Announced back in October, more details have emerged about the remake of Zelda homage/twin-stick shooter/rogue-like mashup The Binding of Isaac. The new version, currently aiming for PS3, Vita, PC, and possibly Xbox and Wii, is to be called The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It will be a completely remade game and have a considerable amount of new content as well, including a Wrath of the Lamb sized expansion pack, two new characters and new chapter and endings. The game's graphics will be getting a 16-bit style overhaul and features that were cut out of the original due to its limitations from being made in Flash. This will also eliminate the slowdowns that plagued the original release.
Nicalis, the studio who brought us La-Mulana, Cave Story+, and NightSky, will be developing the project, will go into full-time development starting next year, and is aiming to be finished by the end of the next. Edmund McMillen will be serving as lead designer on the product but will otherwise not be working directly on the project, as he is already developing Mew-Genics.
If you want more tidbits on the project you can check it out here, as well as checking out some of the pixel-style mock-ups here and voting for the style you like best.
Posted 03-12-2012, 23:05
Oh, I agree but Ed himself has said that he was sick of looking at it anyway, another reason for the 16-bit style. But it's actually kind of nice that he's trying a different art style for what's essentially a port with extra content, as you say. As lead designer it should still be pretty good in my opinion, port handled externally or not. All the more content, the better.
Posted 03-12-2012, 18:11
I'm sure you're right. But for me... there's something charming about the graphics of the original game. the 16-bit graphics don't seem to have nearly that same macabre vibe to them. And I'm disappointed to hear McMillen isn't the actual developer. Not to mention that it sounds like this will pretty much just be a port, with an additional DLC thrown in.
Posted 03-12-2012, 03:26
I don't think that's the case at all. When Ed started making suggestive hints toward it on his Forumspring he did constantly say that, if he did re-make the game for consoles (and PC thankfully), he'd want to do it in a 16-bit style to make it more representative of what it's inspired by - The Legend of Zelda of course - but also kind of "de-make" the game or something, I can't remember his exact words. Either way, I've been eagerly looking forward to this since he talked more about it so it'll be a day one buy for me. The original game's certainly my most played Indie title and easily my favourite - fantastic game.
Posted 02-12-2012, 23:50
Why the hell would I want to play the game in 16-bit? The original game had some insane slowdowns at times, but really? Is this the solution? "Crap we couldn't get it to run right in Flash, so we went back to SNES-era graphics"?