I'd say that it relies on luck even more. All the included add-ons wipe out any subtle traces of balance that the original might have had. But it's fun to play anyway. Specially if you had already played the first BoI...
Otherwise, if you hadn't, it's better to try it first before playing this version.

Nope. It relies on luck even more. More content means more variance and more ways of being dealt a shitty (or overpowered) run.

TBoI tried to contain its RNG by buffing some of its shittier items and nerfing some of its most exploited mechanics. That helped. However, after getting so much content, and feeding it randomly to the player, these measures haven't made a clear impact on a global scale. TBoI is still a very RNG based game. It also requires skill, but often your skill gets overshadowed by luck (good or bad).

Every game inspired by TBoI managed to lessen the RNG amount of the roguelike part. TBoI is the most RNG based game of the genre it brought into fashion.

The last BoI DLC has one, very negative review, claiming it makes the game too easy and stuff.

So do the DLCs change the base game, or are they all "independent" in that sense?

Meaning, you can safely install all the DLCs and then start playing from the start?

EDIT: I seem to have the original version of Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb DLC on my Steam account, and possibly the DRM-free version of those in HumbleBundle. So apparently I don't have Rebirth + DLCs on Steam, so buying them from GOG makes sense to me, I guess.

It would have been nice if the original would have been included as an extra with the GOG version, but I guess it doesn't matter much. I have the DRM-free version of those in HumbleBundle then.

From what I understand:
* There are many things in the game that can appear at random. For example, the items you get are random. Note that the random items and other randomness you get can greatly affect the difficulty of a run, which can result in a difficulty scale ranging from trivial to nearly impossible.
* The main function of the DLC is that it will increase the number of items and other random things that can appear. Hence, there's more possible random things, and the chance of getting any single item will decrease due to the increased randomness.

Thanks, I'll avoid then. I'm sorry, but I feel the game should at least provide you with all you'll need for the first level if nothing else. I seem to remember it rarely giving you things you needed too. No bombs left? Here's some keys! Half of a heart left? Here's some coins! Many runs were lost simply due to it refusing to drop health. Ever. And no, half-way shitty gimmick items with situational uses are not a substitute. Basic resources should always be provided when empty.

Also, I really liked the original soundtrack...

so why is this isaac game any good?or is it just hype?

It's an unpopular opinion, but IMO Isaac was partially "riding" on the reputation made by Super Meat Boy/Meat Boy. And partially on its "aesthetics", but I would be far from calling this game "atmospheric".
In terms of gameplay - there are better mixes of roguelike and action games.

Truth be told, for me the title deserving of much more recognition and appreciation (from the same author) is Gish. A cool mix of platform game and (a bit) puzzle game. Unfortunately, at the moment the game is hard to get anywhere else outside of Steam and the Chronic Logic website:
https://www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htm

It was included many years ago in one of the first HIB bundles in the past. Time flies like crazy.

Can't say that I'm a big fan of this genre (nor specialist), but for those action and/or shooting type, I would highly recommend Nuclear Throne, Spelunky or Immortal Redneck (last one is FPS).

All three in my opinion are offering some fair challenge and in opposite to Isaac, most of lost runs are indeed lost because of some player's mistake, not due to lack of luck (although there are also some VERY unlucky runs, but they're relatively rare).

I'm going to dispute that review and claim that the last DLC is by far the best one. Here's the story as I see it: the original BOI (Flash version) was a fairly tough rogue-lite with a few exploits. When BOI:Rebirth came out, they made the game a LOT easier in many ways and essentially broke the original design. It became a "getting OP" simulator -- a game about breaking the game and painting the screen with your crazy combos - and it attracted fans who liked that kind of thing. You see, the unique thing about BOI is that it's one of the few games that allows you to pile on endless modifiers. And not minor modifiers either! That kind of thing can easily get out of hand, as you can imagine.

The author of BOI (Edmund) had no idea how to balance Rebirth: it was a gargantuan task. With each DLC he kept adding more insane stuff with serious power creep. There was just no challenge if you knew how the game worked.

The final DLC is the one that restored balance to the force (but not in the Anakin way). It was the first time that other people were authoring the DLC, and they had real solid ideas on how to restore balance to a broken game (I suggested some ideas to them as well). I highly recommend getting the final DLC, as it makes the game one of the best rogue-lites ever. Unfortunately you have to buy all the other DLCs to use the last one.

TBoI is a good game. It's different. It started a trend. It helped to push the indie scene.

However, being the first of the modern roguelike revival trend, it suffers from having some rough edges that practically every following successor managed to iron out. Specifically, too wild RNG, and frustration-based difficulty (curses, bad pills, antisinergies...).

TBoI fans don't consider those to be flaws, they embraced the RNG and crazy challenge and they enjoy them greatly. They kind of have a point, as TBoI still retains a different and unique style that make it stand out from other roguelikes. So it's still refreshing despite its age. It's just that it's not for everybody. I think that's where the mixed reviews come from.

If you want to get into roguelikes, Enter the Gungeon is a good example of a game that was clearly inspired by TBoI but managed to deliver a much more friendly gameplay. EtG lets you drop items so that antisinergies don't wreck your run, has no "negative" items, allows you to teleport between cleared rooms for easier backtracking, explains the effect of every item you pick, has randomness balancing mechanics (eg: guaranteed amount of guns per floor), and overall skill weighs more than luck. Clearly they made a checklist of things people didn't like about TBoI and tried to fix them.

Vote for more Nicalis published games:

1001 Spikes
>Trailer

'90s Super GP
>Trailer

Blade Strangers
>Trailer

Castle In The Darkness
>Trailer

Code Of Princess EX
>Trailer

Creepy Castle
>Trailer

Critadel
>Trailer

Crystal Crisis
>Trailer

HyperParasite
>Trailer

Knight Terrors
>Trailer

NecroLand: Undead Corps
>Trailer

NightSky
>Trailer

RemiLore: Lost Girl In The Lands Of Lore
>Trailer

Spectacular Sparky
>Trailer

Tiny Barbarian DX
>Trailer

Toribash
>Trailer

Wanna Survive
>Trailer

A really nice surprise, I was not expecting for this release in GOG. Really nice

Excellent releases, instabought both along with the Afterbirth DLC. Would love to see the original Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb release here as well, for completionist’s sake!

Too little too late Nicalis.

The Switch version of Cave Story is now definitive, and you seem to have no interest in updating the PC version to match, and I am still salty about Danny Baranowsky being removed from the Isaac remake in favor of an inferior soundtrack.