The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth Voms Up Release Date

You probably want over a thousand new rooms, 120 new items, 8 new bosses, 25 new enemies, 4 alternate chapters, 10 new challenges, a new game mode and daily runs for twitchy Catholic horror roguelike/twin-stick shooter The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. You probably want to know when you can have those things, too.

I will tell you: October 30th. That is one day before there are lots of student house parties attended by sexy zombies and people who think dressing as one of the Avengers counts as a Halloween costume. And one day before every single videogame in existence adds a one-day-only spooky mode. So at least the Afterbirth expansion - that name being the first time I've felt just a little bit repulsed by The Binding of Isaac's body horror grotesquery - is getting in there first.

Full details on the add-on plus a CGI-y trailer below.

Purportedly Afterbirth pumps up Rebirth's play time by over 100 hours, but given there are many, many people who have played Rebirth for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours, I suspect that is an entirely arbitrary number. To play Isaac regularly is to have a second, indefinitely long career of blood-spraying, poo-splattering, psyche-battling dungeoneering, not something measured in mere hours.

Watch on YouTube

Here's the full list of included whatnots:

- Greed Mode: a whole new game mode with a heavy focus on risk/reward that is a completely new way to play that features new endings and a final boss.
- Expanded main game: a new final area has been added to the main game along with another new final boss and ending.
- Daily Runs: compete for highscore / best time on the leader boards in these daily seeded runs.
- 10 totally new and awesome challanges
- 1000+ new rooms, as well as new tiny rooms, closets and giant arching hallways.
- Totally new playable character, Lilith, mother of demons.
- 120 new items! not counting tons of new pickups, chests, pills, bombs, cards etc. taking the item count up beyond 525!
- 4 new alternate chapters with new chapter specific enemy types visual themes and surprises.
- New seed code combo page, as well as a butt ton of new seed codes that mod the game.
- Expanded soundtrack!
- New room types like, trap rooms, double treasure rooms and ultra rare closets!
- Greatly expanded and updated HUD system
- Tons of new secret transformations
- 8 new bosses
- 25+ new enemies
- Updated weapon combo system
- Far too many new achievements
- 20 million new co-op babies

Again, that's all out on October 30th. I suspect daily runs are secretly the biggest draw here, despite all the new weapons and monsters: a new prompt to play daily, and an impetus for competition which goes beyond completion.