The Roguelike Gameplay of The Binding of Isaac

For those of you who uncovered your eyes long enough to watch the gameplay portions of The Binding of Isaac’s Trailer, you might’ve noticed that the UI layout included some curious items on the border. Edmund McMillen finally escaped the developer’s dungeon to illustrate what he dubbed the “Roguelike” intricacies of Team Meat’s upcoming RPG/top-down shooter.

Despite the fact that all the maps and enemies are randomly generated, you will find a couple solid stepping stones in the form of certain items and theme rooms that populate each level. You will always have a treasure room to pilfer and a boss to fight. Of the 50+ enemies to encounter, each will come in random flavors of difficulty. Items can help or hurt, and special events may arise to your pleasure or dismay.

Edmund stresses the randomness will provide a new experience every time you play, hinting at incredibly high replay value for such a deceptively straightforward game. Testers have expressed a bit of frustration upon having to start over in the first room after dying, but from Team Meat’s point of view, the fresh start is positively entertaining. Besides, after Super Meat Boy, an easy game would be a disservice to fans.

For more details, check out Edmund’s dev blog, or throw yourself into the fray when The Binding of Isaac arrives on Steam two weeks from now.