This Website is About my favorite game the Binding of Isaac:Rebirth. It includes information about the game and character, as well as my thoughts on some of the enemies of the game.
Intro
A Little Background on the Game
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of the game The Binding of Isaac. The remake inculdes a new game engine that runs at 60 frames per second, a new pixelated art style instead of the old hand drawn style, polished visual effects, and a new soundtrack by Ridiculon. They have release 3 DLCs that have vastly expand the game, changing it drastically, this DLCS are "The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth", "The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+", "The Binding of Isaac: Repentance"
The Plot
The story The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth's loosely tells follows the biblical story of the same name, similar to the original game. Isaac, a child, and his mother live in a small house on a hill, both happily keeping to themselves, with Isaac drawing pictures and playing with his toys, and his mother watching Christian broadcasts on television. Isaac's mother then hears "a voice from above", stating her son is corrupted with sin, and needs to be saved. She removes all his possessions (including toys and clothing), believing they were the corrupting agents, and later locks him in his room to protect him from the evil outside. When she receives instructions to sacrifice her son to prove her devotion to her faith, Isaac flees through a trap door in his room, leading to "the unknown depths below".
After venturing through various floors and reaching The Depths, Isaac battles his mother. After defeating her, the game cuts back to Isaac in his room, where his mother attempts to kill him, grasping a butcher's knife. A Bible is knocked off a shelf, striking Isaac's mother in the head, killing her. Isaac celebrates, before the game cuts again to a smiling Isaac, where his mother once again opens his door, holding a knife.
While this is the story the game directly tells the player, if the play starts to read between the lines of the story and the different endings the player can get, they see the real story of a young boy's family falling part and the depression he feels because he blames himself for it all. The game is Isaac using his imagination to hide from his pain.
Edmund Charles McMillen is an American video game designer and artist. He is known for his Adobe Flash games with unconventional visual styles. His works include 2010's side-scroller Super Meat Boy, 2011's roguelike game The Binding of Isaac, and its 2014 remake The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
His Career
McMillen's initial graphic work was in independent comics. While he has largely abandoned this field in favor of video games, he has released a series of comics featuring Meat Boy, the title character in the video game Super Meat Boy, as a promotional tie-in for the game. His most well-known games are the Flash-based game Meat Boy, and its sequel Super Meat Boy, which has been released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4. McMillen is also known for the games Gish, Aether, The Binding of Isaac and Coil. Gish won Game Tunnel's 2004 Adventure Game of the Year, as well as Indie Game of the Year. His game Coil was nominated for the Innovation Award at the 2009 Independent Games Festival. McMillen was the original character artist and animator on Braid, before those assets were replaced by the work of David Hellman. Braid went on to win the Innovation Award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival prior to its release, and several awards in 2008, including GameSpot's Best Platformer, and Best Original Downloadable Console Game, and the 12th Annual Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Awards Casual Game of the Year. His game Aether was a 2009 IndieCade finalist and received an honorable mention.
Early Life
McMillen was born on March 2, 1980, to a family of "born-again Christians" of Mexican descent. A lifelong resident of Watsonville, in Santa Cruz, California, he attended Soquel High School. He is fond of drawing, his favorite subject being monsters. McMillen spent most of his childhood with his grandmother, whom he considers to be the greatest source of support in his creative endeavors. Later in his life, McMillen received a box from his grandmother that contained all of his drawings as a child. Many of these drawings can be seen by unlocking The Box in one of his games, The Basement Collection. His childhood represents his own game creations, more specifically The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. In an interview with Indie Game: The Movie he explains that his family was consistently riddled with alcohol and drug addiction. He was confronted by this extreme faith, which caused him religious guilt and mental problems causing him to grow a desire to fight back, resulting in his acting out against them.
A Stone Grimace is an invincible stationary statue with the shape of a head with a wide-open mouth and hollow eyes. Stone Grimaces will sporadically spit a Red bullet in Isaac's direction until the room is cleared by killing regular enemies, or by pressing Pressure Plates. When the room is cleared, the Stone Grimace closes its eyes and mouth.
Why I Dislike Them
I dislike this enemy for the fact they are invincible and you have no real way to counter or deal with them beside clearing the room
Host
About The Enemy
Hosts are immobile skulls. When lowered down, which is their normal state, they are invincible to every source of damage except status effects such as poison, burning, being knocked into a wall by Hemoptysis, or Knockout Drops' knockback. Occasionally, they will pop up and shoot three spread shots towards Isaac, revealing a fleshy stem that can be damaged. Attacking a Host while it is lowered will increase the delay before it pops up: if it takes what would be a large amount of damage at once they will grimace.
Why I Dislike Them
I dislike this enemy for the fact they are allowed to stay down as long as the would like, causing rooms to drag on for way longer then they should
Needle
About The Enemy
They lunge towards Isaac in an attempt to deal contact damage. Before they lunge, they are characterized by a small lump in the ground. Unlike Pin, they do not move underground relative to where they land. Instead, they teleport to a spot near Isaac before lunging. They can leap over pits and obstacles to reach Isaac if he has flight.
Why I Dislike Them
I Dislike this enemy for the fact there is no indicator that they are in the room until they attack, this causes the player to get hit by them alot because they are unaware of them being in the room
Bosses
Bumbino
About The Enemy
Bumbino slowly moves towards Isaac and can perform the following attacks: Swipes forward to clear a path to Isaac if Bumbino is obstructed by obstacles while chasing him. Performs two swipes, one in Isaac's direction, followed by another swipe in the opposite direction; these swipes can break obstacles. Then slams the ground, releasing 8 rock projectiles in all directions as well as 4 rock waves diagonally. If Bumbino hits a wall or a pit with a swipe he is momentarily stunned, interrupting this attack and causing rock projectiles to fall from the ceiling. His swipe attack will also deflect incoming projectiles. Charges in Isaac's direction when vertically aligned with him and a wall, breaking all obstacles caught in his path. Bumbino will become stunned upon impacting the wall, launching a cluster of rock projectiles in the opposite direction and causes rock projectiles to fall from the ceiling. If Isaac is close to the impact, he is pushed away. Launches a Butt Bombs Bomb in Isaac's direction.
Why I Dislike Them
I dislike this boss for the fact that their arena is so cramped and their attacks are so big, it causes you to get hit by most of them. This causes an unfun boss fight.
Great Gideon
About The Enemy
Great Gideon is always fought in a vertical double-size room and has no health in a traditional sense. Instead, Isaac must battle 6 waves of monsters to beat him. Each wave begins once all enemies from the previous wave have been defeated. He also will fire projectiles during waves.
Why I Dislike Them
I dislike this enemy for the fact there is so much to keep track of.
