Rebound: Binding Of Isaac Being Completely Remade
No, no, it's not what it sounds like. Edmund McMillen hasn't suddenly decided to beat the record for fastest "HD" remake treatment ever. This remake, to hear McMillen tell it, is very, very necessary. In short, have you ever noticed how Binding of Isaac occasionally chugs even on machines powered by blazing tech and unholy sacrifices to Shan'thulex, bloodlord of the night (and a small chain of mom 'n' pop PC hardware stores)? Well, that's because it runs on Flash, and McMillen thinks it's high-time that changed. That, however, is only the beginning of this remake.
"The whole game will be remade and rebalanced," McMillen wrote on Formspring. "The remake will be more than just an expansion, it will be a new game with all new graphics, music, etc. It will also feature an expansion sized pack of all new content, bosses, characters enemies, items, etc. And yes, in about a year, if/when it comes out, the Flash version of the game will appear obsolete for sure... The goal is to also keep the cost of the remake as close to Isaac+wrath as possible as well."
He added, however, that he's hoping to discount the remake for previous owners of Binding of Isaac and Wrath of the Lamb on PC, but - given that he's working with a (still unnamed) publisher this time around - it's not entirely his call. Further, it sounds like McMillen's only doing some of the developmental heavy lifting on this version of his ode to all things roguelikes, Legend of Zelda, and, er, poop. "I will handle all aspects of design, character, items, story levels bosses, but another team will be doing art/animation for these new things," he explained.
Among other things, there's also talk of co-op - though currently in an offline-only state for the remake's console version. Even so, as someone who still has trouble wrenching my mouse away from Binding of Isaac's oh-so-sexy gore-and-excrement-coated play button, this sounds like quite the treat. Granted, between Super Meat Boy's iOS release and this, that's two remake projects now occupying McMillen's time. But then, he's also apparently considering spinning a Ludum Dare project off into a more robust product, so hopefully we'll see something new from his bald-cat-powered mad science factory before too much longer.