Seven reasons I’m still playing ‘The Binding Of Isaac’

It’s been about a month since the release of McMillen and Himsl’s five dollar roguelike adventure, and I’ve sunk nearly 40 hours into the game. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan; I think I made my love of the game pretty clear in episode 19 of The Jurassic Hour. My few friends on Steam may be wondering “why are you still playing it?” Like, how can I still be actively playing a five dollar game with so much zeal?

Below, in no particular order of importance or ranking, are seven reasons why I’m still playing THE BINDING OF ISAAC.

1. It’s new all over again

Roguelikes are notorious for creating hardcore addicts, what with all the randomness involved. Every play brings something new, and I still feel like there’s some new item combination to find. Heck, just yesterday I finally hit, by sheer accident, the “I AM ERROR” room. Anyone who says “I’ve seen it all” is probably fooling themselves. And if they’re not…

2. Free DLC hits next week

Edmund is advertising next week’s DLC as the content that “completes” the game. A ninth floor will be added alongside a true ending, the rest of the tarot cards (Priestess, Empress, Star, Sun), new items and enemies. I have to keep my fingers limber and my mind well-trained if I want to take on what is sure to be a challenging endgame scenario.

3. ACHIEVEMENT ADDICTION!

You got your coke, your smack, your crystal, and then you got in-game achievements. Whether it’s Steam Achievements, PSN Trophies, XBL Achievements, or some other system, this new method of systematized bragging has brought back the ’80s arcade-style “who has the highest score?” contests. Worse yet is that “highest score” was open-ended, but these achievements have an end goal, though they are at times near impossible. Completionists/perfectionists (both words describe me well) would do well to ignore these accomplishment meters.

Currently I’m at 39 out of 43 (51 including DLC) achieved. With each successive playthrough I get closer to achieving each goal. I have 106 out of 110 items as of the time I write this, and I don’t feel like I’ve hit a wall yet in terms of progress. Thus, I keep going.

4. My daughter broke my PSP

Sure, I also have a Wii, a DS, a PS3 (fully backwards compatible), and about 100 other games on Steam I could play. But I was currently fixated on completing about three different games on my PSP before the little missy destroyed it with her beautiful, grubby hands. I can’t help but wonder if she thinks God told her to do it, and if so, is my PC next…?

5. Speaking of religion…

The religious over — under? — tones in BoI get under my skin, but in the best of ways. Being based on one of the more controversial stories recorded in the Bible, and told from the perspective of the sacrifice himself, one might expect this story to come from an anti-theist perspective. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Though the game is irreverent and strange, you’d have to be pretty guarded in your religious beliefs to be so offended as to walk away from the game in protest. For more on this, check out Drew Dixon’s review at Paste or Ben Kuchera’s editorial at Ars Technica.

6. A trail of tears’n'stuff

As I mentioned in the podcast, one of my favorite things about the items in BoI is their complete stackability. More than just affecting your own weapon (tears), I love getting additional critters following me. And, by my count, you can get a trail of about a dozen characters following you. Some shoot additional weapons or provide special forms of defense, others randomly drop items, still others provide extra lives. This isn’t just about collecting cool stuff or finding neat combinations. It’s about getting ridiculously overpowered and feeling unstoppable. What little abused child wouldn’t dream of such a day?

7. Indie street cred

I’m not above this. I want to be one of the cool kids. This past weekend I went to New York City with some old friends from RPGFan and met a few new faces. When the topic of BoI came up as we walked from Penn Station to The Compleat Strategist, I was able to keep up with the conversation. When someone mentioned Meat Boy’s secret fifth form, I was prepared to weigh in. We talked at length about the value of the D6, and what items are possibly worth dropping it for (and at what floor). It was the nerdiest conversation I’ve had in months, and there’s no way I could’ve had it unless I’d sunk all this time into the game.

It made me feel good.

And I suppose that sums it up. I’m secretly, or not so secretly, something of a geek-hedonist when it comes to video games. I’m not apologizing, and I’m still playing. We’ll see how much more staying power this game gets from the free Halloween DLC!