When Rebirth released, it was clear that it was a smash hit. So of COURSE they would capitalize on Rebirth’s success. For the record, I've never played Afterbirth standalone until this review. It’s a good DLC, no doubt, but the quality difference between Rebirth and Afterbirth is a bit apparent. Rebirth is an incredible game, but Afterbirth is just a good one. It doesn’t really change the formula at all, instead adding more to the core gameplay, which is totally fine as Rebirth is essentially a perfect game in my eyes. So, let’s hop into the Basement once more, shall we?

Okay, right off the bat, Afterbirth sports some improvements over Rebirth. Numerous items have been altered, usually for the better. Numerous items, including Dr Fetus and Bob’s Rotten Head have scaling damage now, an inarguable improvement overall. Lost Contact now allows familiars to block shots as well. Numerous items can be stacked now, like Mom’s Knife shooting two knives. Head of Krampus now rotates occasionally. That’s sort of annoying, but I’ll take it. Flush now one-shots all Poop-based bosses, neat. Most importantly, a lot of new synergies have been added to the mix, most notably to Dr. Fetus and Brimstone. But, arguably, the most important rework; Troll Bombs now explode at random intervals, fuck you. Jokes aside, Afterbirth added a whole lot of tweaks to improve the gameplay of Rebirth, which is pretty nice to say the least. Sacrifice rooms are actually good now, there’s a fuck ton of new room layouts, and now if you’ve unlocked It Lives, a Deal door on Womb 2 now actually has a deal! It’s a lot of minute shit, but hey, it’s nice to see. The two major additions of this expansion come in an entirely new game mode, and also an addition to the already existing campaign. We’ll cover the latter first.

By killing Mom’s Heart in under 30 minutes, you gain access to the... Blue Womb? It’s not a major floor, which is a bit of a shame. It has 2 treasure rooms, a shop, and the Boss door, which houses... Hush. Hush... is in a weird spot. I don’t hate him all too much, but I don’t really like him that much, either. First off, you start off with a Blue Baby fight, and then after he dies... the real Hush spawns? Okay... He shoots a million bullets, which are decently difficult to dodge. God, when does this boss end? He has so much HP! And now he’s attacking really fas- oh, and I died. Okay... Hush has had an issue since Afterbirth that makes him ridiculously fast if he gets to 50% HP, and while it doesn’t make the fight impossible by a long shot, it does make the fight occasionally irritating. When you get a continuum attack combined with his eye lasers, be prepared to take damage, because I 100%, zeusdeegoose guarantee you that it will happen. Aside from that, the fight is okay I suppose. It takes a little long... Actually now that I think about it, Mega Satan takes a little longer now. What’s up with that? Well, this is called “Boss Armor”, a mechanic introduced in Afterbirth which aims to make fights more challenging for those who have higher DPS in a single run. Depending on your DPS (and actual damage stat), about 9% of your attack’s original damage can get cut to compensate for you higher damage. It’s a bit of a dilemma. Sure, it levels the playing field for those who have slightly less than desirable runs, but on the other hand, it doesn’t really make bosses “harder”. In the end, it’s not really something to knock against the game since it really doesn’t affect you too much in the long term, but it is something that I should note here. Hush is kind of disappointing, but he’s a harmless side addition to runs. Once you kill him at least once, you get an ending which depicts Isaac dying once more in the Chest, and then seeing his new life in Purgatory. After that, we see his Mom opening the Chest, only to find his skeleton. The ending is skipped on subsequent runs, and instead lets you go to the Cathedral or Sheol, just like in a regular Womb run. I really wish that the Blue Womb was a full floor, like almost every other end-game floor. In the files, there’s actually some enemies that go totally unused in the game, which is a shame. Having a big, open floor with a bunch of enemies to kill before you fight a boss would be cool. But as is, it’s just fine. Hey, at least you get 2 extra items for doing it! So... what else is going on in Afterbirth?

Well, the Basement also received some new renovations! Introducing, the Burning Basement, Flooded Caves, the Dankest Depths, and the Scarred Womb. These aren’t wholly new floors, but they attempt to change the fundamental designs of each floor, somewhat akin to curses. For example, the Burning Basement focuses on grounded enemies, rather than flying enemies. The levels have entirely new aesthetics and enemies, and I really like what they did here. All of the remixes slap HARD. Kave Diluvii is among my favorite tracks in the game. It’s pretty groovy and relaxed compared to the normal Caves track. Afterbirth’s soundtrack meets the bar of Rebirth’s, and fits in perfectly with the older tracks. Great stuff overall. Speaking of Basement renovations, there’s new room layouts!!! Uh... New achievements... Shit... Looks like we have to talk about the elephant in the room, right?

Greed Mode is a bit of a controversial game mode. Many dislike it, and believe it’s removal would be a net positive. Perhaps my spiciest take on this site, Greed Mode... is actually really fun! Yeah, it can get repetitive, and it does have it’s issues, but I think it’s a solid alternative to the main game. Essentially, you’re in a large ass arena, with a treasure room, boss pool item, and a curse room. You collect coins for each round you pass, and you spend them in a shop which holds various infinitely respawning pickups, and also items and trinkets. What I like about Greed Mode is that they try to keep the original Isaac spirit in-tact. Not only is there still secret rooms and the like, you can still earn deals. Whilst deals are no longer earned from no-hitting floors, as that’d be far too difficult, instead, you have to clear an additional round of harder bosses, which is a solid tradeoff. In fact, compared to the regular modes, Greed mode promotes defensive builds. Angel deals are EXTREMELY overpowered in Greed Mode, because you can get tons of more items thanks to the guaranteed chance. And since Angel deals tend to give more HP, Devil Deals are essentially irrelevant. Hell, even Devil Deals got NERFED. Now they have a bunch of... out of place items? Seriously, why is Technology here? Good item, but why is it here? And since red HP infinitely restocks in the shop, and are cheaper than soul hearts, why would you even go for a soul heart build? As I was making my way down, I noticed something odd. There’s 2 new floors, the Shop and... Ultra Greed? Shop is your typical Greed Mode floor, minus the treasure room and Boss item room; a weird omission but I’ll allow it. And then, Ultra Greed, the final floor... is seriously awesome! First off, you fight Regular Greed and a few other bosses, most of which you’ll clap within seconds, but Ultra Greed is the main attraction. He’s a fast and dynamic fight, spinning around, throwing hundreds of projectiles at you, and the slot machine attack always forces you to move across the arena, lest he gain a gajillion enemies to fight for him, or even heal. Also, this fucking song. It’s probably one of my favorite fights in the game, if I’m being honest. But once you kill him, he drops a Greed Donation Machine, and you can all tell where this is going. Yep, you gotta fill it all up for 100%. And don’t be so hasty with your spending in previous floors. Greed Mode challenges you to deliberately take less items in order to get more cool ass unlocks. Risk vs Reward, anybody? I would praise Greed Mode if it weren’t for one, small issue. The game crashed whenever I got to 109 coins in the Donation Machine. Yeah, I have no idea why, but they fixed it now. At least I can earn the new unlocks in Greed Mode. It’s pretty standard for the most part. Eve holds the Razor, nickel shopkeep- THE LOST HOLDS MANTLE NOW??? 10/10 DLC, BUY NOW. Wait a second, when did they fix this? 109 hours after Afterbirth’s release? Perhaps it’s a coincidence, or maybe they’re poking fun at themselves. What else is there in this DLC... Oh! What about the improved collection page introduced in Afterb- Wait, what about the 109th item? It’s Money = Power, that’s been in Rebirth for a while now. Maybe I’ll check over it one last time. “Where are you”? Wait... The Lost earns the Holy Mantle? He was datamined, right? How many hours after release? 109?! No... this can’t be! A NEW CHARACTER???

Yes folks, you heard me right. An ARG took place spanning the course of over a month after Afterbirth’s release, involving phone calls to numbers with pre recorded voicemails, to discovering Imgur links by converting Achievement text to ASCII code, to finding a Twitter account with a password by digging up a mini-statue with the account name and the password with it. THAT is fucking dedication right there, and really shows that they cared about Afterbirth’s release. But... who’s this new guy? Or, before I get ahead of myself, who’s this new girl? Lilith, unlocked by slaying Ultra Greed as Azazel, is a very familiar-centric character, who can’t shoot tears, but instead fights with an Incubus. She also starts with Box of Friends, which doubles all of her Familiars. Aaaand, that’s it! She’s not a terribly deep character to play. You essentially double your damage each time you use Box of Friends, and that’s it. Fighting with the familiar can be pretty disorienting at times, and exploding tears may as well be a death wish for those who dare pick them up with Lilith. If you unironically grab Dr. Fetus with Lilith, you are a US Marine, my friend. But, other than that, she’s decently fun. Anyways, the main attraction. The motherfucking KEEPER. Keeper is the Rebirth Lost of Afterbirth. The bottom-tier bitch that everyone hates to play as, except the Isaac die-hards who suck Edmund off daily. The Keeper has 2 “coin hearts'' and cannot gain anymore (he only heals with coins), which counts as red heart damage, meaning you cannot get hit for deals, and he has shit stats, but at least he has a triple shot. Yeah, he fucking sucks, Obviously. But the only reason I’m not raging out of my ass is that he holds the Wooden Nickel at a certain point, an activated item that has a 50/50 chance to drop a coin. The sad part is that he also has some pretty bad unlocks, meaning there’s no reason to play as him, discounting 100%. Sure, Deep Pockets is okay I suppose, and got a little better in Repentance, but the rest are kind of duds, and Sticky Nickels are effectively a downgrade. And of course, you have to do all of his marks in Hard Mode for 100%, as well as all of the other character’s marks. Now you have to do Hush, Ultra Greed, and now Mega Satan, from Rebirth. And hey, now once you get all of a character’s marks, you get a secret! Aside from the usual “pick up every item”, “do every challenge” stick, Afterbirth 100% is pretty relaxed compared to Rebirth. There aren't many achievements which you'll need a guide to get; in fact, the only miscellaneous achievement is Blinding Baby, which requires you to use Blank Card with The Sun. Sure, The Keeper may suck the biggest dildo imaginable, but other than that, this isn't too hard! In fact, they made some achievements easier, such as The Lost's unlocks, and getting Super Meat Boy and Bandage Girl! In fact, it's kind of… too easy? Now that The Lost is free-er than oxygen, not much stands between you and 100%. Keeper is mildly annoying, but if you can kill Hush as The Lost, you can definitely do it as The Keeper. Some challenges can be hellish, like Brains, but it's far from difficult. I'm surprised that they didn't double down on the difficulty, but eh, nitpicks, nitpicks. And with that, 100% in Afterbirth is finally ACHIEVED! Oh, yeah, 1001%! And the game called me a nerd, fuck you.

Afterbirth isn't as good as what came before it, that being Rebirth, but I think it was still a solid update to a phenomenal game overall. Sure, it might not be as groundbreaking as said predecessor, but treading new grounds wasn’t needed as Rebirth was already a damn good game to begin with. Afterbirth could only really add to said greatness, and I think that it works overall. Still as addictive as ever, and a pretty fun video game. But there’s one question that lays within everyone’s minds. What happens after a postpartum? A… postpartum… Plus… oh, I am in hell.

“The Keeper of fate / Greed overwhelms, grasps the helm / Much wealth harms the health” - “Afterbirth” by zeusdeegoose, Written on 4/22/24