The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Nintendo Switch) Review

To anyone uninitiated with Edmund McMillen's baby, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ will make a very surreal first impression, thanks to its animated introduction that lays out the general story of Isaac and his mother. McMillen birthed the concept of The Binding of Isaac from a fairly personal place in his life about members of his family becoming born again Christians, as well as making the story a parallel to the ye olde story of Isaac as read in the Holy Bible.

It can be easy to misconstrue most of this as teenage edginess for edginess' sake, but The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ surprisingly front loads the more critical aspects of faith and much later reveals itself to be much more of a shade of grey. McMillen shockingly showed a great deal of maturity with the approach to the themes presented in the game in spite of the crude tapestry made up of faeces and dead babies. This weirdly personal and deranged video game is all held together via the addicting and intense gameplay, which is constantly building upon itself.

The controls are very simple and adhere to the basic twin-stick shooter formula, but with some quirks: Isaac can only aim his projectile tears in four ways, and has the ability to use items and bombs. The game controls very fluidly, and because of the four-way aiming, this is a good fit for using a single Joy-Con's four face buttons.

Afterbirth+ on Switch is unique among the console ports, since it is also the only console version to have couch co-op gameplay using two Joy-Con. This is undeniably one of the greatest assets and most defining features of the console, and it was a stroke of genius for Afterbirth+ to fully utilise Nintendo's hardware gimmick to its fullest with a controller that is a natural fit. The controls were always very simple and had a low barrier, but being able to plunge the poopy depths of hell with a friend on the go? Brilliant. It does come with a few caveats, however, like player two having to be a much weaker small baby instead of being able to choose from the various unlockable characters. The co-op likely had to be implemented this way as a means to keep the game balanced, but it is still a wonderful feature to have.

In the grand scheme of twin-stick action games, the mechanics are solid, but nothing amazing. What makes Afterbirth+'s gameplay so interesting is the implementation of roguelike and RPG mechanics. The various ways the player-characters can grow during a run is pretty outstanding. Thanks to Edmund McMillen's programming, all the equipment, tarot cards, pick-ups and items all work together. The results can lead to ridiculous action on screen, and through the art and design, the things seen become indescribable.

While it does run at 60 frames per second, the later portions with the most chaos can lead to a few dips here and there - particularly in this game's version of horde mode, "Greed Mode," where a small area can be filled with dozens of enemies and even bosses. It all becomes very hard to put down because of how Afterbirth+ is constantly inviting a return by having tempting challenges and unlocking new bonuses and features for dozens, if not hundreds of hours. It is like a filthy and disgusting all-you-can-eat buffet at an open 24 hours Denny's, where McMillen is the maître d' and will randomly put Taco Bell food in the buffet.

Anyone who couldn't get past the Newgrounds-y graphics in Super Meat Boy are likely to have the same feelings towards The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+. McMillen plays to his strengths and does what he can with his restrictions, yet it all manages to mesh pretty well enough. This is one of the few games out there where it really does feel like walking into the mind of its creator, and on those grounds the presentation feels so unique it would be difficult to imagine them any other way. Thankfully, all character designs are strong enough and read perfectly during all action. It has a cheap and crude charm about it where the struggles that McMillen endured during development can be felt. It may not be a looker, but it gets the job done.