The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a roguelike game released in 2014, designed by Edmund McMillen, developed and published by Nicalis. It is a remake of The Binding of Isaac.

Plot
Isaac and his religious mother lived alone on a small house on a hill. One day, while Isaac’s mom is watching Christian broadcasts on her TV when she hears the voice of “God”. The voice says that Isaac is filled with sin and that he needs to be saved, so Mom takes away all of Isaac’s toys and clothes. The voice calls to her a second time and tells her to lock Isaac away from the evils of the world, so she locks him in his room. The voice calls to Mom one more time, telling her to sacrifice Isaac to prove her devotion to God. As Mom grabs a butcher’s knife from the kitchen and heads to his room, Isaac finds a trapdoor under the rug under his bed. Panicking, Isaac jumps down the trapdoor and falls down into the monster-filled basement below.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Tons of replay value thanks to everything being randomly generated making the game very addicting.
 * 2) Tons of fun and unique items.
 * 3) *Brimstone lets Isaac shoot a red laser from his mouth. It's powerful, but it reduces Isaac's tears stat.
 * 4) *Ipecac lets Isaac lob green, explosive balls. But the lowered tears stat is not the only concern. The tears' explosions can hurt Isaac.
 * 5) *Dr. Fetus and Epic Fetus let Isaac shoot bombs and rockets respectively. They synergize with Isaac's bomb effects.
 * 6) *The Wafer lets Isaac only take one half heart of damage from most sources of damage.
 * 7) *The Bible not only grants flight, it can also defeat Mom and Mom's Heart/It Lives.
 * 8) The soundtrack by Ridiculon, while not as charming as Danny Baranowsky's soundtrack for the original game, is good.
 * 9) Multiple playable characters with differing stats and abilities.
 * 10) *Isaac, while not feeling special at first, can start with a D6 (if unlocked) that lets him reroll items. Good for when you don't like the item shown on a pedestal.
 * 11) *Magdalene has 4 hearts compared to Isaac's 3, and she starts with the "Yum Heart!" item heals her by one whole heart.
 * 12) *Cain starts with Lucky Foot which adds +1 to the luck stat and increases his chance of winning from things like Beggars and Slot Machines.
 * 13) *Judas starts with Book of Belial. This item increases his damage stat for one room.
 * 14) *??? is a character with slightly better stats than Isaac. It cannot have Red Hearts; health up items just add Soul Hearts to the 3 Soul Hearts it already starts with. Starts with an item that summons a pile of poop.
 * 15) *Eve starts with Whore of Babylon and Dead Bird. These items activate when she takes damage and when she has at most one red heart respectively.
 * 16) *Samson has Bloody Lust. The more damage Samson takes, the more damage he deals. This lasts for the current floor.
 * 17) *Azazel can fly and shoots a short-range Brimstone. Starts with 3 Black Hearts.
 * 18) *Lazarus starts with an extra life. If he dies, he'll come back as Lazarus Risen, with greater stats.
 * 19) *Eden is random. Random stats, random items and random look.
 * 20) Even if the pixel-art graphics have a different feel compared to the original game, the graphics are not only drawn well, they were also with multiple redesigns in Repentance.
 * 21) Devil Rooms that have a higher chance of appearing if you take no red heart damage on a floor encouraging cautious play, and so do Angel Rooms.
 * 22) Devil Deals where you can give up health for powerful items, and Angel Rooms where you can fight a boss by blowing up the statue.
 * 23) Multiple cool final bosses that feel unique, such as Mom, as her fight is in a room with 4 doors, and you have to avoid both what comes out of the doors and her foot stomping on Isaac sometimes.
 * 24) Challenging difficulty.
 * 25) An interesting take on Christianity.
 * 26) Greed Mode: A enemy rush mode centered on clearing waves of enemies for coins is a fun time.
 * 27) Tons of things to unlock. The Steam version of the game has 637 achievements!
 * 28) Pills that can give random effects, and Tarot Cards, where some refer to Major Arcana cards.
 * 29) Fun bosses, especially Mom, Mom's Heart/It Lives,.
 * 30) It got 3 expansions that add tons of new content. Repentance is the biggest of them all due to adding almost everything from the popular mod Antibirth and adding even more to the game's story; you can make Isaac return to his home!
 * 31) Tons of challenges that place certain handicaps on you or give you a unique load out.
 * 32) Loads of mods from the Steam Workshop page to boost your gameplay experience and maybe even get a few laughs.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some items range from mediocre to flat out detrimental. Thankfully, some, like Aquarius and Holy Water, were buffed in Repentance.
 * 2) Some characters have flaws that make them a bit difficult and frustrating to play as:
 * 3) *???, prior to being buffed in Repentance, was rather weak because the added difficulty was not traded off for any interesting mechanics.
 * 4) *The Lost was the worst character prior to Afterbirth, because he didn't start with any special items or abilities other than being able to fly, and it doesn't help that he dies in a single hit.
 * 5) *Jacob and Esau can be quite difficult to manage, since you have to control and maintain two characters at the same time.
 * 6) Some challenges are awful and/or not really worth it (such as SPEED! or BRAINS!).
 * 7) The expansions cost a few dollars too much.
 * 8) Greedier Mode is just greed mode with more enemies, less coins rewarded, and a tedious 2nd phase for Ultra Greed.
 * 9) Much like Noita, the random factor can and will screw you over, sometimes resulting in difficulty spikes.
 * 10) Certain mods, or mods in general, could cause the game to crash on startup or during a run. However, it's excusable, since it's normally a problem with the mod itself and not the game.