The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls

The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls is a card game designed by Edmund McMillen, with additional designs by Danielle McMillen and Tyler Glaiel. Based on the indie video game The Binding of Isaac, players control one of several characters - Isaac, Judas, Maggy, or Cain (and others) - as they defeat bosses to collect Lost Souls. Each character has abilities that impact either them or other players, and players may work cooperatively to defeat bosses and enemies. The first player to acquire four souls wins. A Kickstarter campaign launched on June 27, 2018, and broke its funding goal of $50,000 within the first 1.5 hours.

The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls

Designer(s)	Edmund McMillen, Danielle McMillen, Tyler Glaiel
Publisher(s)	Studio71 US
Genre(s)	Card game
Language(s)	English
Players	2-4

Development

The game started development around 2017 when Studio71 US approached McMillen; Studio71 was in the process of making the Cyanide & Happiness card game, Joking Hazard, and had asked McMillen if he was interested in a board game variant of The Binding of Isaac. At that point, McMillen was still focused on developing The End Is Nigh and The Legend of Bum-bo, and declined the offer.[1] About a year later, McMillen had gotten the flu, and during his off-time, came up with a card game variant for The Binding of Isaac. After prototyping enough of the game for about two months, he recontacted Studio71 to work out the fuller details for the game.[2]

Studio71 had suggested the Kickstarter route for gaining funding for the game, as they had used that successfully for Joking Hazard. McMillen was wary, knowing that digital-based Kickstarters could fail, but agreed to using it as long as they had a nearly-ready product to be sold at the start of the Kickstarter, and that he could expand on the game by adding new cards when extended Kickstarter goal tiers were met.[2] Leading up to the Kickstarter in June 2018, McMillen had teased a new Isaac-themed game, and named it on June 25, 2018.[3] The Kickstarter, revealing that this was a card game, was launched two days later; within only a few hours of the launch of the campaign, the project was successfully funded, receiving its goal of $50,000 within the first 1.5 hours.[4] The Kickstarter ended with 38,335 backers pledging a total of $2,650,875. [5]

Release

The basic edition contains eleven characters, their starting items, 107 monster cards, 104 loot cards, 105 treasure cards, 3 bonus soul cards for advanced play, a six sided die, an eight sided die, 100 pennies, and the rulebook. A gold box edition of the game includes an expansion pack with 99 cards, including a random foil card, four characters and their respective starting items, 30 monster cards, 30 loot cards, and 30 treasure cards.[4] The game began shipping to backers in December 2018.

References

1. "'The Binding of Isaac' Wraps Up Game Deal". License Global. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
2. Calvin, Alex (July 3, 2018). "How The Binding of Isaac became a card game". PC Games Insider. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
3. "The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Announcement". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
4. Lanier, Liz (2018-06-27). "'Binding of Isaac' Card Game Kickstarter Launched, Funded in Under Two Hours". Variety. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
5. "The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-01-11.