The Binding of Isaac can be considered as the godfather of all roguelike games. Developed by Edmund McMillen, a well-known creator of other cult classics such as Super Meat Boy, Gish, and The Legend of Bumbo, the game always leaves you with much content to explore. The dungeons are never the same, with secrets upon secrets to discover, item synergies, and so much more.
Casual Gamer Isaac History & Reunion
The last time I played The Binding of Isaac was on March 06, 2023, and I had barely gone through the Repentance DLC. I notice changes in floor layouts, such as new unlockable doors during the first-floor boss rooms, items, and enemy types.
Despite having over 400+ hours of Isaac during this period, my playstyle was still somewhat casual. I had minor knowledge of simply beating each run. I knew the core game mechanics from rebirth to afterbirth plus such as enemy attack patterns, character stats, and major items. However, I never truly took the time to analyze the other items, achievements, and new pathways.
This sudden realization would later be amplified during one of my runs when I encountered a trinket called Liberty Cap. Players acquire this item by blowing random mushrooms in caves. Although I’ve picked up this trinket by chance many times, I lacked the information regarding what it truly does.
A Journey to the Binding of Isaac Wiki
For the first time since acquiring Rebirth in 2015, I looked it up on The Binding of Isaac’s Wikipedia page. The trinket causes a random effect when entering a new room. Results range from mini mush to magic mushroom. Think of this trinket as rolling a dice in each room and landing on certain numbers that can increase speed or range, shrinking enemies, revealing nearby rooms, and other temporary stat changes.
Before, I was only aware of the compass effect, which reveals nearby bosses, treasures, shops, and curse rooms. Knowing the additional effects opened a window of opportunity for the incoming runs I will have.
For example, as you go deeper into Isaac’s dungeons, you encounter stronger, yet unique, enemies. Some are resilient regarding the amount of damage they can output, while others are just damage sponges. Now, with my acquired knowledge regarding the Liberty Cap trinket, I’m aware that some rooms may give me the magic mushroom effect. This offers an all-stat boost, allowing for a better chance of survival. The other effects can also be used to avoid enemies’ attacks since I will have the speed, range, and unique ability to deal with them.
When I realized the practical usefulness this information had on my overall run, I spent almost three hours on the Isaac wiki studying all the trinkets, items, characters, angels, and devil deals on what they do.
Results of Studying the Binding of Isaac Wiki
Starting with characters, I realized that focusing generally on increasing damage, health, and flight often resulted in a winnable run.
Of course, this makes sense in a roguelike game like Isaac, but as a casual player who simply messed around with various items. It kept me focused on finding the items needed to make the run winnable.
Moving on, we have trinkets, which are useful during situational moments. For example, let’s say my health pool contains mostly red hearts. In this situation, a bloody penny trinket would be essential, given you get half-red hearts dropped by chance from picking up coins. Another example would be having the cancer trinket to increase tear and fire rate should my build stat be low on them.
During each early run, I prioritize trinkets such as a counterfeit penny, curved horns, goat hoofs, petrified poop, and Samson’s lock. These items help with acquiring more coins, increasing damage, higher fire rates, and improving speed. As I progress deeper into the dungeon, I consider whether I may switch to another trinket based on the situation at hand.
Next, we have devil and angel deals. These rooms often decide how powerful your run will truly be. Being aware of when they appear is critical. Devil deals usually offer most of the strong damage-outputting items at the cost of health. Angel deals give items that mostly affect survivability, such as flight or slowing down enemies at no cost. Unlike devil deals, which can appear frequently, certain conditions or trinkets are needed to gain access to angel deals.
To meet these conditions, you must either not enter the devil’s room or ignore devil deals. During my research, I also learned that holding the rosary bead gives you a 50% chance of getting an angel room. Additional methods to increase Angel room percentages include donating to the donation machine, holding one key piece to mega satan, killing the devil beggar, holding the book of virtue, and getting the eucharist which is guaranteed.
I still aim for devil deals due to my sheer love for brimstone and Guppy items. Having a better understanding of how to spawn Angel rooms has made me want to use it more, and, as a bonus, I avoid losing a significant amount of hearts.
Lastly comes the items. All items spawn randomly. After reviewing the Isaac wiki, I gained an understanding of other items I tend to avoid. With this in mind, I focus mostly on passive items that offer unique effects and improve my character stats. The most important items I pick up usually start on the first two floors.
Examples of these items include Cricket’s head, death’s touch, mutant spider, Monstro’s lung, The Halo, and Polyphemus. All these items give a significant stats boost or unique effect that makes dominating the first two floors easy. Additionally, it allows for better survivability, a chance for devil deal on the second floor, and better enemy room control.
Overall, I never thought simple items, trinkets, and other game mechanics would make me think so much about my journey through Isaac. The gaming knowledge I’ve accumulated in the past playthroughs and recent research has made each run experience better than the last.
