After 12 years of single-player exclusivity, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is getting ready to be played cooperatively.
Back when roguelikes were considered a niche genre, The Binding of Isaac was already dominating the place it was in. Thanks to its gritty design, randomized playthrough, and evenly paced difficulty curves, it was fun to play and hard to master. Although we have not heard of the title very much after the release of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, besides a few DLCs of course, developers sort of slowly halted the work on the beloved title.
The developer, Edmund McMiller, later worked on a spinoff game about the item dealer in The Binding of Isaac series. The turn-based title was well-received, yet it did not give the same taste as playing a roguelike that it was based on. To turn the attention back to The Binding of Isaac, the executive producer, Tyrone Rodriguez, posted a screenshot on Twitter, showcasing a cooperative mode for the main storyline. It does not surprise anyone that the game should have at least had another DLC or an update by now, yet it has not gotten any for so long.
This update is going to refresh the memories of lots of players while drawing in more people who have always wanted to try the game out. The reason for such an addition exists, probably because of how other single-player indie games grew more and more and expanded themselves into online gameplay as well. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was released at a time when roguelikes really started taking off, and surely we can consider it as one of the pioneers of the genre with the debut title.
For example, Stardew Valley, another very successful indie title, used to be single-player only. However, with the addition of multiplayer, the interest in the title kept piling up because of the element of playing with other people involved.
Cooperative mode is currently in the works and it is being made for the latest DLC of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Repentance. Edmund McMiller is also planning other changes and additions for the DLC extra as well, but currently, the main focus is on the multiplayer mode. There is no current date for its release, but it should not take too long since everything has been in development for the past few months now.
