultra Greed scaling to your power level is a bit shit and the opposite of what Isaac should be; if I've earned the power to steamroll the cunt it should just let me.

[madhair60]

i have had to delete this from both my PC and Switch because i wasn't getting any work done

[BritishHobo]

Picked this up again. Bit of a pisser that Repentance isn't compatible with the physical version of Afterbirth+ on the Switch, so I'll have to shell out £35 for the digital version to be able to play that. Anyway after a couple of years of not playing, I'm shit again, so maybe it's for the best.

[robotam]

That's wild that the DLC doesn't work with the physical game.

Only 4 more completion marks left for me until I am finally done. With Tainted Jacob I need: Isaac, ???, Mega Satan, Delirium. One lucky run could do it.

Trying to get all of these becomes a bit of a chore but I suppose you don't have to unlock everything.

[Obel]

Finished off Tainted Lost's completion marks this weekend. Just 8 left to do with Tainted Jacob so I can finally draw a line under this game and move on with my life. No video games for a while after this.

[buntyman]

Using some guides I've now unlocked a lot of the 'new' Repentance content. I've now almost unlocked all the tainted characters and am just having fun messing around with all the new abilities. There's absolutely no way I'm good enough to ever beat the game with The Lost so I won't manage to get any of the unlockable content. I think i've unlocked enough now that I can get to all of the alternative routes and do all the new boss fights that i'd never seen, years after buying the Repentance dlc. Happy to now leave it as a game i'll return to occasionally and maybe surprise myself by encountering some new things here and there. 

[gabrielconroy]

How did everyone else find all the Repentance and tainted stuff in comparison to the original game? Maybe I was just burned out on it, but found I struggled to give a shit about it and a lot of the paths seemed needlessly obtuse for the sake of it.

Maybe I should give it another go, as apart from chess there's no other game I've played anything like as many hours on than TBOI.

[Obel]

I was surprised by how fun some of the Tainted characters are, after initially being put off. I think they're more interesting than a lot of the base characters which for a large chunk are just different starting stats. Some of the mechanics really change how you approach the game.

It took me forever to get on board with the last DLC, I bought it way before I played it because I caned the game so much in 2018. I was a bit put off by the sheer quantity of new stuff at first, but the new stuff is really fun and it gives so many diverse possibilities of build. I've had some really insane game breaking runs that are really satisfying. Walking in and wiping out Delirium in mere seconds is so satisfying after lots of frustrating runs.

I'd say give it another go and say goodbye to your free time.

[Bartholomew J Krishna]

I feel that Repentance revitalised the game (because of the new items more than the characters).
However, I never clicked with Jacob and Esau or a couple of the tainted characters (especially Tainted Forgotten), as I didn't enjoy the necessary change in playstyle.
Of the characters I give a shit about, I only need to get Delirium with Tainted Lost. Then I may have to reconsider the characters I've avoided because I'm too addicted to stop playing!