By Adam Smith on October 31st, 2011 at 11:14 am.
The most common complaint about The Binding of Isaac is that it doesn’t contain enough horrid things in it, being a rather delicate cocktail of blood, tears and poo. Thankfully, the Halloween update, which will automatically apply itself to Steam copies of the game by noon PST today, adds “20% more evil”. It says so in the trailer, which is gibbering madly in the sulfurous depths below, along with some details on what that extra evil is composed of, including new playable character Eve.
It’s such a cheerful and righteous game. Halloween isn’t about pumpkins for Edmund McMillen; it’s about pacts with the Devil and the abandonment of hope. If the little chaps from Costume Quest went trick or treating around his undoubtedly terrifying edifice of a home, they may be well advised to check for razorblades in the candy.
So, here’s what the update contains:
-Added chapter 5 (unlocked after 10 mom kills)
-Added 3+ new bosses
-Added 4 new enemies
-Added 20+ new items
-Added one new unlockable character (Eve)
-Added one new “FINAL” ending.
-Added 6+ new achievements
-Added 2 new music tracks
-Added updated collection viewer
-Added 4 new tarot cards (finishing the major arcana)
That seems a healthy amount of clearly unhealthy content. I must admit that despite being very keen about the game, I’m not particularly good at it so it may take me a while to reach the “FINAL” ending, but new items, enemies and bosses are all more than welcome. Has everybody else who is actually playing performed sufficient amounts of matricide to unlock everything?
I just managed to complete and unlock everything last night, ready for this update (apart from the crazy difficult achievements). Very much ready to dive in for more tonight.
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Just lacking the band aid achievement to be on par with Lewie – never can’t seem to get four horsemen together. And in the game. (RealPulp on steam).
Main gripe is the slot-machine grind you sometimes have to get into, because of tasty pills. And in the game!
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Supposedly if you have the Book of Revelations then you’re guaranteed to face the horseman for that tier on one of the floors. So if you get lucky enough to have it early, you should get all of them (I believe that’s how I eventually did it as well).
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Aw carp, I just did a play through with ??? where I replaced the book of revelations with the nail after 2-3 cubes.
EDIT: Yup, there we go, now we just need that update :)
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13 mom kills! (And mumblemumblemumble deaths, but let’s ignore those).
It’s a great game, and it’s reactivated atrophied gaming muscles that I haven’t used for 20 years. For those having problems, as I was, I thoroughly recommend the “Let’s Play” series by a Canadian gentleman named NorthernLion – http://www.youtube.com/user/Northernlion. Forty-odd installments, starting from complete ignorance, and it’s both entertaining and useful.
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That unfunny “and in the game” “joke” really needs to die. The sooner the better.
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I look forward to it. I still haven’t managed to finish the damn thing, but I’m not giving up just yet!
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Reminds me of the eminently horrible boardgame Hellgame and it’s appropriately named expansion Extra Evil. Good times was had.
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My only problem with this game is, that its made in flash, which brings my computer to crawl when theres a lot of shit flying on the screen (which is always), for some reason.
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One of the recent patches got rid of the slow down. The loss of the bullet-time like effect does make the game quite a bit more difficult though,
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Great, now I just need to kill mom another 9 times so I can play chapter 5. Sigh.
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Oh wow, awesome. I had no idea this was coming.
I’ve finished the full game over 20 times and I still go back and play it every now and then.
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I have my troubles with this game. It is full of nice ideas, but – for me – all the grotesqueness works against it. Shooting flying fetuses (foeti?) and poo with tears just stopped being fun after a while.
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I love this game and this update is very welcome, but really I’d like them to make achievements work on the mac. No where did it say they wouldn’t work when I brought it and I’m a little disappointed. :(
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20% more evil?
Bronies detected.
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Probably just a coincidence.
None the less the horror has been doubled.
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Hadn’t gone back to it for a while but this’ll definitely get me to sink a good chunk more time into the game. And uh, that fan art on the blog is suitably disturbing.
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Bring it to GamersGate please!
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PS No achievements or anything needed, just the game.
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I’d ask the developer himself, if that’s what you want. I’m not sure he even knows there is an audience for that.
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I’ve already emailed him, this is just some extra flag-waving.
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Very nice!
I stopped playing this about a week ago after my 12th mom kill, so an extra 2 levels is just what I needed!
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I’ve played it for about 15 hours but I couldn’t beat mom yet.
And I’m supposed to beat her 10 times öÖ
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The game gets a little different each time, as you unlock the various extra items, but that´s also a bit balanced out by having more difficult enemies in there.
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How about an easier mode for those of us who are terrible?
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So far I have SEEN mom once. I haven’t killed her so far.
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Holy crap, the new “Mom´s Knife” item is strong!
That makes the “do X levels damageless” achievements possible for me. :-)
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