This is when Isaac escapes through a trap door in his room, fleeing from his homicidal mother, and finds himself in the surreal world of his basement. She sees the sense in this and stalks toward her son’s room with a butcher knife. God speaks to her again and says that, while abusing poor Isaac was a good start, she needs to prove her loyalty with something better - like a sacrifice. God isn’t satisfied - so she strips Isaac down and locks him in a bare room. She takes away his Gameboy and stuffed animal. At first God is vague, instructing her to keep Isaac pure from corrupting influence. See, Isaac’s mother is a God-fearing woman who hears the voice of her lord and, like all God-fearing people, does whatever it takes to obey. So, then, the setting: a nightmare series of basement rooms that the player navigates by controlling a sobbing five-year old named Isaac.

The game comes from one half of Team Meat, Edmund McMillen, and, like his studio’s breakthrough, Super Meat Boy, Isaac is a throwback to old-school game design mixed with irreverent humour and a stomach-turning (but ultimately charming) visual style. It isn’t really possible to start off a review of The Binding of Isaac without mentioning two things: the pedigree of its developer and its setting.

The binding of isaac mirror