I have killed Mom fourteen times already. Not my real mother, of course, but the one from The Binding of Isaac. My fourteen kills look pathetic next to the 138 recorded deaths (ragequits are not counted as deaths, I think), but the message remains the same: I have played this a game a lot. What started out as a random title that I stumbled upon in a Humble Bundle soon became an obsession and now a remake is in the works, which means I get to join in on the hype. Today I am here to share my expectations/wishes for the upcoming remake and ask for your own, so feel free to comment!
More, more and MORE
This one is fairly obvious and yet very important. I want to see a little more of everything: more items, more rooms, more enemies, more bosses, more trinkets, more characters, maybe some more moms and more familiars. I am mostly holding out for more power-ups that stack and change Isaac’s appearance, since they are the most fun from both a gameplay and visual perspective. It would also be a big step forward if we step away from the standard Basement>Cave>Depths>Womb setup and actually have some variety in the level progression. I am really getting tired of always seeing the exact same floor textures in the exact same sequence during each session.
P.S.: Yeah, I know about The Catacombs, but we can do better than that. The Cellar is a step in the right direction.
A solution for the balancing issues
One of the biggest problems I have with the game is that sometimes the random nature causes me to end up in the final few dungeons with a useless set of items. Sometimes I arrive with just one heart and a lot of power, sometimes with a ton of health and no power and at other times I literally have nothing except for a trinket and an activated item (that doesn’t stack). These scenarios can really sour the game for me, since I clearly possess the skill to get that far, but am just not given any tools I can work with. Power is by far the most difficult to get and if you arrive at the first boss without Blood Of The Martyr, The Common Cold or Chocolate Milk, then you are already in for some trouble.
I would suggest messing with the spawn rate a little and giving power and firing speed upgrades a higher chance of spawning in the Basement. Fire and other scenery also definitely needs to be given a higher chance of spawning coins, since putting out every little fire in every dang room is a terrible chore when you get maybe one or two coins per floor out of it. Finally, I would really appreciate it if the game automatically stopped spawning items that increase statistics you have already maxed out for rather obvious reasons.
Alternate graphic styles
Early screenshots jokingly displayed the game with Atari 2600 graphics, but when you think about it, alternate art-styles are not that bad of an idea. The game is already going for a shift with the new 16-bit style, so why not include the option to change it back to the original? I’d love to play the title in the Atari 2600 visuals or maybe in doodles (as used in the cut-scenes). It could work very well if it sticks to the retro theme and players might be able to use this feature to keep the experience fresh. Consider this one more of a “wish” than an “expectation”, since this would likely require the designers to entirely recreate all textures and sprites multiple times.
Less Greed
The Binding of Isaac has a lot of bosses and mini-bosses, but one that never sat well with me is Greed. This enemy has a chance of spawning in secret rooms or shops and mainly uses regular projectiles and other enemies to attack the player. The twist is however that each hit makes you lose money.
It’s not a bad idea for a boss, but when I enter a shop or secret room, then that is probably because I either need to buy something or because I put effort into finding the location. When I am greeted with Greed and have to fight with him, then that is instant frustration, since it means I won’t be able to get an item on that floor or that my effort is rewarded with a punishment. When I go to a shop because I really need a heart, then that is even worse, since now my survival is even less guaranteed. Wrath of the Lamb also added Super Greed and Keepers to the game, which do the same as the regular Greed. He is just no fun to fight in my opinion, so please don’t make more incarnations of the guy.
Better descriptions
I have always found that the game gives very poor descriptions for power-ups and items that you find while playing. Not only that, but what little it does say is only briefly displayed on the screen and there is no in-game way to view the information. The start menu does display doodles of your items, so why not make a small text field that opens up whenever the player clicks on it? I have personally always played this game with the wikia page in the back, just so I can figure out what I am picking up and how to use it.
Some might argue that you should experiment with the items to discover what they do, but I am not planning to memorize 198 items, 22 tarot cards, God knows how many trinkets and all five minor arcana. If a middle-ground must be reached, then allow players to make their own descriptions in-game, so that they can choose to discover and record the effects themselves if they please. Everything is better than wasting another Magician Card on an empty room because I thought it would teleport me somewhere.
More referential humor
Call me humorless if you wish, but I really love seeing a clever reference every now and then. The Binding of Isaac has kept it relatively clean: it plays some remixes from Zelda music, you can find Meat Boy, Error is in it and maybe there is some more stuff I missed, but compare that to Edmund’s previous game: Super Meat Boy allowed you to play as Tim from Braid, Steve from Minecraft, Pink Knight from Castle Crasher and a load of other character from other indie games. A lot of the cut-scenes were also parodies of similar clips from titles like Castlevania and Megaman.
I am not saying Nicalis has to add all those other characters and clips to the remake, but maybe throw in a few cameos with the items? Why not create a green hat that turns tears into tiny swords when the player has full health (referencing the original Zelda)? There are so many references you can make that it feels kind of a waste to limit yourself to biblical trivia.
And now we wait…
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this game been taken out of the hands of Edmund and his people, but after having played Cave Story+, I realized that Nicalis is capable of doing a pretty good job at upgrading an already superb title. Cave Story received reworked visuals and music, as well as a new campaign with a different(/fan-favorite) character. Knowing that gives hope that at least some of my high expectations will be met.
I’ll continue covering any news that pops up, but until then, all we can do is sit and wait. Let me know what you all think!
