The Binding of Isaac: Repentance has been hailed as a fantastic expansion to the popular rogue-like (unlike other recently-released expansions). It changes up the experience significantly with item additions, balancing changes, new endings and even a whole host of new characters to unlock. However, fans were disappointed when Repentance was initially released with the game’s modding capabilities disabled. This was largely a decision to help smooth out the developers’ bug-finding process, but it took until May 15th and Update v4.04 to reinstate compatibility with Steam’s Workshop.
The Binding of Isaac‘s modding community is a strong one, and already Repentance-specific mods are coming in fast. While some of them aim to ‘fix’ some of the balance decisions that players feel were detrimental, many mods add new content and great quality of life changes. Players need to note that the game encourages new players to play without mods first for a ‘vanilla’ experience. It does this by disabling achievements until the player has defeated ‘Mom’ (the first final boss) without mods. After that milestone, players are free to mod to their hearts’ delights. With that said, let’s look at some of the better mods to consider downloading.
Old Wardrobe
This mod adds a new interactable item to the game which allows the player to change their appearance. The Old Wardrobe appears in the first room of every floor and is used to customize the costume he’s wearing. In The Binding of Isaac, almost every item affects the player character’s appearance, with some having very significant changes – for example, the popular item ‘Brimstone’ makes Isaac’s skin black and gives him horns.
With the Old Wardrobe, players can equip or de-equip specific items in their loadout to look exactly how they want. Additionally, up to 32 costumed can be saved in the wardrobe for use in future runs, which can be neat for players who come across a particularly cool-looking costume. The author, Sinsthar, has gone to great lengths to make this mod convenient, too, as it stops the in-game timer when in use and even works with multiplayer.
Better Champion Bosses
This mod addresses a criticism that players may not even realize they had before encountering it. Most bosses in the game have a chance of being a ‘Champion’ variant. This usually means a slight changeup in attacks or strategies, increased damage and always comes with a particular tint applied to their sprite. For example, Monstro – an early boss – can come in ‘gray champion’ variety, making him gray and focusing on projectile attacks.
Enter Better Champion Bosses, which does away with the standard tints and gives champion bosses exciting new appearances. While it may take long-time players a little while to get used to the new sprites, they will undoubtedly appreciate the new visual variety introduced into the game.
Visible Tinted Rocks
Tinted rocks are an important part of The Binding of Isaac‘s ecosystem. They exist as tempting parts of the environment that the player can blow up for useful rewards, such as soul hearts or the beloved ‘Small Rock’ item. One issue that players have, however, is that they can often be hard to notice. While this may be an intentional design choice, it doesn’t stop the negative feeling that occurs when walking straight past a resource that could save a particular run. This also impacts players with sight problems or color blindness, who may be impaired in the game through no fault of their own.
With Visible Tinted Rocks, this problem is largely something of the past. It makes these valuable rocks a lot more visible and noticeable by making them stand out more against the other rocks of the current floor. The author, Tdlc, is kind enough to have three different versions of the mod that change the rocks’ appearance to varying degrees – useful for those who don’t want the game to feel too easy.
Upgraded Pocket Actives On All Characters
With Repentance came 14 whole new characters to unlock. These are known by the community as ‘Tainted’ characters, as they are rather gimmicky versions of the characters that already existed. For example, while Judas begins the game with ‘Book of Belial’ to increase his damage output temporarily, Tainted Judas begins with ‘Dark Arts,’ which is an item that allows him to zoom across rooms freezing and damaging enemies.
The items that Tainted Characters start with are permanent and occupy a slot in the screen’s bottom-left corner. They cannot be dropped and are responsible for making these characters feel unique. What Upgraded Pocket Actives on All Characters does is extend this feature to all regular characters who don’t enjoy this benefit. This makes every character that begins with an activated item feel more unique, not just ‘Isaac with different stats.’
Repentance Plus
You want MORE Binding of Isaac: Repentance? That’s where the Repentenace Plus mod comes in. Available via Steam Workshop, this fan mod expands the already massive selection of content, letting you lose yourself in the world of Binding of Isaac for just a little bit longer.
Repentance Plus is still growing, but for now, it adds new items, trinkets, cards and pills, as well as a new chest. Most importantly, none of the content is locked behind achievements or narratives. All you’ve got to do is install it and you’re ready to go.
External Item Descriptions
The most subscribed item on the Workshop, External Item Descriptions is a fantastic utility mod. When used, it displays a small description of any item or pickup that the player is near, letting them know what it does. In a game with over 700 distinct items, it can be very difficult to remember what each one does, and this mod alleviates some of the stress that players can feel when making choices.
While to some this mod may feel a bit like a cheat, to others, it’s simply a way to avoid alt-tabbing to a website that tells them what the item does anyway.
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