MEGA UPDATE! (afterbirth #5)

this will be a bit of a larger update than usual so ill break it into smaller chunks.. first lets get the afterbirth stuff out of the way.



one of the more interesting features of afterbirths main game is “alt chapters”

as many of you know the game currently features alt chapters for each existing level set ie the basements counter part is the cellar. each alt chapter has its own set of levels, themes and enemies that are semi exclusive to it, i wanted to add more stuff like this with out muddying things up by actually making a full 3rd alt for each existing chapter set.

in afterbirth each chapter set will feature a variant that will go over the top of whatever theme you are currently playing.so regardless of if you are in the cellar or basement there is a small % chance that whatever level you are in will become a new afterbirth alt.

im not going to spoil them all but we will start with the first,the burning basement/cellar.

aside from how different this alt looks it also features many different changes.-there is a high % chance that many different enemies will become “flaming alts” all new level alts will feature modded stats and new attacks-there is a small % chance that rocks will become fire pits. these seem like minor changes but in a lot of ways these new alt levels will act as “champion” variations of levels, making things slightly harder but also raising the possibility of more reward.

each new alt will also feature new music, visuals and effects.



i hope you didnt get lost in that update.. because thats kind of what id like to address.



now many of you already know this.. but for those of you that dont, its been over half a year since release and i think its time to address a spoiler that has been the talk of the town for quite some time now, a very hidden character called The Lost.

The Lost was part of a small community ARG i had designed for rebirth long ago, it involved people who had unlocked the missing poster to kill themselves inside the sacrificial rooms while holding it. doing so would yield a puzzle piece visual in the death screen, the 100s of these said pieces each go to one of 4 puzzles of death screens showing a specific character, what killed them and where. it was then the community’s job to arrange these in the correct order, then die ingame the same way the puzzles describe.

doing all of this would unlock the most difficult (and rewarding) character in the game, The Lost, a character that has 0 life and cant ever be touched by any enemy without dying instantly… to balance this i gave him flying and called it a day :).

we had hoped it would take months for this to be found let alone completed, but within 2 weeks the game was hacked and the secrets publicly spoiled. as you can imagine i thought that was kinda shitty, but honestly i half expected it to happen, just not as soon as it did.

so that brings us to where we are today, we have this playable character that was supposed to be so buried and unknown that i designed it to be to be this ultra hard iron man mode for only the most hardcore players, with a community of such die hard completionists that i simply didnt expect would be so driven to 110% a game like this…

truth be told, i think the lost is probably the most exciting aspect of the game… ive been playing as him for the last week and having more fun with the game than i ever have before… the lost totally changes the game and makes you rethink every items power level.. and that’s just good game design…sadly not every aspect of the lost reflects this.

so what do we do? how do we balance the most difficult challenge in rebirth so that it feels as rewarding but also feels a bit more fair… here are your options.

-The Lost starts with the D6 + speed up

-The Lost starts with the D6 + spectral tears

-The Lost starts with the D20 + speed up

-The Lost starts with the D20 + spectral tears

-The Lost starts with the D4 + speed up

-The Lost starts with the D4 + spectral tears

i personally think any of these edits will push the lost from an optional challenge most people dont want to admit exists to a more realistic challenge i think players will have a lot more fun diving into. please take the time to vote on reddit, tell me what you think about these changes. the lost is a community character and i really want to listen to the community when it comes to what changes will make you want to take the plunge into my personal favorite character in the game.



speaking of a challenge, were you aware that a few days ago wrath of the lamb got a free update that features quite a few fixes to the main game as well as a new optional “hard mode” (that should probably be renamed to Trololololol hell mode).

a few months back i got a message from florian saying he came up with a new champion alt to a boss he wanted me to check out. he got a new pc and was able to reopen the old isaac fla, and even though it still took ages to export a non broken swf he was still able to work in it again and was fiddling with alternate mega hard bosses that we called “eternal bosses”.

this casual mod turned into florians little passion project for the next few months, his goal… to make the most challenging and trolly version of isaac ever… and i think he succeeded in doing so.

now i wont say i think this mode is the most balanced thing in the world, because it is not, even in the slightest, but as an optional mode for an old game i thought, what the hell im sure there are more than enough sadists out there who like to be toyed with.

honestly though there are more than a few additions florian added that i think are quite interesting, and even though the hard mode isnt for everyone i think any isaac fan will get a kick out of just how randomly ridiculous some of the new additions are.

so if you own wrath of the lamb, knock the dust off it, lube up and give florians “fuck You Mod” a ride!





and finally, i did a little 2 hour interview with TinkTink recently that i think some of you will enjoy. i haven’t done an interview in a while so excuse my rambling!

next week… more info on something you want to know more about!!!

