Ah, The Binding of Isaac. This game makes me angry, but in a good way, as all roguelike games should. It’s a game that will have you praying to RNG(J)esus for a bomb drop or heart container. Then you’ll swear at the screen because all you got was troll bombed. Alright, alright, I’ll take a step back. Considering our last three posts were all about food with this being the first video game post, some context might be necessary.

If you already know about this game, feel free to click on “The Goal of This Playthrough”.

The Goal of This Playthrough – Get To Know Us – See When We Play Next

What is a Roguelike?

The Binding of Isaac is an action adventure, roguelike. I’m sure you know what action and adventure are, but roguelike? For some of you, that may be a new term. From a very young age, I always believed roguelikes were “a game that doesn’t care about your feelings.” However, I’ve come to learn what roguelike actually means. They are indeed unapologetic, but roguelike games base their lack of a sh*t to give on RNG, which stands for Random Number Generators. So I suppose it would be more of an indifference instead of not caring.

Anyway, you can indeed argue that these games “don’t care” about you simply because everything happens completely by chance. From the rewards that you get, to items that drop, and even sometimes what you start off with, is based heavily off of chance. RNG is what controls (almost) everything and that is why we pray.

Now, another defining feature of a roguelike is permadeath. What’s permadeath you ask, well I’ll tell you. When you’re having a fun time playing your game and suddenly an enemy gives you he thunder-slap and you get the “GAME OVER“, that’s permadeath. Essentially, you begin the game and play through the levels until you make a mistake. Then it’s game over or you’ve won and get to do it all again. No restarts, no checkpoints, trying again means going back to the start. Although, in this game, there are some exceptions…you’ll have to watch us play to figure those out though.

The Binding of Isaac: REPENTANCE

The Binding of Isaac: History

Now that we know the genre of this game, what the heck is The Binding of Isaac? That is a loaded question my friend, as I like to say IYKYK. We could talk for hours upon hours about what this game is, the depths are truly dank with this one. Nonetheless, we have people with questions, and I will try to provide answers.

The Binding of Isaac was released in 2011, created by Edmund McMillan & Florian Himsl. Inspired by the biblical story of the same name it was a hit. The game would go on to release three Downloadable Content (DLC) packs: Afterbirth (October 2015), Afterbirth+ (January 2017), and most recently Repentance (2021). These DLC packs, in addition to an eventual card game, contributed immensely to the cult following that The Binding of Isaac has developed over the years.

So, with just a fraction of the game’s history out of the way, lets talk mechanics. In this game you play as Isaac or one of the many other characters that can be unlocked. Your goal is to cry your way to victory! No seriously, your tears are your weapons, and the 100+ items and trinkets you pick up will modify the many stats Isaac has.

Similar to the biblical tale, only this time your mother, is out to get you as God has demanded her to do so. As a devout woman of faith it is Mom’s duty to obey the Lord’s call. Grabbing a knife, she attempts to break down Isaac’s bedroom door. Isaac, in a panic, finds a hatch leading to the basement. He jumps in, but what horrors are in store? That’s where we come in.

The Binding of Isaac: Gameplay

We’re dropped into the basement, from here we run around using tank controls. Our left analogue controls movement and the right shoots our tears. From here we go room to room looking to find the boss room and descend deeper into the unknown. Along the way we pick up items that will increase one or some of our stats. These stats include: Health, speed, tears, damage, range, shot speed, and luck. Be careful though not every item has a reward and may very well end up reaping you.

Each level grows increasingly harder with enemies that will test your adaptability and versatility. Working with what you find from clearing each room you make your way to the final floor. This is where it all comes full circle and you fight Mom. Upon defeating her victory is yours, you’ve beaten the game, or have you? The more you replay the story the deeper you go into the pit of secrets that The Binding of Isaac holds. From hidden characters, boss rushes/Hush, and even character specific unlocks when you accomplish certain goals. This game will keep you busy for days, if not months.

Speaking of hidden characters, I think it best that we get down to why we’re even talking about this game. If by some random stroke of luck you’re into video games and HAVEN’T tried this game look away.

***THIS IS YOUR WARNING FOR SPOILERS***

Unlocking A Certain Specific Spirit

There is a plethora of hidden characters with extremely unique playstyles in The Binding of Isaac. Ranging from penny tears to a bone-a-rang, if you’ve figured out how to unlock them then go for it. But I have a specific character in mind, a character that was in my possession while I was a console boi. Obviously I couldn’t take all of my progress from PS4 and put it on the PC. No, I had to grind my heart out to get remotely close to where I was. And with where I am in Isaac, I would say it’s something to be proud of. Nonetheless, I still haven’t unlocked my favorite character: The Lost.

Why I love The Lost

The Lost is basically a hard-mode-esk character. Capable of taking one measly hit before dying, and with no access to ANY health buffs this character challenges you to play your best. That being said The Lost does come with some perks, one of which being flight. Being able to fly over gaps or rocks that would otherwise impede your progress is a godsend. The Lost also starts with what’s known as “spectral tears“. Much like the ghost that The Lost is, these tears will fly through any and all obstacles that they come across. Definitely handy when your only line of defense is avoid anything and everything.

But The Lost’s absolute best ability is it’s last. Free Devil Deals. When navigating the various rooms there is a percentage stat that increases or decreases depending on the items that you collect. These stats are faith and evil. Upon defeating a boss, depending on the percentage of each stat you may spawn an angel room which typically offers an item for free, or a devil room. In the Devil room you are offered a handful of items that come at the cost of your health canisters.

When playing as The Lost, you are allowed to take all items for free reaping all of the reward from every devil room. And believe you me, the devil rooms contain some of the strongest items in the game. “But Chris, with such powerful abilities wouldn’t a character like The Lost be really hard to unlock?”. The answer is a bit more complex than yes or no.

The Process to Unlock The Lost

Alright, now it’s time to get down to it. I want to have The Lost back! They are a fun character to play as and the feeling of overcoming a no hit run is exhilarating to say the least. But unlocking them is a real pain. I’ll tell you what you need to do right now, then we can break down this painful process. To unlock The Lost, you have to pick up the trinket “The Missing Poster” then find a sacrifice room with spikes in the middle and sacrifice yourself. Sounds easy enough am I right, haha, wrong!

The first hitch in this plan is when you realize that The Missing Poster is a locked trinket, so now you have to unlock the poster. To unlock “The Missing Poster” you have to defeat The Lamb as Isaac.

“What the heck is The Lamb? I thought Mom was the last boss.” My thoughts exactly!

The Lamb is a late game final boss that either RNG is on your side and you can fight early (but make sure you’re Isaac) or you beat Satan 5 times to unlock “The Negative”. But to even get to Satan you have to have beaten Mom at least once then get lucky by having enough evil built up when fighting Mom, again!

“Satan??? Why is Satan even here? Again I thought Mom was the last boss.” Again! MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!!

This is a game with abyss-worthy depth, that the more you play the more you realize how much you don’t know what’s going on. But that’s what makes it so much fun! That sense of never-ending twists and turns, new enemies and bosses being introduced left and right. It truly makes for a wonderful game!

The Struggle With Unlocking The Lost

Anyway, The Lost, right, so you’ve beaten Satan 5 times, unlocked The Negative, start a new run as Isaac, beat Mom, then Mom’s Heart, grab The Negative, kick Satan in the pants one last time, FINALLY beat The Lamb and unlock “The Missing Poster”. The rest should be easy right? Ha ha haHAHahaHAAhaAHa, RNG(J)esus has other plans.

Now that this trinket is unlocked, on any given run in normal or hard mode, you have to find it. And mind you, this is 1 of 100+ different trinkets. Then, depending on how much content you’ve unlocked, the odds of getting this trinket in any run reduces even further. On top of that, even if you do happen upon the poster you still need a sacrifice room to spawn. Isn’t RNG wonderful?

So far I have found the poster three times. When I found the poster I would play through the rest of the game, hoping & praying for that sacrifice room. Alas, I would reach the absolute last boss of my run, defeat them, and unwillingly have to give up my poster to start a new run. Let me tell you, Isaac wasn’t the only one crying that night. But I refuse to give up, The Lost is an extremely fun character with just enough pros to meet the cons. And mark my words, I will unlock them!!!

The Plan for Unlocking The Lost

Considering that we still want to talk about delicious noms and adventures, consolidating our time is necessary. So once a week on Tuesday nights (6-8pm Eastern Time) I will be streaming on YouTube for about an hour. We will get as many runs in as possible with secondary objectives in mind. During these streams we can talk more in depth about the game, its characters, and the many many secrets it hides.

So feel free to stop in for a laugh here and share your thoughts on this game. Perhaps you’ve already played this game through and through and you’re a master at it. Well by all means, give me those juicy tips. Criticize how I play to your hearts content. I’ve spent some time playing this game but it feels like every time I open it there’s a new surprise waiting in store.

Once we unlock The Lost there is plenty more to explore. In fact, there are items specifically for The Lost that make playing them just a teensie bit easier. As well as a couple more characters, and “tainted” versions of everyone there’s plenty left for me to do in The Binding of Isaac.

What Comes After Isaac?

That’s a fair question to ask, but we assure you that more games are on the way. In fact a very special game that Mandy and I hold near and dear might be getting some much needed attention very soon. And that just means more for you to enjoy.

But until then, we hope that you enjoy what you’ve read thus far. Millennial Pen in Hand’s Journey continues daily, and with each day we hope to reach more and more of you. Whether it be through our food, our games, or an adventure, make sure to leave a like and follow. Put your e-mail down on the mailing list because you’ll want to know what comes next.

Most importantly, thank you for stopping by. Thank you for reading about a biblically based game that I played as a kid and still play as an adult. And thank you for being a part of this blog, stay spicy, and see you in the next one.