The Binding Of Isaac: An Argument For Not Using The Internet

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, an enhanced Vita port of a PC game of the same name (sans subtitle) reminds me of what my video game life was like before the internet. Back in 1998, Montreal was hit by a rather unsettling ice storm, which caused my family and me to go without power for the better part of a week.

Back in 1998, the only pieces of video game hardware I owned was a Gameboy and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. I remember being too young to understand that I needed to use my shield to push aside certain enemies in order to reclaim my sword on the beach at the beginning of the game. I also remember finally discovering what to do when a neighbour pointed the solution out to me. If you’ve played the game, and you recall having difficulties with this section (or really, any section of the game; Link’s Awakening was packed with puzzles which were quite clever and often made proper use of your equipment in order to solve them), then you know what you’re immediate reaction would be today: look up the solution on the internet.

Certainly any obstacle can be overcome through the use of Google and YouTube. And really, why waste your time thinking about how to resolve any puzzle, when you could just as easily watch a video or read a guide outlining what to do next?

I used to think that games which choose to focus on randomly generated levels were slightly more immune to this treatment. Your playthrough of Spelunky is going to change every time you venture into its soft cave bosom, so why bother memorizing other people’s playthroughs? Except, then our focus becomes on mastering the static elements that are consistent throughout each playthrough. 

This line of thinking is specifically what’s caused much of the excitement behind The Binding of Isaac to prematurely deflate, according to its developers. In short, designer Edmund McMillen argues that much of the game’s appeal lies in its seemingly random nature, and that player enjoyment stems from never knowing what to expect next. That there exists a community of fans devoted to data mining his game of its secrets is appalling to him.

I can certainly see where he’s coming from, to an extent: indeed, my favourite moments with the game were when I’d pick an item up that would significantly change the way I play the game, at least for that playthrough. That most of my playthroughs remain unique and enjoyable, even 5-10 hours in, is an accomplishment in its own right.

Some have argued that the nature of technology is that it serves to demystify the way we approach many of our problems. Certainly, puzzles in adventure games, whose traditionally opaque nature require critical thinking and trial-and-error in equal measure, are dinosaurs in today’s hetero-hero-brah-first-person-shooting landscape.  Why rely on giddy discovery and traditional exploration when you can have an open world game filled to the teeth with too many things to do that no one really enjoys doing but everyone does so anyways?

At any rate, I understand where McMillen’s anger comes from. I believe his nostalgia for what games used to be has overpowered the reality of this situation: given the average gamer’s affinity with technology, it should be no surprise that their enthusiasm is manifested in a desire to mine and explore the game’s contents, both on screen and within its code.

My personal frustrations at never being able to relive a period in time when I would get stuck in a video game’s puzzles, or become surprised by its secrets, are mitigated in part by games that manage to immerse players in smart game design. I believe that The Binding of Isaac is one such game. Sure, now that I know how to unlock each character in the game, I may not slavishly devote my time to doing so through trial-and-error. But knowing that there is rainbow-coloured poo out there, and that it seemingly does nothing other than paint a rainbow across my screen when I attack it makes me want to see that for myself.

In other words, while a puzzle in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening will no longer, well puzzle me, I know that there are plenty of games such as The Binding of Isaac which will dumbfound me with how inventive they are in their seeming randomness. And really, that’s all that developers should come to expect of their games: that fans will respect their IP enough to commit time to worshipping and understanding it, even if these fans’ time are spent at an anatomical level far lower than what is traditionally expected of them.