Hello and welcome back to my blog!
The Binding of Isaac has a lot of content divided into multiple game modes like normal runs, challenges, online or co-op play, etc.
I wanted to try some of the challenges. Many are unlocked by default, while some are locked with no mention of conditions on how to unlock them. Some of the challenges are quite hard as well. But not all.
One of the easy ones is Challenge #16, Computer Savvy. You play as Isaac with three extra items at the start that grant you lasers with unlimited range, and you get the 'homing tears' effect, which is like getting auto-aim, so those lasers will follow and hit the enemies instead of always going in a straight line.
As you progress through each floor, you get more items that can help you get more attacking strength, speed, etc and that makes the run very easy.
This was the first challenge I completed in this game. Also, you have only 6 floors to clear to complete the challenge.
Some of the challenges are funny too. The challenge #2 is based on poop humour and jokes. This challenge is called High Brow and it starts with Oh Crap! Lol. You get starting items like 'flush' that can change all the non-boss enemies to poop in the room. Another item is called 'Butt Bomb' and the trinket is called 'Petrified Poop' which increases the chances of getting coins from clearing poop.
The only tough part of this challenge is the short range of attacks. Other than that, it is an easy challenge too. You get a lot of coins early in the game by clearing rooms, so you can spend them easily in the shop and buy some good items. Luck is a big factor, like in every run of this game.
I got lucky and had a lot of hearts towards the end of the challenge, which helped me utilise the sacrifice room easily and get some more items, plus getting the angels to spawn easily.
I even got the Head of Krampus, which shoots a 4-way blood beam, dealing a massive amount of damage. That helped me get through to the bosses easily.
You get a shiny trophy after completing the last floor, marking the end of the challenge.
You would think that the first challenge would be quite easy. But nope. I didn't think it was easy. It is called Pitch Black, and you have curses in this run.
There are many curses in the game that are making the game like one of the curses, hiding the map HUD or the other hiding the item you will be getting, or you not knowing how much health you have at any point in time.
This one starts with two of those curses. One is the Curse of Darkness, which makes the room darker, quite bad in bigger rooms, as enemies could be hiding in the darkness and can surprise you. The other curse, which I think was more of a problem for me, was the Curse of the Unknown, which hides your heart.
Not knowing how healthy you are is nerve-wracking, but it can work in your favour as you become more careful and do not take unnecessary risks in the game.
You just have to kill Mom's foot to complete the challenge. I hate this boss fight because of the unpredictable nature of the foot coming down. I always take a lot of damage in this boss fight, and not knowing how much health you have is bad. Thankfully, I found a few extra heart containers in the run before this floor and was able to take some damage.
And before you start asking why we are killing Mom's foot. She wants to kill Isaac because she was told we are evil and her God wants us dead. The lore of the game is very dark and has a lot of religious commentary. There are multiple endings as well, and in one of the endings, Isaac turns out to be evil, but in another he he successfully escaped and attained enlightenment of some sort.
Each of these challenges has its unique items and build that you have to play with. Some of the cursed ones can be quite tough, and many of them are still locked. I tried many others too, and failed at them.
Some builds are too slow, some have too less of damage, or some are just very cursed. In one of them, you can't even shoot and just have your familiars to shoot or deal damage. Those are very challenging for me.
- All the content is mine unless otherwise stated.
- Screenshots are from the game, The Binding of Isaac.