The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a 2014 roguelike action-adventure game created by Edmund McMillen and developed and published by Nicalis. Rebirth was released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita in November 2014. It was later released for Xbox One, New Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U in July 2015, for iOS in January 2017, and for Nintendo Switch in March 2017. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions were released in November 2021.
Rebirth is a remake of The Binding of Isaac, which was originally developed by McMillen and Florian Himsl and released in 2011 as an Adobe Flash application. The Flash platform had limitations, so McMillen partnered with Nicalis to create Rebirth using a more advanced game engine. This allowed the game to include more content and gameplay features. Since its release, Rebirth has had four expansions: Afterbirth (2015), Afterbirth+ (2017), Repentance (2021), and Repentance+ (2024). These expansions added more game content and gameplay modes. Afterbirth+ also introduced support for user-created content.
The story of Rebirth is based on the biblical tale of the same name and was inspired by McMillen’s religious background. Players control Isaac, a young boy whose mother believes she is acting on God’s behalf. She takes everything away from him and locks him in his room. When his mother tries to harm him, Isaac escapes to the basement and battles through randomly generated, roguelike dungeons. Players defeat monsters by using Isaac’s tears as projectiles and collect items that change his appearance, abilities, and strengths. Unlike the original game, Rebirth includes a limited multiplayer mode, allowing one additional player. This was later expanded to three extra players in Afterbirth and Afterbirth+. Full local co-op support was added in Repentance, allowing up to four players to play as any character. Online co-op support was introduced in November 2024 with Repentance+.
Rebirth received widespread praise from critics, who appreciated its gameplay and improvements over the original game. However, some reviewers criticized its graphic imagery. Afterbirth, Afterbirth+, and Repentance also received generally positive reviews, though critics noted their difficulty. By July 2015, Rebirth and The Binding of Isaac had sold over five million copies combined. The game is considered one of the best roguelike games ever made.
Gameplay
The game The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a 2D game played from a top-down view. The player controls Isaac, a boy, or one of 33 other characters that can be unlocked. The goal is to move through a basement and other areas, fighting monsters and collecting items. The game uses a roguelike style, meaning levels are randomly created each time using a seed. These levels are made up of separate rooms, and each run includes at least one boss fight. A run ends when the player defeats one of several final bosses. If the player’s character dies, the game ends, a feature called permadeath. However, players can save their progress at any time. Seeds used to generate levels can be shared, allowing others to play the same layout. Runs using shared seeds do not earn achievements, which prevents players from using seeds that make achievements easier to complete.
The game is played like a multidirectional shooter. The player moves Isaac with one set of controls and uses another set to "shoot" tears, which are bullets that hurt enemies. The player’s health is shown as a number of hearts, with each heart representing half of the total health. Items can be found that restore health or add more hearts. Bombs can damage enemies and break obstacles, keys can open doors and chests, and coins can be used to buy items. Many items change the character’s abilities, such as speed or the power and range of tears. Some items include a floating helper that fights alongside the player. Items are either passive, which give permanent effects when picked up, or active, which can be used at any time and either disappear after use or recharge after clearing rooms. Players can collect multiple passive items, which can combine to create strong effects. Only one active item can be carried at a time. Players can also carry one consumable item, like tarot cards or pills, and one trinket, which works like a passive item but can be swapped out. Each floor includes special rooms, such as treasure rooms, shops, mini-boss fights, dice rooms, arcades, vaults, and curse rooms.
Rebirth adds more items, monsters, and room types, including large rooms that span multiple screens. It also supports game controllers and allows a second player to join locally using a drop-in-drop-out system. The second player controls a follower with the same abilities as the main character but costs the main character one heart. The follower cannot plant bombs or carry items. The Repentance expansion allows up to four players to cooperate, with all players controlling fully functional characters.
Plot
The game The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has a story that is similar to the biblical tale of the same name, much like the original game. The story is shown mainly through ending scenes that players unlock by beating bosses. These scenes are either still images with narration or animations.
Isaac, a young boy, lives with his mother in a small house on a hill. His mother believes she hears the voice of God, who tells her that Isaac is filled with sin and needs to be saved. She takes away his toys and clothes, thinking they are bad influences, and later locks him in his room to keep him safe from evil. When she is told by God to sacrifice Isaac to prove her devotion, Isaac escapes through a hidden door in his room.
After exploring many floors, Isaac fights his mother. After defeating her, the game returns to Isaac’s room, where his mother is about to kill him with a knife. A Bible falls from a shelf and hits her on the head, seemingly killing her. Isaac celebrates, but his mother appears behind him, still holding the knife, showing that the scene was imagined.
Beating other bosses unlocks different endings. These endings usually suggest that Isaac, burdened by guilt over his religion, locked himself in a toy chest and suffocated, with the game’s events being a hallucination.
The game’s expansions add more endings that explain Isaac’s past. These show that his father left the family and that his mother has been hurting him for a long time. In the final ending, Isaac goes to Heaven as his life flashes before him. Then, the narrator reveals himself to be Isaac’s father. The narrator asks if Isaac wants to change the story, and Isaac agrees. The narrator begins a new story that includes Isaac and both of his parents.
Development
The Binding of Isaac was created by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl in 2011 during a game-making event called a game jam. This happened after McMillen finished his earlier game, Super Meat Boy. Because Super Meat Boy was successful, McMillen did not worry about making a popular game. Instead, he wanted to make a game that combined elements from The Legend of Zelda, such as exploring dungeons from a top-down view, with the roguelike genre, which involves randomly generated levels and repeated attempts. He also included religious themes inspired by his childhood. They used Adobe Flash to develop the game quickly. McMillen quietly released the game on Steam for PC, where it became unexpectedly popular. However, they found that Adobe Flash had limits that made it hard to expand the game. While they added more content with the Wrath of the Lamb expansion, McMillen could not complete a second expansion due to these limits.
After The Binding of Isaac was released, McMillen met with Tyrone Rodriguez from Nicalis, a company that helped bring other games to consoles. Rodriguez offered to help port the game to consoles. McMillen agreed but asked that the game be rebuilt outside of Adobe Flash to include new content and fix bugs. He also wanted to avoid handling business matters again, as he had negative experiences with Super Meat Boy. Rodriguez agreed. A new version called Rebirth was announced in November 2012. It was planned to improve the game’s graphics to 16-bit colors, add new content, and include local cooperative play. However, online cooperative play was not added because it would take too long to develop.
McMillen wanted to completely redesign the game, especially the graphics, which he called an "eyesore." He asked players for their opinions on the art style for the remake. Artists were hired to update the original game assets and create new content. A new soundtrack was also commissioned from Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans.
Initially, McMillen and Rodriguez wanted to develop Rebirth for the Nintendo 3DS as a tribute to The Legend of Zelda. However, Nintendo did not approve the 3DS version in 2012 due to content concerns. They shifted focus to PC and PlayStation versions, which allowed for better performance. Nicalis also discussed releasing the game on Xbox systems, and McMillen considered an iOS version later. In August 2013, development moved to the PlayStation 4, and the PC, PlayStation 4, and Vita versions were released on November 5, 2014.
During development, three Nintendo employees supported the game within the company. They helped secure approval for the 3DS and Wii U versions in 2014. McMillen and Nicalis adapted the game for the 3DS, though performance was not ideal on the original system. They used a development kit for the New Nintendo 3DS, which had better hardware. The 3DS and Wii U versions were released alongside an Xbox One version on July 23, 2015.
In January 2016, Nicalis began working on an iOS port. However, Apple rejected the application, citing "violence towards children" as a violation of content policies. Nicalis worked with Apple to get approval and planned to release an iOS version with improvements, including iCloud support. The iOS version of the core game was released on January 11, 2017.
In January 2017, Nicalis confirmed that Rebirth would be released for the Nintendo Switch in March 2017. Due to last-minute changes, the release was delayed to March 17. The Switch version allowed up to four players in cooperative mode, with additional players using Joy-Con controllers to control Isaac’s "buddies." The physical version included a manual similar to the one included with The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
In October 2025, Amazon listed a Nintendo Switch 2 version. Nicalis later announced the port would release in Q1 2026.
McMillen announced The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth, the first expansion for Rebirth, in February 2015. Afterbirth added new items, enemies, floors, bosses, and endings, including Greed Mode, which focuses on money and is more challenging. It was released for PC on October 30, 2015, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 10, 2016. Due to hardware limitations, Afterbirth is unlikely to be released on other platforms.
McMillen included hidden secrets in The Binding of Isaac, which players discovered on Reddit. He took extra steps to hide the Lost, a new playable character, in Rebirth. Unlocking the Lost required specific in-game actions, and hints were scattered throughout the game. However, players found the Lost within 109 hours of the game’s release by examining its files. McMillen expressed disappointment that the community discovered the secret quickly, though he still planned to release Afterbirth.
Reception and Legacy
According to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth received "generally favorable" reviews overall. The version for iOS devices was praised with "universal acclaim." Dan Stapleton of IGN said that Rebirth offers endless variety in gameplay due to the different experiences each playthrough provides, which gives players motivation to keep playing. He noted the only criticism was the lack of in-game details about available power-ups. Brent Todd of GameSpot wrote that while the game’s story and visuals might be unsettling at first, Rebirth has fast-paced, varied gameplay and constantly introduces new features that keep players entertained for a long time. Simon Parkin of Eurogamer described Rebirth as feeling like the result of a therapeutic process but called it the most user-friendly Rogue-like game ever made because of its simple controls and randomization of each playthrough. Nic Rowen of Destructoid said Rebirth was a significant improvement over the original The Binding of Isaac, calling it "an incredible experience that can't be missed."
Afterbirth+ received mixed-to-favorable reviews from critics. Jose Otero of IGN praised the game’s variety, saying the unpredictable items and enemies make it one of the most fun and replayable games he has played. Peter Glagowski of Destructoid gave the DLC (downloadable content) a positive review, calling it an "impressive effort," but noted that the DLC’s main content offers little for new players who are not already familiar with the series.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun criticized the DLC’s difficulty, which it said came from unpredictable enemy behavior that was hard to anticipate. Adam Smith of a review website described the DLC as combining existing game elements in a way that felt either weak or awkward. Beastby, another review site, questioned the fairness of Afterbirth+, writing that players often wonder, "How many unfair attempts will it take before I have a chance to succeed?" Members of the Team Alpha modding group said the DLC’s modding tools were disappointing, citing major problems with the tools and a lack of support from the developer, Nicalis.
Jeffrey Yu of Game Rant said the game’s lasting popularity comes from its easy-to-learn but deep gameplay, which allows players to jump in quickly while offering complexity through many item combinations and hidden secrets. Yu also noted the strong fan community, explaining that Let’s Play videos on YouTube helped the game gain attention by showing its replayability and learning curve. Additionally, the game’s inclusion in Steam sales and the developer’s earlier success with Super Meat Boy helped increase sales long after its release.