The Binding of Isaac was just released last week on Steam. It's a $5 indie game by a two person team, one of whom is Edmund McMillen, one of the two guys behind Super Meat Boy. The gameplay of The Binding of Isaac is very retro-inspired, which I think would appeal to many of the people here on the DROD forums.
Basically, The Binding of Isaac takes the powerups and room layout of the original Legend of Zelda, uses a control scheme like Smash TV (or any other dual-stick game), implements the randomness of Rogue, and has the story and art direction of whatever it is you find the most offensive. This last item will turn off a lot of people, which is a shame as I think the game is amazing, but that's the art direction they chose.
Edmund has a good description of the gameplay on his blog
here, but in a nutshell you have a randomly-generated dungeon, by which I mean both the overall map and the layouts within the rooms is randomly generated. There are over 1000 layouts for the individual rooms, and then the monsters inside the rooms are randomly generated. Even within the monster type, there are up to three varieties, which can either be a difference in strength or have slightly different abilities. At the end of each level is a boss, which is randomly chosen from the pool available for that level.
Your weapon is your tears, and these can be upgraded to be stronger, shoot faster, or shoot farther. You can also improve your movement speed, or even fly if you get the right item. You can collect bombs, keys, and money--very Zelda-esque. The stores in particular are just like the original Zelda, with two fires burning and a few items for sale. Well, "
just like"
in practice, but the shopkeep is usually a corpse hanging from a noose. Like I said, the art direction is not a standard one.
There are special items you can get that will improve your stats, and these change your appearance when you pick them up (and they all stack so you can be quite unique looking late in the game). There are also usable items beyond the bombs, that recharge as you clear rooms. You can hold both one of these special items, and either a Tarot card or a pill. The pills are the only items in the game whose use changes with each game, like the scrolls and potions in a Rogue-like game. There are definitely some unfriendly pill effects, but not so many that you never want to try them out. All the other items are the same on each playthrough, so depending on how much you like surprises, you can just refer to the growing wiki for this game when a new item pops up. (None of the permanent items are bad, as such, but they can do weird things you might not want to deal with.)
As I noted before, the story is...well, messed up. You're a young child, Isaac, whose mother thinks that God is speaking to her and asks her to sacrifice him. Just like Abraham, but more messed up. The game is full of blood, snot, bodily waste, and more wearing Isaac's mother's clothing than Freud could ever want. It is most definitely not a game for the easily offended, the squeamish, or anyone that takes things too seriously. If all you care about is gameplay, you'll get a bunch of that.
The replayability is like most Rogue-likes: you'll die a lot until you finally beat the game. But The Binding of Isaac goes one step farther. Beating the game the first time isn't too hard--you have to play through six levels, with a pretty tough end boss. But then on your next playthrough, suddenly there are 8 levels. And eventually (I haven't gotten this far yet) there will be 10 levels to play through. As you play the game, you unlock new items to use, some of which are pretty powerful, so it can get a lot easier to play through the first levels, but the later ones are still tough. You can also unlock at least 3 more characters to play as besides Isaac, each one with different stats and starting items. Oh, and after the first time you beat the game, 4 new bosses are added to the rotation throughout the game(they scale to the dungeon level) and I believe even more are added as you beat the game more times. There are 7 unique mini-bosses based on the 7 Deadly Sins, there's a Devil who will give you a really powerful item at the permanent cost of some of your health, and there are slot machines and beggars you can give your money to for a chance to get items. Oh, and every level has a secret room you have to bomb to get into, just like in Zelda. There's seriously a crazy amount of content here if you enjoy the gameplay.
At $5 this was a no-brainer for me. There's been one patch so far to correct a few nasty bugs (the first two times I got to the first end boss I got knocked into the wall and had to restart), there's another one on its way, and then there is a planned Halloween content update that will add new bosses, items, and more. I've said several times on this forum that I'm not a fan of rogue-likes, but this hybrid beast really sucked me in. It's not going to be for everyone, and people might watch you playing it and think you need mental help, but if any of what I described sounds appealing to you, you should try it out.
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"
He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an
unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder."
-- Tad Williams
