Permanent death of a character is one of the most extreme punishments a game can dole out. In The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, a rare balance is struck where its brutal bullet-hell difficulty isn’t a punishment, but an opportunity to see something totally new. Because of excellent randomization and seemingly endless content, I’m still seeing items, bosses, and entirely new types of dungeons even after 30 hours of gametime. And, every so often, I pause for a moment and appreciate that I’m playing as a traumatized, naked child who’s destroying poop monsters and zombie babies by crying on them because his crazy mother tried to kill him. So it’s something we can all relate to.

Personal note: The time I’ve spent with Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has been non-stop fun and surprises, with just a tad too much frustration when I lose a rare item. But even when it slaps me down harder than I’d have liked, starting again is always a treat, because I’m likely to discover something new and darkly comedic. That’s plenty of motivation to keep right on playing this amazing game.