is a roguelike top-down dungeon crawler, designed by Edmund McMillen (designer) and Florian Himsl (programmer). Directly inspired by the classic 1986 NES game McMillen 2012 ), the game connects chamber to chamber, incorporating procedurally-generated levels that particularly enhance and stimulate multiple playthroughs, for which the player is rewarded by unlockable characters, passive items, or achievements. The gamer must first defeat all the monsters in a given chamber before he can enter the next. The player controls a naked figure, Isaac, whose primary weapon is his ability to “shoot” tears at his enemies. Helpful items can be found and active and passive abilities can be unlocked during the game to add to Isaac’s armoury. When Isaac’s life reaches zero, the player is forced to restart the game from the beginning.

The original(BoI) was released in 2011 for Windows, and later ported to OS X and Linux. In 2012, the first expansion pack was released, entitled, a reference to the biblical book of Revelation (see especially: Rev 6: 16). In 2014, a remake of the original BoI was released, dubbed, developed and published by Nicalis for Windows, OSX, Linux, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and later also for Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS and Switch, Xbox One, and iOS ( McMillen 2014 ). In 2015, two new expansions were released, McMillen 2015a ) and McMillen 2015b ), introducing new items, enemies, bosses, and endings. The game was applauded by critics and fans alike, obtaining a score of 84 on. A list of all versions and expansions is listed below ( Table 1 ).

Five different narratological levels can be distinguished in The Binding of Isaac : (1) McMillen’s inspiration; (2) the prologue/epilogue; (3) the game in the strict sense, which takes place between prologue and epilogue; (4) the post-prologue/epilogue; and (5) the various endings of the game.

In various online articles and interviews, the designer McMillen has quite clearly articulated the religious inspiration for McMillen 2012 ). He describes his religious upbringing as a hybrid between Roman Catholicism and born-again Christianity, both sides contributing to the creation ofMcMillen includes dark and adult content most other game developers would rather avoid or neglect.BoI’s major theme was indeed inspired by the Biblical narrative of the same name.McMillen wanted to reflect his own dualistic experience of religion, in showing both its positive and negative effects. On the one hand, the self-hatred and isolation McMillen experienced in his youth, but on the other also the creative openness that biblical passages have that allow their readers to interpret them each in their own way. The multiple endings that players can reach in BoI are a reference to this openness:McMillen’s heavy use of religious phrases, artefacts, items, and images is, therefore, not accidental to the game, but expresses the developer’s inspiration and intentions. Every interpretation of the game’s content should take this religious inspiration into consideration.

The Bible is a very good, creatively written book, and one of my favourite aspects of it is how so many people can find different meanings in one passage. I wanted Isaac to have this in its story as well, which is why the game’s final ending(s) have many possible interpretations.

A lot of the content in Isaac is extremely dark and adult. It touches on aspects of child abuse, gender identity, infanticide, neglect, suicide, abortion, and how religion might negatively affect a child, which are topics most games would avoid.

I grew up in a religious family. My mom’s side is Catholic, and my dad’s side is born-again Christians. The Catholic side had this very ritualistic belief system: My grandma could essentially cast spells of safe passage if we went on trips, for example, and we would light candles and pray for loved ones to find their way out of purgatory, and drink and eat the body and blood of our saviour to be abolished of mortal sin. As a child growing up with this, I honestly thought it was very neat, very creative and inspiring. It’s not hard to look at my work and see that most of the themes of violence actually come from my Catholic upbringing, and in a lot of ways I loved that aspect of our religion. Sadly, the other side of my family was a bit more harsh in their views on the Bible; I was many times told I was going to hell for playing Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering (in fact, they took my MtG cards away from me), and generally condemned me for my sins.

Although this is not the end of the epilogue, we will stop at this point to better interpret the prologue and epilogue as a (wondrous) tale about a young son and his theomanic mother, whom he defeats with the help of divine intervention. However, the end of the prologue and the beginning of the epilogue do not match each other perfectly: the prologue ends with Isaac jumping down “into the depth” and it gives way narratologically to the beginning of the game itself, while the epilogue seems to be unaware of Isaac’s successful escape attempt. Ultimately, Isaac is triumphant: he defeats his mother and saves his own life. However, this rather simplistic but religion-critical interpretation is challenged by the other narratological levels, which we discuss below.

The epilogue takes the narrative almost directly from where the prologue ends. Isaac is still in his room, standing fearfully in a corner as he tries—in vain—to escape his murderous mother. The narrator:Isaac’s mother is towering above him, her knife ready to strike. The look on her face is totally manic. Isaac is lying on the ground, his eyes closed, with his arms around his legs, in the foetal position. His mother is ready to strike. We can now see a bookshelf with a book and a vase on it that were not there in earlier scenes.The book on the shelf suddenly becomes adorned with the Christian sign of the cross, indicating that it is a Bible. As soon as the narrator speaks about God’s intervention, the book mysteriously falls or is thrown onto the mother’s head, knocking her out. As she lies stretched out on the floor, either dead or unconscious, Isaac jumps onto her body, holding up his hands in the air in a victory pose.

“This was the end of the line for Isaac, his mother was far too strong for him. But just as he accepted his fate, god intervened, sending an angel down from above to stop his mother’s hand. And just like that, it was over.”

Isaac was cornered. His mother, fuelled with the desire to serve her god, was bearing down on Isaac. “I will do as I’m told, my lord. I love you above all else”, Isaac’s mother repeated to herself.

Although this is not the end of the prologue, we leave the scene for the time being and return to it in Section 2.5 . Isaac and his mother are living together in their home. Whereas everything is all right at the beginning, things quickly get out of hand when Isaac’s mother starts to “hear voices”. As we have seen before, McMillen is undoubtedly referring to the mother’s madness, not her possible piety. Isaac’s theomanic mother wants to kill her son because she thinks she has received a divine commandment that she must do so, and Isaac is barely able to escape by entering a previously unknown doorway that leads to a space under the house.

Isaac and his mother are introduced to the gamer as they stand beside each other and smile. Isaac is small compared to his mother, indicating he is still in pre-puberty. Their names are written beside them: “Isaac” and “Mom”. The narrator recounts:We see a drawing that shows a simple house as drawn by a young child: one door, one window, and a tree and bushes beside it. Isaac is shown sitting on the floor beside mom’s couch. He is surrounded by two dolls (in silhouette) and is working on two separate drawings with undistinguishable lines and figures. Isaac’s mother smiles as she watches over him from the couch. She holds the television remote control in her right hand, the television itself stands before her. Then she suddenly appears shocked by something only she notices. Lines blinking from above indicate that a voice is coming “from above”. The narrator says,We see Isaac’s mother dashing into Isaac’s room, tearing down a poster from the wall, and stuffing Isaac’s belongings into a box she holds under her arm. She has a frantic expression. Isaac is shown with a doll and a handheld computer in his hands, which both disappear as a sign of his mother’s rigorous devotion to the assignment she has been given. Eventually, even his clothes disappear, and Isaac is naked. Again, we see Isaac’s mother on the couch, the remote control in her hand, but Isaac is standing naked and without toys. The narrator recounts,We see how Isaac is thrown into his own room. The door closes behind him and Isaac lies naked on the ground. Again, we see Isaac’s mother on the couch, but now with a crazy look on her face: one eye is larger than the other one and there is a contorted smile on her mouth. For the third time a voice rings out from above, which only she can apparently hear. Her old smile returns when she replies to the voice,Isaac’s mother is seen with a butcher’s knife in her hand, looking grimly at the closed door of Isaac’s room. Isaac is looking through a crack in the door, sees what his mother is doing, and understands the consequences it will have for him. We see Isaac sitting on the floor, shaking with fear. He tries to find a way out of his room, but the door is locked and iron bars block his only window.Isaac finds a hidden trapdoor under the rug in his room. Neither the rug, nor the trapdoor were visible in earlier scenes, as if they did not exist then. He opens the hatch, while Isaac’s mother bursts through the door, brandishing the knife in her hand.Isaac jumps through the hatch and lands in an unknown room, while light from above shines on him. There is no further trace of his mother.

One last time, Isaac’s mom heard the voice of God calling to her: “You have done as I asked, but I still question your devotion to me. To prove your faith, I will ask one more thing of you.”—“Yes, Lord. Anything,” Isaac’s mother begged. “To prove your love and devotion, I require a sacrifice. Your son Isaac will be this sacrifice. Go into his room and end his life as an offering to me, to prove that you love me above all else!”—“Yes, Lord,” she replied grabbing a butcher’s knife from the kitchen.

Again, the voice called to her: “Isaac’s soul is still corrupt! He needs to be cut off from all that is evil in this world and confess his sins.”—“I will follow your instructions, Lord. I have faith in thee,” Isaac’s mother replied as she locked Isaac away in his room, away from the evils of the world.

“Your son has become corrupted by sin! He needs to be saved!”—“I will do my best to save him, my Lord,” Isaac’s mother replied rushing into Isaac’s room removing all that was evil from his life.

Isaac and his mother lived alone in a small house on a hill. Isaac kept to himself, drawing pictures and playing with his toys as his mom watched Christian broadcasts on the television. Life was simple, and they were both happy. That was, until the day Isaac’s mom heard a voice from above.

The prologue and epilogue appear as simple pencil drawings on a desk (later identified as Isaac’s). The tip of a small finger is seen in the bottom left corner of the screen (also later identified as Isaac’s) next to a half-visible pencil. A fly can be seen hovering over the pictures, one of the main simple enemies the player will encounter in the game. The title, “The Binding of Isaac”, appears in handwritten letters together with a small simplified version of Isaac drawn below.

The narratological level of the game seems to confirm the narratological levels of the prologue/epilogue and of McMillen’s religious inspiration. Isaac is confronted with a theomanic mother figure who wants to kill him because she has heard a voice from on high commanding her to do so, which is a criticism of Abraham’s blind obedience in the Genesis narrative. In both narratives, however, Isaac is rescued by “divine intervention”. In Genesis, Abraham is the hero who is praised for his obedience by God’s messenger, while in the game Isaac takes the role of the hero by triumphing over his crazy mother.

Apollyon is the Greek name for the Hebrew Abaddon. In the Bible, the name Abaddon is used as a synonym of Sheol, i.e., the netherworld, in Proverbs 15:11; 27:20; Job 26:6, or of the grave in Psalm 88: 12. In Job 26:5–6, Abaddon seems to denote more than a place, namely a demon of deadly destruction ( Van der Toorn et al. 1999, p. 1 ). Lilith is the name of a fearsome she-devil associated, in both Judaism and Christianity, with child abduction and involuntary nocturnal emissions ( Bosman and Poorthuis 2015 ).

The unlockable character Azazel evokes the biblical figure of Azazel. Azazel is only mentioned in Leviticus 16:8.10.26. The majority of the Old Testament exegetes interpret Azazel as a kind of demon, but there is no consensus about his origins: Azazel could be a nomadic, Egyptian, Anatolian, or Syrian demon ( Van der Toorn et al. 1999, p. 129 ). What is clear, is that Azazel is related to the rite of Yom Kippur, when a sacrifice is made to effect reconciliation between God and men. The he-goat offered in sacrifice is not killed, however, but sent away into the desert, to Azazel.

Lazarus is a New Testament figure, a friend of Jesus. After Lazarus’s death, Jesus comes to Bethany, the place where Lazarus lived, and raises him from the dead by telling him to come out of the grave. After his resurrection, Lazarus led a Christian life. In the Eastern tradition he became the first bishop of Kition (Larnaka) on Cyprus; in the Western tradition he became the first bishop of Marseille in France. Some traditions say that Lazarus never once smiled or laughed during the first thirty years after being raised from the dead, because he had seen the unredeemed souls in the netherworld.

Eve is regarded as the first human who disobeyed God (Gen 3). Mary Magdalene, although she was the first human witness of the risen Christ (John 20), is erroneously regarded in the Christian tradition as a converted prostitute (John 8) who was possessed by “seven demons” (Mark 16:9). Judas, of course, is the discipline who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Mat 26:15), after which he was overcome by guilt and committed suicide (Mat 27:5), thus burdening his soul even more. Samson is the main character in Judges 13–16. He is famous because of his strength: he tears a lion to pieces and defeats an entire army of enemies on his own. He falls in love with Delilah, who overpowers him by discovering his secret. In certain Christian traditions, Delilah is interpreted as Satan, who tests Samson (Caesarius of Arles, 5th/6th century).

The unlockable character Eden is named after the Garden of Eden, the décor of the biblical stories of Genesis 2–3. God entrusts the newly created humans with the care of the garden. They are free to do anything they want, except to eat from the tree of good and evil. They nevertheless do just that and suddenly becomes aware of their nakedness. The reception of these stories has more often than not held the woman responsible for eating from the forbidden tree ( Tischler 2009, pp. 13–23 ). This could be the reason that Eden is a female unlockable character. In the Romantic area, the loss of innocence was seen as the loss of childlike innocence. In the videogame, Isaac is naked on all narratological levels. Child abuse can be regarded as a loss of innocence. This loss is not caused by the child’s own sins. It is caused by the sins of his parents. In a way, the child is the victim of the primordial sin, i.e., a sin committed by a parent—or by his first forefathers in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

Most of the unlockable characters are derived from the Bible. Together with his brother Abel, Cain is the main character in the story of Gen 4:1-16. Cain is the villain who kills his brother. Sacrifice plays an important role in this story. God accepts Abel’s sacrifice, but rejects that of Cain. The dominant interpretation in the reception of this biblical narrative is that Cain did not sacrifice the best of his flock, whereas Abel offered God the best fruits of the land. Because Cain did not offer the best he had God does not love him, and Abel falls victim to the ensuing quarrel between God and Cain. However, this idea is not mentioned in the text at all. The narratological plot of the biblical account points in a different direction: the problem is that there is no communication with Abel. Cain does not speak to his brother. By denying him all communication, Cain has already killed Abel, as it were, before the actual murder. In the Jewish Testament of Abraham (1st/2nd century), Abel is portrayed as a sun-like angel ( Van der Toorn et al. 1999, p. 2 ).

Unlockable characters can be used by the player to replay the game in another avatar, which usually not only differs aesthetically from the standard one, but is usually granted a number of perks or disadvantages.

Finally, there are the unlockable characters (see Table 2 ), who are either devils, or “unlucky figures” from the Old and New Testament narratives, unjustly condemned in the Christian tradition.

These references can be found even in the major bosses that the player encounters. Thus, there are the seven deadly sins—Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Pride, Lust, Greed, and Sloth—which take the form of Isaac himself, indicating the psychological nature of these sins. We find “the Harbingers” from the Book of Revelation, in multiple variations: Famine, Pestilence, War, Death, Conquest, and “the Headless Horseman”. Other bosses are clearly physically inspired by medieval demons, including horns and inverted crosses, called “the Dark One”, “the Adversary” (from the Biblical book of Job), “The Fallen”, and “the Duke of Flies” (a reference to the figure of Beelzebub , a Philistine deity from the Old Testament, dismissed by Jesus in the New Testament as “the Lord of the Flies”).

The category of “passive collectibles” (items that provide automatically applied bonuses) also contains the same two sources of inspiration. On the one hand, there is the “Blood of the Martyr” (a crown of thorns worn by Jesus according to the Biblical narratives), a “cat-o-nine-tails” (an implement similar to that used to flog Jesus), a “halo” (with which Catholic saints are traditionally depicted), “Guardian Angel”, “Seraphim” (a certain group of angels from Christian lore), the “Eucharist”, “Jacob’s ladder” (from Gen. 28:12), a “rosary”, “holy water”, Longinus” spear (also known as the “Spear of Destiny”) and a “Holy Grail”. On the other hand, we find “Abaddon” (a pentagram), a “Ouija board”, “Judas’ Shadow”, “leprosy”, “Lord of the Pit” (inverted cross), “Succubus” (male demon) and the “Eye of Belial” (demon from the Old Testament).

However, there are also numerous references to satanic lore, another one of McMillen’s 2012 ) sources of inspiration. The designer has spoken about the “witch hunt” by conservative Christians in the 1980s against everything considered non-Christian, and the categorical labelling of such elements as “Satanist”. Thus, there is the(the third book of The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey, 1969), the(a compilation of technical and medical recipes and magical formulas used in Wiccan circles), the(ditto), the(H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional grimoire), and the

As Isaac flees his theomanic mother, who is clearly inspired by the figure of Abraham in the Genesis narrative, we see numerous references to Christian lore. It is not necessary to give an exhaustive list of all items and entities that contain religious references; a few examples will suffice. The category of “active collectibles” (items that can be activated for bonuses) contains Christian objects like the Bible (which instantly kills the Mother Monster at the end of the game), the Book of Revelation (increases chance of finding special devil/angel rooms in the chapters), and the Dead Sea Scrolls (randomly activated item).

The game itself (excluding for the moment the (post)prologue/epilogue and the various alternative endings) is littered with references to the Christian tradition in general and Roman Catholicism in particular. Ludologically, the player’s only goal is to work his or her way through different levels in six different chapters. Narratologically, the player—Isaac—delves deeper and deeper into the abyss under the rug in his bedroom, until he is finally able to slay his deranged mother, who is depicted in a dehumanized form, as a real monster who needs to be defeated. The different chapters—Basement/Cellar, Caves/Catacombs, Depths/Necropolis, Cathedral/Sheol, and Chest/Dark Room—evoke the idea of descent in general, and in particular the psychological notion of descending into one’s own soul in the search for deeper personal understanding, in combination with the Christian notion of hell and the underworld (the Hebrew/Jewish sheol ) as a place where the wicked are punished.

Seen in this light, BoI not only contains criticism of religion, but is also a psychological coping strategy in which Isaac tries to come to terms with living with an abusive mother. In this context, religion is not the cause of the abuse, but the narrative form in which the coping mechanism can take place. While the prologue/epilogue and the game itself appear to end with the victory of Isaac, the post-prologue and, especially, the epilogue seem to suggest the opposite: Isaac cannot stop his mother with his fantasies and is at his mother’s mercy. Even though we are not shown what his mother does to him, we do not have to think long to understand that Isaac shares the fate of his Biblical name-giver, but without reprieve through divine intervention.

This would mean that “the voice from above” his mother hears exists only in Isaac’s fantasy, just as his own supposed sinfulness and the corresponding double punishment of the removal of his belongings and his isolation. Even the divine intervention, the Bible that falls on his mother’s head, is an expression of Isaac’s hope that his terrible situation will end in a satisfying way.

If this is indeed the case and it is true that everything stems from Isaac’s imagination, then the whole idea of his mother’s motivation for her abusive behaviour may also have been invented by Isaac. Confronted with an evil mother, Isaac looks for a rationale to understand —only up to a certain point of course—her behaviour towards him. As Isaac and his family are familiar with Christianity, Isaac may have chosen a biblical story, well known to him, that mirrors his own situation. By altering the traditional plot of the biblical “binding”, a story that includes a “hero” with whom he shares his name, Isaac can construct a fantasy in which he not only provides a “sensible context” for his mother’s behaviour, but also makes sure that he comes out on top.

His “post-prologue” and “post-epilogue” deliver a new interpretive layer to BoI’s narrative. Everything we have seen in the prologue/epilogue, including the game in between, seems to be the product of Isaac’s imagination, as drawn on sheets of paper in his bedroom. Everything the player has encountered, including the hours of gameplay, could be reinterpreted as Isaac’s psychological attempt to come to terms with an apparently abusive mother who wants to hurt him badly.

The epilogue also has a kind of double ending. Initially, it seems that Isaac has defeated his mother by means of the Bible which falls on top of her. However, we then see Isaac again, depicted in full-colour, as he stands in his room, a fly hovering next to him. The door of his room is flung open and a silhouette appears in the doorway, resembling Isaac’s mother, including a raised butcher’s knife. The screen fades to black, without showing what happens next.

As has been seen, both the prologue and epilogue have alternative endings, which we have so far ignored to avoid confusion. The prologue consists only of primitively hand-drawn pictures, probably done by Isaac himself. This intuition is fed by the real ending of the prologue, in which we see Isaac—in full colour instead of the black and white rendering of the previous drawings—as he laughs in the middle of his room. He holds a white sheet of paper in his hand, and he folds this before disappearing. We see other drawings hanging on his wall in the background. Again, a fly hovers before the camera.

The story of The Binding of Isaac could just have stopped here. McMillen would have made his main points: religion should be criticised for fostering blind obedience instead of critical thinking, and children especially risk becoming the primary victims of the religious zeal of their parents. In this perspective, religion appears as a form of legally and socially accepted child abuse. However, the prologue/epilogue and the game are only the first two of a total of four narratological layers.

2.5. The Ending Narratives

When the player has successfully defeated the Mother Monster in the game, he reaches the epilogue (and post-epilogue) discussed above. However, BoI is a game that strongly stimulates multiple playthroughs, thanks to the randomly generated dungeons and the high number of unlockables. Once the player has succeeded in beating the game again, twenty different endings can be found. These endings can be unlocked by defeating certain enemies who function as end bosses. Some endings provide ludological bonuses, e.g., passive items or unlockable characters (see Table 3 ).

Narratologically, however, they provide numerous possible endings to Isaac’s story, just as McMillen himself stated (2012). When all 21 endings are considered, including that of the (post-) epilogue, a new interpretation proposes itself concerning Isaac’s “real story”, even if major uncertainties have to be accepted. We examine them more closely below, while trying to fit them into the larger narrative of BoI.

Endings 1–11 present Isaac finding a chest, which he opens to find something (or someone) inside. Endings 12–20 present Isaac in different settings, some of which feature chests, while others do not. In the majority of cases, the ending represents danger to or death for Isaac, contrasting with the “happy” outcome of the main game and its epilogue.

Endings #2 (glue) and #7 (syringe) show Isaac picking up either rubber cement or a syringe from the chest, followed by a visibly deranged Isaac who is clearly under the influence of an intoxicating substance. Endings #3 (noose) and #4 (hanger) suggest either suicide or murder. We see Isaac hanged or with a twisted hanger driven through his head. The noose in ending #3 is reminiscent of Judas (Iscariot), whom we also encountered earlier as an unlockable character. According to Matthew 27:3–10, Judas committed suicide by hanging himself after betraying Jesus. However, in contrast to Judas, the Isaac of the video game is not a traitor. He commits suicide—something he should not do.

It is remarkable that the player of the video game cannot see Isaac’s face in the video game. He sees him from behind only. This implies that there is no possibility of face-to-face-contact. The way in which the child hangs in the noose is an expression of the impossibility of any communication. In this way, the Isaac of the video game is more like Abel than Judas Iscariot. In the version of Acts 1:18–19, however, Judas dies because his belly bursts open and his intestines fall out.

Ending #5 (mother) is about a hand—seemingly Isaac’s mother’s—which comes from inside the chest, grabs Isaac, and pulls him in, while demonic laughter is heard. In the biblical narrative, the hand of Abraham plays a role in the slow motion just before the slaughter of Isaac. While Abraham’s hand stretches out and grabs a knife, the hand in ending #5, which must be Isaac’s mother’s hand, stretches out and grabs her son. While Abraham’s hand is stayed, the mother’s hand is not.

Ending #6 (vomit) shows Isaac throwing up into the chest as he sees something inside it, followed by explosions, so that Isaac’s fate remains unknown. Ending #8 (quarter) is one of the few endings that produce a good outcome for Isaac: he is rewarded with a quarter (coin) that gives the player a financial head-start at the beginning of every run-through.

Endings #18 (cave 1) and #19 (cave 2) show Isaac getting trapped inside a cave because of falling rocks that block the only entrance. When the debris is cleared, apparently after a very long time, we see a zombie-like Isaac smiling at the camera. These two endings can be interpreted as a reverse Lazarus story (John 11:1–54). Whereas Lazarus is inside the grave, and the stone that closes the grave is removed so that he is able to come out, the child goes the opposite way: he enters the grave and is trapped inside by a multitude of stones at the entrance of the grave.

Super Meat Boy ( caedo , “to kill”) or “killing of the womb” (Latin ventus , “womb” + caedo ). The Endings #9 (foetus), #10 (???) and #11 (heart) are all connected to infanticide. While the “Dr. Fetus” from Ending #9 is also a reference to McMillen’s earlier game McMillen 2010 ), the foetus-in-a-jar is a reference to abortion. In Ending #10, Isaac finds a blue doll that resembles himself, with two crosses for eyes (just like the defeated mother from the epilogue). The blue colour could be a reference to “blue baby syndrome” that leads to cyanosis in infants because of heart failure. Ending #11 shows Isaac looking into the chest only to see something that scares him terribly. Behind him a heart is shown in the form of Isaac himself, shouting loudly. The music played while defeating this unlocked boss (dubbed “It Lives” in the game) is called “ventricide”, a made-up word denoting either “killing of the heart” (English “ventricle” + Latin, “to kill”) or “killing of the womb” (Latin, “womb” +).

In Ending #12 (light), Cain, Mary Magdalene, Judas Iscariot, Eve, and Azazel appear (all unlockable characters). The Isaac of the video game is placed in the company of these “bad guys”, these “losers” in the biblical narratives. He joins them voluntary. The décor in which the Old Testament figures of Cain and Eve appear consists of large intestines. Are they a reference to the intestines of the big fish in which Jonah stayed for three days and nights? Jonah experienced a rebirth by emerging from the fish’s intestines. This could imply that joining the group of unlockable characters is a form of rebirth for the Isaac of the video game too.

Ending #13 (Bible) sticks to the Biblical setting. Isaac reads the Bible and looks into a mirror. Mirrors are rarely mentioned in the Bible. 1 Cor 13:12 uses the image of a mirror to explain that we cannot yet see the final salvation because we currently see in the dark, but that, when salvation will be fully realised, we will no longer see any vague reflection, but salvation itself. The child appears to gain some kind of knowledge or insight from reading the Bible. The insight in question could be two things. (1) Isaac comes to think in the same way his mother does, implying consent to being sacrificed. The devilish version of himself in the mirror perhaps points to this interpretation. Isaac agrees with his mother that he is sinful and must be sacrificed, thus mixing his mother’s first two “motivations” in the prologue with the third one (proof of loyalty to God). (2) Isaac believes the exact opposite: he disagrees with his mother, which in fact would be in accordance with the biblical story in Genesis 22:1-19. The ending gives no clues as to which option it is. The simple fact of reading the Bible does not in itself give any information about someone’s faith. It is not about the act reading the Bible as such, but about how the act of reading the Bible is performed.

Ending #16 (crying) also incorporates a kind of self-identification of Isaac. Isaac is lying in the chest, again in a foetal position, just as in the epilogue. He is crying silently, but his breathing becomes louder, indicating a lack of oxygen in the chest. Then, he is changed into a demon, who smiles frantically into the camera.

Endings #15 (missing) and #17 (skeleton) both indicate that Isaac has run away from home, #17 that Isaac has hidden himself in the chest in his room. In #15, we see a missing persons poster nailed to a pole beside Isaac’s house. Isaac’s mother can be seen standing on the other side, apparently looking for her son. After the missing persons poster of Ending #15, in #17 we see an unknown figure, probably Isaac’s mother, opening the chest and finding Isaac’s bones, covered in cobwebs, indicating that he has been there for a very long time. Ending #17 continues with Isaac opening the chest in an unknown, ghoulish, grey countryside. His shadow grows into a vampire-like figure that screeches at Isaac.

Without a doubt, the most insightful endings are Endings #14 (pictures) and #20 (final). Both endings feature polaroid pictures with their distinctive white passe-partout. In Ending #14 we see a stack of pictures disappearing in the distance, with a typical dungeon from the game in the background, although there is nothing in it. The fact that the pictures disappear makes it increasingly difficult to see the details of the subsequent pictures. We see the following scenes. (a) Mother, Isaac (fully dressed) and a male figure, probably Isaac’s father, who is not seen or heard anywhere else in the game. (b) Isaac’s mother with an unknown female child, who is not seen or heard anywhere else in the game either.

(c) A naked Isaac in his room with a devilish, dark figure in the corner in the back, who resembles Isaac’s silhouette with the hanger through his head (Ending #4). (d) Isaac’s mother and father smiling at each other as they hold hands. (e) Isaac (dressed) outside, alone. (f) A naked Isaac crying, sitting beside a closed chest. (g) Isaac’s mother holding a knife in her hand as she did in the prologue, epilogue, and post-epilogue. However, we cannot see who she is threatening with the knife: Isaac, Isaac’s father/her husband, or someone else? (h) Isaac and his mother look through a window at an unidentified person outside, perhaps his father. (i) The text “the end” appears.

The final Ending #20 is the most elaborate, in which various other endings re-appear and are recontextualised. We see the following scenes. (a) A naked Isaac lies in a chest, breathing heavily (cf. Ending #16). (b) A naked Isaac smiles as he draws pictures in his room, but he is interrupted by the sound of two people having a violent argument, probably his parents. (c) A drawing of Isaac’s home (cf. prologue) with the words “we lived here”. The past tense is intriguing. (d) A naked Isaac in a chest, now crying silently (cf. Ending #16). (e) Isaac, himself unseen, sees his mother weeping silently in front of a television (switched off) as she sits on the couch (cf. prologue). (f) Isaac is still in his chest crying, his breathing becomes heavier (cf. Ending #16).

(g) Isaac holds a polaroid picture (cf. Ending #14) of himself and his mother and father, but the father has been burned out. There is a chest full of other half-burned polaroids in the background. We see various pictures drawn by Isaac on the wall of Isaac’s room: a chest, their house, a cat, Mary Magdalene (perhaps his unseen sister; cf. Ending #12), and Isaac with devil’s horns, including an arrow pointing to him with the word “me” (cf. Ending #16). (h) Isaac in the chest once again, turning blue (cf. Ending #10).

(i) A wall full of polaroids and drawings. The polaroids show the following scenes: Isaac together with his mother and father, and Isaac with his mother (cf. Ending #14). The drawings are of the following things: Isaac’s home; Isaac with a cat; Isaac playing with his father; Isaac witnessing a fight between his parents; Magdalene/his sister having fun; Isaac’s mother with a knife looking very angry; two drawings of Isaac as a devil/vampire (cf. Ending #17), with the words “me”, “bad”, and “I am the devil”; a pentagram with the word “bad”; and Isaac and his mother lying dead in their own blood, with a black devil/vampire standing on Isaac’s body.

(j) Isaac’s skeleton lying in the chest, with cobwebs. The chest is opened by an unknown person, probably his mother (cf. Ending #17). (k) Isaac’s home with a withered wanted poster on the pole (cf. Ending #15), eventually blown away by the wind. (l) After a fade-out and a fade-in, we see Isaac’s silhouette in a ghoulish grey countryside (cf. Ending #17), as it walks away into the horizon.

The various endings, especially Endings #14 (pictures) and #20 (final), permit us to reconstruct Isaac’s “true” story, although many uncertainties remain. Isaac lives happily with his father and mother in their “house on the hill”, until Isaac’s parents experience marriage problems. These family problems may be connected to the “missing” female character in the pictures, present in-game as the unlockable character Magdalena, probably Isaac’s sister who seems to have vanished. Perhaps Isaac’s sister died, putting an enormous strain on the relationship between her parents.

The fights between Isaac’s parents intensify, until something happens that provokes Isaac’s mother to force her husband/Isaac’s father out of their home by wielding a kitchen knife. The father walks out of their lives, seemingly never to return again. Isaac’s mother is—understandably—very sad about the separation (which may or may not have resulted in a civil divorce), and her son Isaac sees her in her sorrow, and blames himself for the situation (as happens from time to time with children of divorced parents).

Isaac, having been brought up in a Christian context, tries to find a familiar form or narrative that can help him cope with his mother’s sadness, the divorce between his parents, and his self-blaming. He chooses the Biblical story from Genesis, probably because of the similarity in name: Isaac. Mixing reality and childish fantasy, Isaac comes up with a story in which he is punished by his theomanic mother who believes she is acting out God’s will to purify her corrupt/sinful son.

Eventually, Isaac manages to hide permanently from his mother, whom he now regards as violent towards him. Even though his mother tries to find her lost son, she does not find him soon enough to prevent him suffocating in his toy chest. Then, Isaac walks the plains of the afterlife, leaving behind his parents in sorrow and with countless questions. We could even imagine that, while the divorce between his father and mother triggered Isaac’s self-blaming, the death of their child causes them even more stress, perhaps leading them to blame themselves for the death of their child.