This review contains spoilers
This is seriously one of the best content updates I've ever seen in my life. Just the sheer amount of content, and the quality of said content is insane, it'll easily double your play time from Afterbirth+ if you choose to 100% it. However, I think the most exciting part to me are the balance changes because, holy crap the game feels amazing now.
The days of instantly running to the first devil deal possible because angel deals fucking suck is done now, both paths are viable and choosing which route you'd like to pursue is a genuine choice you can make. The nerfs to many "hard carry" items have caused health management to become a much larger aspect of the game as you can't rely on maw of the void getting you 10 black hearts every floor. Health management has also become more serious because of the hard mode changes, almost all of which cause the game to go from a snoozefest where you can be constantly at 12 hearts to something intense. I died on Womb 1 playing this DLC for the first time and I have about 700 hours in Isaac across all DLCs.
And this is all without mentioning the alt path, because my god the alt path is fantastic. The new enemies and bosses are just so awesome to fight and being able to choose between an item or a "blind pick" in the item room adds even more dynamic elements to your run where your knowledge of synergies can truly shine. Hell, even the option of choosing to GO to the alt path is a huge choice you're able to make every run. You can choose to stay on the easier path or pursue a harder path because that blind pick can be ever so valuable.
This is without mentioning the fact that this game adds 19 fucking new characters, most of which are extremely unique. Some of the characters like Tainted Isaac or Tainted Lilith are so insanely different that I almost can't believe I'm playing the same game at some points. It's incredible thinking about how much work has gone into making all of the tainted characters feel truly special, each in their own way.
Finally, there's the true path and the confrontation with Dogma and The Beast. While I think Mother is a harder boss than either of these two, the ascension sequence and the entire vibe of both fights is fucking amazing, and I nearly leapt out of my seat at the game shifting from a top down to a side scrolling style experience.
I feel like I've already typed enough, so I wanted to end on the final note that they're STILL updating this. They may not add tons of new content, but the rebalances to some of the older content (Delirium) will be greatly appreciated in the future and make this an even more coherent experience. The binding of isaac is a truly special game to me, it's probably my favourite game of all time, and while afterbirth and afterbirth+ added some..."controversial" content, repentance is definitely a homerun and I'll probably be playing it for years to come.
The days of instantly running to the first devil deal possible because angel deals fucking suck is done now, both paths are viable and choosing which route you'd like to pursue is a genuine choice you can make. The nerfs to many "hard carry" items have caused health management to become a much larger aspect of the game as you can't rely on maw of the void getting you 10 black hearts every floor. Health management has also become more serious because of the hard mode changes, almost all of which cause the game to go from a snoozefest where you can be constantly at 12 hearts to something intense. I died on Womb 1 playing this DLC for the first time and I have about 700 hours in Isaac across all DLCs.
And this is all without mentioning the alt path, because my god the alt path is fantastic. The new enemies and bosses are just so awesome to fight and being able to choose between an item or a "blind pick" in the item room adds even more dynamic elements to your run where your knowledge of synergies can truly shine. Hell, even the option of choosing to GO to the alt path is a huge choice you're able to make every run. You can choose to stay on the easier path or pursue a harder path because that blind pick can be ever so valuable.
This is without mentioning the fact that this game adds 19 fucking new characters, most of which are extremely unique. Some of the characters like Tainted Isaac or Tainted Lilith are so insanely different that I almost can't believe I'm playing the same game at some points. It's incredible thinking about how much work has gone into making all of the tainted characters feel truly special, each in their own way.
Finally, there's the true path and the confrontation with Dogma and The Beast. While I think Mother is a harder boss than either of these two, the ascension sequence and the entire vibe of both fights is fucking amazing, and I nearly leapt out of my seat at the game shifting from a top down to a side scrolling style experience.
I feel like I've already typed enough, so I wanted to end on the final note that they're STILL updating this. They may not add tons of new content, but the rebalances to some of the older content (Delirium) will be greatly appreciated in the future and make this an even more coherent experience. The binding of isaac is a truly special game to me, it's probably my favourite game of all time, and while afterbirth and afterbirth+ added some..."controversial" content, repentance is definitely a homerun and I'll probably be playing it for years to come.