Topic: The Binding Of Isaac

[Nail_Bombed]

Bought this game in the Steam Christmas sale recently. It's totally screwed up, yet somehow I keep going back to it. One half of Super Meat Boy's designers made it, it's a roguelike game at it's heart, but it plays like a mix of the dungeon levels of The Legend Of Zelda and Smash TV.

The art style is what you'd expect from the creators of Super Meat Boy, lighthearted yet somehow grim and disturbing.
And this game gets pretty disturbing, given the (tenuous) plotline, which is loosely based on the Bible story of Abraham's test of faith. You, Isaac, live at home with your mom who watches Christian broadcasts on the TV. Everything is fine, until one day your mom hears the voice of God telling her that her son is filled with sin, so she takes away all your worldly possessions, including your clothes and locks you in your room. God then tells her that you need to be sacrificed to God to save your soul. Seeing your mom picking up a knife to obey these words, you escape into the basement.... where it's possible that that may have been a worse move than being sacrificed, as there's all kinds of terrible, disgusting, and dreadful creatures down there.

There's a ton of items, both beneficial and ....not so, to pick up, all of which change your characters appearance with use. For instance, a Wire Hanger through your skull, which boosts your Tear Damage.... yes, your character is shooting tears at his enemies. I would reckon the guy who made this game has some severe issues. But it is incredibly addictive to play, and I still haven't got to the final showdown with Mom yet.

[Arma]

lol that plot sounds like it came from a messed up mind.
It certainly looks like Zelda.

[Nail_Bombed]

Sooooo..... I finally got to Mom. But that's not the end of the game. I unlocked a new level called The Womb, and apparently if you beat that five times you get the level called Sheol where you have to beat Satan himself. Mom actually was easy enough.... The Womb level is as tough as it comes though. Still more deaths than Mom kills.... only managed to kill her twice so far. EDIT: in fact I found out that the 'mom kills' I did get were bad version endings... I needed to kill her heart to finish for real to get a Mom kill. And now the game is even more hard. Yay, more punishment!
This game does have a few Castlevania parallels - there's a blood-regenerative zombie, which acts much like a Blood Skeleton. And an item called the Whore Of Babylon, which when you are down to your last half heart brings up a text box saying 'What A Whorrible Night To Be Cursed' and turns you demonic, able to slay your foes without much trouble (apart from being bombarded by killer FLIES! Most annoying enemy in game). EDIT: Also, there is a personification of Death who throws sickles in a very familiar way... Very fun game this. REALLY aggravating at times - I've found because the designers coded it in Flash, when there's too many enemies onscreen it gets very laggy... but that's not the issue compared to the STEEP AS HELL difficulty curve after you defeat Mom. Everywhere gets incrementally more hard. This is a punishing but very worthwhile game.