A new DLC has been announced for The Binding Of Isaac, and it is such a big expansion that it is basically a sequel. It's been almost exactly nine years since the original was released as a flash game, and it seems like the developers are heading for something pretty substantial come the new year and the tenth anniversary.
The Binding Of Isaac is an indie game first developed by Edmund McMillen (creator of Super Meat Boy) to be a top-down The Legend Of Zelda. Inspired by his religious Christian childhood, The Binding Of Isaac is influenced by the bible story of the same name. Isaac's mother receives a message from God instructing her to sacrifice her son, and Isaac, fearing for his life, jumps through a trapdoor and into his basement which is filled with horrible monsters. At this point players take control of Isaac and must fight their way through blood-stained procedurally generated levels filled with gruesome enemies and bosses.
The new DLC, named Repentance, was first announced two years ago. Since then the project has moved forward astronomically, with McMillen saying that the DLC is about 90% complete on the recent Steam vlog post he shared. He also encourages fans to add the DLC to their wishlists and to watch the blog for more updates, which should be coming in fairly regularly from mid-October onwards. The release date set for The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance is December 31st on the Steam store page, but this may still change as it seems very close. He defers all questions about console versions to "Tyrone or someone else", who will give updates on this front. McMillen also writes that this is the biggest DLC that has ever been introduced to the game, and that he has been working closely with his team to make this the "Sequel DLC" that fans have been asking for.
The Binding Of Isaac was actually an original game created as an turned to publisher Nicalis to help expand the game, and this is when the remake was created in a more advanced engine. Named The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth, this is actually the game that has been receiving updates and DLCs. So far the game has gotten Afterbirth and Afterbirth+ as expansions. McMillen says that Repentance contains so much new content that it is bigger than the remake was to the original flash game.
With so much new content being added to an already great game, The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance is expected to be a strong spiritual sequel. The fact that the game is already 90% finished according to McMillen is exciting news for fans, however with a DLC as big as a sequel the last 10% could still take a while. Aiming for a release at the end of December seems optimistic, but hopefully the DLC is ready to play soon, and more importantly, packed with fun, new content.
Source: Steam
The Binding Of Isaac is available on all platforms.
