To sayThe Binding Of Isaacis a deep game would be an understatement. What’s more, is with a handful of acclaimed DLCs over the years, the game continues to get deeper. Secret levels & hidden challenges are as numerous as they areimpossible to find without the aid of a guide.
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An area that is balanced quite well on this front is the playable characters. Several are quite easy to unlock, and a novice player will do it with some effort, while others are only for those who have truly mastered what the game has no offer. That’s not even mentioningthe tainted versionsof each character, which must be unlocked separately.
Updated February 27th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: The Binding of Isaac stands proudly as one of the most engaging, entertaining, and in-depth Indie releases to ever hit the market. What started out as a simple game exploded into popularity and saw many DLC releases from the developer as a result. With Repentance now marking the finale for The Binding of Isaac, it’s a great time to hop into the release for the first time, to experience the entire adventure from start to finish. There are tons of items and characters to unlock and some of them can be pretty difficult to obtain. To better help players snag new characters, thisBinding of Isaac character unlock guidehas been updated with more information.
Magdalene
Likely the first character players will unlock, Magdalene is for beginner players who need help in therough early hours. She starts with four hearts, as opposed to the usual three, and also has a Yum Heart item to restore health. Additionally, she doesn’t have any major downside, just slightly lower movement speed.
Unlocking Magdalene is pretty straightforward, but it’ll take some luck. Players need to have seven heart containers at once to unlock Magdalene. There are plenty of items that give more heart containers, and they’re somewhat common on early floors, so players should be able to reach this without too much trouble.
Cain
Cain does slightly more starting damage than Isaac and starts with an item that increases his luck. This comes at a price, however, and Cain only starts with two heart containers.
The method to unlock Cain is another straightforward one, but it does require a consistent amount of luck throughout a run. Players must hold 55 coins at once to unlock Cain. This is unlikely to happen naturally in a run, so player’s best option is to try their hand at the slot machines if they find one and hope for good luck.
Judas
Judas starts with the “Book of Belial” item; Belial meaning wicked or worthless. Judas has notably high base damage, which is aided by the book. However, he starts with a measly one heart container.
Judas is the first character whose unlocking takes a bit of doing. Players must defeat Satan to unlock Judas. Satan can be found in the secret floor, Sheol. This floor is accessed at the end of Womb II. Sometimes after defeating Mom’s Heart, but always after defeating It Lives, a Devil Door will appear containing the trapdoor that leads to Sheol.
???
Referred to by the fanbase as “Blue Baby”, ??? is a dark character, as they are theorized to be a dead version of Isaac. ??? has slightly increased damage and speed, but their main feature is that they start with zero heart containers, instead using Soul Hearts. It goes one further than that, as it is actually impossible for ??? to ever gain heart containers. This makes ??? a character for those who want a challenge.
Unlocking ??? is simple, but will take some effort, as players must defeat Mom’s Heart 10 times, meaning that players must essentially complete the game 11 times.
Eve
Eve is a surprisingly powerful character. At first glance, she may not seem it, with decreased damage and two heart containers. However, she starts with an impressive item, which boosts her damage and speed when on one red heart or less. She also starts with Dead Bird, which summons a familiar to damage enemies when she takes damage.
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To unlock Eve, players must put themselves through a challenge, as they must not pick up any hearts for two floors in a row, meaning they must be extremely careful of how much damage they take.
Samson
Samson starts the game with the Bloody Lust item, which increases his damage output whenever he takes damage. He has a slow rate of fire, but his three heart containers give players a lot of strategic possibilities.
Like Eve, Samson must be unlocked via a challenge, as players must not take any damage for two consecutive floors. It’s one of the tougher challenges for a character to unlock, but experienced players should be able to do it across the first two floors over a few attempts.
Azazel
Azazel is an extremely powerful character for those who can wield him well. Rather than shooting tears, Azazel fires an energy beam at his opponents, which deals a lot of damage. He also flies and starts with The Fool card, allowing him to teleport to the start of a floor once. The downside is that the beam isn’t very long, so Azazel will have to get close to his enemies to kill them, plus, he has no heart containers, instead starting with three Black Hearts.
Unlocking Azazel isn’t much in the way of a challenge, but it does require some luck. Players who make three deals with the Devil in one run will unlock Azazel. This requires a Devil Room to spawn, likely more than once in a run, and players must have enough heart containers that they can sacrifice to take the deals.
Lazarus
Initially, Lazarus isn’t that great of a character, having all-around worse stats than Isaac, and a pill of random effect. However, he starts with an extra life, and upon dying, transforms into Lazarus' Risen, who has only one heart container, but boosts in almost every stat.
Lazarus stands as one of the easiest characters to unlock, although it may take a bit of doing. Players need to have 4 Soul Hearts or Black Hearts at once. Soul Hearts aren’t that hard to come by, but players will need to be careful about how much damage they take, as Soul Hearts are always lost first.
Eden
Eden is a mysterious character. Their stats aren’t fixed, as everything about Eden (including their hairstyle) is randomly generated at the start of a run. Eden can spawn with anything from three red hearts to a single soul heart, and all of their stats can be both exceptional and terrible.
To unlock them, players must complete The Womb, meaning they must defeat Mom’s Heart for the first time. Although this technically requires beating the final boss, the singular requirement makes Eden one of the easier characters to unlock.
The Lost
The Lost has the exact same stats as Isaac, except they have no hearts. Not just red hearts, but any type of heart, they have zero health. This means that one hit from anything is instant death, and they cannot gain any type of heart either. They start with an Eternal D6, allowing players to reroll any items they get.
Before the Afterbirth DLC, unlocking The Lost was a long & complicated string of tasks. However, with that DLC, it became simpler (although still difficult). Players must die in a Sacrifice Room whilst holding the Missing Poster item to unlock it. Sounds simple, but unlocking the Missing Poster requires defeating The Lamb whilst playing as Isaac. The Lamb is a secret boss that can only be reached after defeating Satan five times whilst holding The Negative item.
Alternatively, if the player has enough hearts, hurting themselves on the spikes in a Sacrifice Room 12 times on the same floor, there will be a 50% chance that the player will be immediately teleported to the floor where The Lamb awaits. This 50% chance is rerolled for every hit on the spikes after the 12th.
