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Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ opens second booster pack

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Yet more items have dropped into mom's basement with the second 'booster pack' for The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth † [official site]. Out now, it rolls more player-made mods into the official roster. Some of them are handy, like Jumper Cables recharging your active item as you kill enemies, while others appeal to vanity, like more graphics for bomb combos and a dresser table reshuffling your appearance-changing items. And huzzah, the update has also reworked Angel Rooms to be less useless!

Check out the unofficial patch notes over here for the full scoop on all the new items and changes. The new items sound like handy and interesting additions, and the new Stompy transformation might be fun, but it's the Angel Room changes I'm digging most. Angel Rooms have always been less powerful and more fiddly than their Devilish counterparts, making Angel-path runs rarely worth it even if the items are free. Now they offer loads more items and health, perhaps I'll try 'em more.

This second booster arrives seven weeks after the first, which stretches the plan for "monthly(ish)" updates. Co-creator Edmund McMillen addressed this in a blog post:

"Remember when I said we were attempting monthly(ish) booster updates? Well I guess that should have read bi-monthly(ish). Turns out it's not as quick and easy as we expected, but bear with us.

"We have recently acquired 2 new booster helpers, you probably know them actually. (But we will talk about that more in next month's post.) Their addition may not speed things up a ton, but it will mean that the next booster may feature some extra bits and pieces that I think you guys will dig."

I do like bits and pieces, almost as much as things and stuff.

McMillen also has an update on another of his projects, one with Closure dev Tyler Glaiel (I guess this one?):

"On a side note note, many of you know this but Tyler and I have been in crunch mode for the past 3 months trying to finish this secret project. We are coming close to announcing it and its release date, so keep an eye out for it, I don't want to spoil the fun yet but i can say this.

"It's hard, it's weird, it's personal, it has amazing controls, it's a totally new unannounced IP and it's easily one of the largest games I've ever made level wise."

Oh, and if you don't usually play Isaac daily runs, here's a notice to check out today's. It's tricky but a good laugh and makes How To Jump very fun indeed.

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