Hey!!
Have you seen the first episode of my brand new show "Deadlock" yet?
Think video game debates on STEROIDS!
Click this annototation or the link in the description to check it out
I'll link to it at the end of the video too
Early response has been good so... I think you're gonna like what you see
"Warning ! this video will most likely contain a comment section full of YouTube
commenters aggressively arguing over the merits of organized religion.
Viewers of this video, you're good to go!
"But readers who dare to go below the fold, your discretion is advised."
(Video Game Music)
Hello Internet! Welcome to Game Theory!
Queue the John Williams cause we're gettin' Indie up in here.
The Binding of Isaac
Man! This game is depressing, disturbing, dark... even some adjectives that DON'T start with D
Like uh...
Baffling, Obtuse, just plain weird!
For those of you not familiar with it The Binding of Isaac was the 2011 follow-up to Super Meat Boy
Made by artist and game designer Edmund McMillen.
It was a HUGE success on Steam, so last year they touched it up and expanded it into "The Binding of Isaac Rebirth"
Honestly it's a fantastic top-down roguelike tribute to the original Legend of Zelda
So you know the gameplay's gonna be good
But where this game really makes it's mark is in it's story.
This game comes from the Five Nights at Freddy's school of story telling
Throw some crazy disturbing stuff against the wall,
Drop some hints that there's a meaning behind madness
and let the theorists of the world sort it out,
And that's exactly what we intend to do
So the game begins with an opening narration spoken over top of some drawings
It tells the tale of Isaac and his mother
We're told that they live alone on a hill. Isaac draws while his mother watches Christian TV programs-
probably a mix between EWTN and the 700 club
Anyway we're told that Mom starts to hear a voice from above
Presumably God
Telling her that Isaac is unclean
The comic then shows that she takes away his clothes, toys and drawings
Then locks him away in his room
The voice congratulates the mother for her work but then demands that she make a sacrifice of Isaac to prove her loyalty
She enters the room carrying a large kitchen knife but Isaac escapes through a trap-door hidden under the rug
and is plunged into a world where he must use his TEARS
as a weapon against demons, bugs, anthropomorphised poop, and his mother's own womb!
Yeeeah
(kids cheering) Indie games ladies and gentlemen!
Ho ho and I should probably mention that there are 16 endings
Most of which feature Isaac opening a chest
to find some new, horrific item
and all, in some way hinting at some greater meaning!
But what is it?
Well that's why we're here today and why you've requested an episode on this game so much!
So grab your bibles and knives 'cause
We're diving into the Depths
And the Cathedral, Chest, Catacombs and womb
To figure out what this game is REALLY all about
And quick spoiler warning we're talking about the game's various endings
Though, let's be honest, this stuff is so complex and open to interpretation anyway,
It's not like I'm actually spoiling anything for you
just deepening your appreciation of it
So, you're welcome, Internet.
Now I've seen A LOT of online forums just dismissing this story as a bash on religion
With mom being a religious psycho and all that
And I can see how people would draw that conclusion
The name of the game "Binding of Isaac" is also the common name for a story
Mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Qu'ran, and the Christian Bible
Where Abraham, a super old descendant from Noah
is commanded by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac on a mountain
Gotta admit, that's gonna set off a lot of emotions
Just had a conversation with God! That's pretty cool but he just told you to kill your son, that kinda sucks
Anyway he commits to it because he trusts in God
And just before he's about to do the deed an angel shows up, stops him, saves his son, and makes him kill a ram instead
Since, you know, old school religious parables are HARSH
So the game is clearly referencing the story
and then you have mom standing in the doorway ready to attack her son with a knife
Clearly addressing down on religion
Unless she's not standing there
ready to attack here son with a knife
Notice how we are presented with a story
Through Isaac's own drawings
You can even see his name in the bottom
corner signing his artwork
Also, remember the part in the story where Isaac's
mother take all his toys and drawings away
where its even shown that she
rips them off the walls? Well look
in the background during all the cut scenes
We see Isaac's drawings hanging up there
Its odd right?! & Seriously
Let's be honest, Issac
doesn't really escape through a hidden trap-door
to fight hordes of sentient fecal matter
CLEARLYYYY this is a game
about fantasy vs reality
The framing story Isaac illustrates
is exactly that, a
STORY, a fantasy he created
Mother isn't sacrificing Isaac,
at least not literally
And when she appears threateningly In the
doorway that's just a young boy's over-active
imagination. Mom probably
just came back from preparing dinner
BUT clearly theres a connection between Isaac's
real life and the fantasy
we play through in this game.
So whats actually going on here?!
We'll we need to start picking apart the symbolism.
Obviously we know this is a religious
household. Isaac's mom watches Christian programming,
He creates story themed
around the tale of Abraham and Isaac,
and all the other characters in the game are also
biblical allusions. Theres
Judas who betrayed Jesus which
resulted in Jesus' crucifiction
Eve, of Adam and Eve fame who committed the
first sin by listening to the Devil's advice
Kane, one of Adam and Eve's two
sons, who killed his brother Abel
Magdeline, most likely a reference
to Mary Magdeline, one of Jesus'
follower and often though to be a reformed
prostitute. And Samson, who is
kinda like Hercules with his hair
blessed by a vow to God acting
as a source to his strength until he let
a woman cut it. So there's your cast of playable
avatars and in ending 12, we see that
these arn't separate personas. These are
all Isaac assuming the different
characters. See how he flashed
through them all. We even see how he enjoys
dressing up as them. In one of the
loading cut-scenes , we see him receive the
Magdeline wig, which he excitingly
wears until all the other kids make fun of
him for it. Kidssss SUCK MAN
If the kid wants to dress like a
biblical prostitute , I say let him.
6th and 7th grade (whewww)
THOSE WERE THE WORST
Sorry I'm projecting a bit too mucnh
But my sucky middle school experience aside.
Look again at the roster of characters he
chooses to dress as. Sinners.
Judas, the betrayer. Eve,
the original sinner. Kane, the first
murderer. Mary Magdeline, the prostitute
And Samson, the guy who got a haircut
OK so one of these is not like the other,
but it is kinda of a big deal
When its about a God not to cut your
hair and he give you super strength
in exchange for it. Issace in
dressing like these guys sees himself
as another of these unholy characters.
He sees himself as demon.
And thats not just me being metaphorical
He LITERALLY sees himself as
being a Demon in ending 13
He closes the bible, looks at himself
in the mirror, and sees the evil
inside of him. He then looks to the toy
chest and as we see in ending 12
gets into it, with his DEAD
cat. YEP! This is where it starts
to get dark! If the stuff about a
fanatic mom threatening to kill her naked
child didn't already get you there!
Isaac is a sensitive, creative.
Boy. He draws, he reads, he reads,
he proudly dresses his Mary
Magdeline. He has an incredibly
rich internal life. But as we see
throughout clues in the game. His
external life has been rough. His mother
may not actually brandish knives
at him, but she is certainly is
restrictive and un-loving. Isaac's room
is scarce. She give him turds as
presents. She pushes him aside when
he tries to hug her. And other kids arn't
any better. They laugh at him,
de-pants him, even, AR-ARE THEY
POOPING ON HIM?!?! SHEEEESHH!!!
KIDS ARE THE WORST!! and though
the intro narration says he and his mother
live alone. Ending 14
tells us even more. They live alone
NOWWW. But growing up Isaac
had a father, one who, as
we see in the final Polaroid picture,
left them. And if all of that wasn't
enough, In ending 16 we see Isaac's
dead cat Guppy, who is such an
important part of Isaac's life.
Any time you receive a game over, all of your possession
are bequeathed to HIMMM.
GUPPY! A DEAD CAT!
And certainly all this weighs on
Isaac. he feels guilty about it
Responsible for all these bad things
happening in his life. In fact one of the
new characters introduced in the "Rebirth" update
alludes to this "Azazel",
the scape goat, the one who takes
the blame! And because of ALLL of this,
he needs an escape. A literal
place to hide away, the toy chest.
The toy chest is where Isaac goes to escape the
sinfulness of the world. Both his
own and others. Its his place
to retreat away from all the bad stuff in life.
His mothers abuse, father's
absence, peers harassment. The
box is his imaginary world.
But escaping reality can be dangerous.
In ending 10 we are introduced to
"???"
Known by fans as "Blue Baby"
The crosses against his eyes are
cartoonish signs of death. The
blue color a stereotype of those who
died for asphyxiation,
suffocating to death. It also harkens back to a
fear Isaac himself has in one of
his loading cut-scenes, him struggling to
BREATHE in the box. You'll
also notice in ending 12 when Isaac
cycles through the other characters, Blue
Baby isn't present. Thats because
the characters he flashes through are the ones he
plays as in his fantasy world.
Blue Baby isn't just some other imaginary
character or custome. Its REALLY
a dead Isaac in the chest.
A TRUTH he can't come to terms
with. This may be getting personal, but
have you ever thought about death? Do you get
a cold nauseous feeling that your
mind and body can't comprehend?
The mind just projects the
thought outright! Thats how I feel at least
and clearly thats what Isaac
feels as he confronts Blue Baby. Unlike
his response to anything else in the game,
his reaction has him LITERALLY
spiraling, taken a back.
Thats why also Blue Baby's true name is
"???" Isaac
can't comprehend the true nature of
Blue Baby, of death.
He is confronting his own dead body
in that box. So is that where it all ends?
Is there really no hope for
Isaac's survival? YEA
actually, thats IT! At least in the first
game. Isaac hides in the box,
hides away in his imaginary world
and the fact the game never really ends,
continually re-spawning and
recycling in new ways, just adds to
the fact that he descends deeper and
deeper into his own fabricated
reality. But then last year, things
changed of Isaac. In the updated
game release the Devs introduced multiple new
characters. But this time instead of
being sinners, these guys related to
the sub title "Rebirth".
Most noticeably theres Lazarus, who
died and was resurrected by Jesus.
But then theres Eden. Now you
wouldn't be alone if your first impulse is to think
"Garden of" as in the perfect place
God created for Adam and Eve before Eve's
original sin. Sooo hows that
relate to rebirth? Well watch the
cut scene as you unlock the character.
Isaac falls into the chest it shuts,
shakes, then stops,
then a heavenly glow erupts from the box with
Eden rising out. Now you can
imagine where I'm going with this.
As tragic as it is Isaac dies in the chest.
He gets locked in, struggles, and
dies. Only to be
reborn as an angelic super
natural Eden as evidence of the glowing
eyes, ability to float and white
hair. Even the different hair styles he
cycles through provides more evidence,
hes is being reborn in different shapes.
Yesss hes still dead,
but at the VERY least he has found new
life in the sinless paradise of the
Eden. But thats not all! If you manage to
make it all the way to ending 15 and
16, theres a new outcome, one
with a little more hope. To reach ending
15 Isaac must face the "The Lamb"
A twisted demon with an inverted
cross on its forehead. In
Christianity The Lamb is usually the name
given to Jesus Christ whose depiction
is SLIGHTLY different than it
is in this game. But think about from
Isaac's perspective. Hes created an
imaginary world where God
tells his mother to kill him. CLEARLY
he doesn't have the most positive outlook on these
things. So it would make sense that he,
as a character would envision
Christ as an evil Demon. But then the game go
es one step further. To reach the
final boss, Isaac must kill
Angels to receive pieces of the
key. This unlocks the beautiful
Golden Door to "MEGA SATAN!"
If that isn't a video game boss
name, I don't know what is! Defeat
Mega Satan and thats it, t
he cycle stops. Theres nothing else to
do. Isaac's fantasy world has
reached its darkest limits. And
THIS is reflected in the ending.
Ending 16, the hardest
to reach in the game, has Isaac in his
chest, switching between his
human self and his demon self.
FINALLY ending on him as a Demon
and he SMILESSS.
Let me emphasize how important that moment
is. This is a game in which Isaac is
crying THE WHOLE TIME.
Attacking enemies with his projectile tears
and yet when he embraces
being a Demon, he smiles.
Whats this mean? Well quite simply
he has come to terms with himself.
He accepts that he is sinful.
He moves beyond the religious guilt
he has been brought up with. He no
longer needs his imaginary world.
And this ties in with ending
15. It features mother
standing outside with a "Missing" poster
for Isaac, hes run away. After
coming to terms with who he is, both
the good and the bad.
Isaac finally has the strength to
leave his box, His imaginary
world and the abusive household
hes been living in. No longer trapped
by the guilt of sin, he finds
his own path. As the title
says Isaac has been
REBORN! In "INDIE GAME" the movie.
Which is large part about Edmund McMillen.
He explains how every single game
has been an expression of his personal life,
especially his childhood. In an
interview with Euro Gamer around the
time "The Binding of Isaac" was released.
McMillen explains that his family consisted of
alcoholics and drug addicts who became
born again Christians. Being confronted
by this extreme level of faith
caused him problems. Leading him to constantly
feel guilty and develop a desire
to fight back, acting out
against it and look at him now, one of the Indie
World's most successful game
creators. He fought to escape his box.
Just like Isaac, he too
found a way to escape
BUT HEY
That's just a Theory!
A GAME THEORY!
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