Bursting forth from its parent game and glistening with vile secretions in the dim light of the basement, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth then proceeds to cannibalize that from which it grew, mutating it into a disgusting, disturbing (and possibly sacrilegious) beast that is in every way an improvement over its predecessor. Developer Nicalis has done an incredible job taking Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl's original The Binding of Isaac and transforming it into a tighter, smoother, and all-around better experience!

Just like the previous game, Rebirth is a rogue-like game that borrows heavily in gameplay style and presentation from older iterations of The Legend of Zelda, presenting players with a top-down view of each floor of an ever expanding dungeon. Player upgrades, items, enemies, and floor layout are randomized with each playthrough as the player attempts to reach the end of the game. One of the best features of Rebirth (and the original game) is that by continually playing, the game expands itself more and more: beating the game unlocks new items, characters, and levels, making the experience grow each time you complete it! It's a title that contains a considerable heft of replayability, which works well with the "pick up and play" format of the game. On top of this, the old-school difficulty curve coupled with the knowledge that if you die you must start again at the beginning creates a very intense game once getting into the later levels.

It should be noted that I adored the original The Binding of Isaac and its DLC, managing to achieve 100% completion after 149 hours of play. However, the original had several major flaws: one of the biggest in particular being that it was Flash-based and (despite programmer Florian Himsl's best efforts) was buckling under the weight of its own content. Scores of bugs began presenting themselves as the game got more and more added to it, thanks to its unexpected popularity. Rebirth cleanses multitudes of issues thanks to Nicalis' superb job of creating an engine of their own and implementing new features not present in the original game. Players can now save their progress during a run and come back later, save slots are present for those sharing a computer, the game runs infinitely smoother, and the controls are much tighter and responsive than they were in the original game. Nicalis has also given it a lovely retro look and expanded the game's content immensely, adding scads of new items to the original game's inventory, new characters to the roster, and new challenges and game modes. It takes everything that the previous game had and expands upon all of it and does it incredibly well.

Is it perfect? No, it's not perfect: I've seen some strange bugs here and there (in particular one that makes the game run far too fast) and did experience a fatal crash at one point. That being said, though, a fatal crash was a run-ending slap in the face when playing the original game; thanks to the new save system I was able to pick up exactly where I left off before the crash.

All of these things considered, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth renders its parent obsolete and I highly recommend it to fans of the original game, anyone who ever considered buying the original game, and those who enjoy retro-inspired rogue likes. It's the most fun you'll ever have escaping sacrifice to God by your own mother!