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The best way to refresh The Binding of Isaac for long-time players is to consider using mods. The Steam Workshop is the best place to download the best Isaac mods, but if players have the most recent DLC Repentance installed, they may need to wait for a patch or downgrade to Afterbirth to make many of these mods functional. For those who don’t have Repentance, most mods should work completely fine.

Updated April 27, 2022 by Erik Petrovich: Since the release of Binding of Isaac Repentance mods have been slowly getting updated to work with the current (and theoretically final) build of the game. The most well-known mods from Binding of Isaac versions past are finally available again, but a new wave of modders have some ideas of their own. Now, players can drive a car in Binding of Isaac to mow down the monstrosities of the basement and beyond, and a ton of custom animation packs constantly show up on the game’s official Workshop page. As always, when trying to mod Isaac Repentance, keep in mind that many still do not work as they haven’t been updated in years. For the most part, the mods listed below will work just fine with the new DLC.

16 Car: The Automobile

There are a lot of ways to get through the infinitely generating dungeons of The Binding of Isaac, but driving a car around the hellish underground? That’s always been out of the question - until now. With the mod aptly titled Car: The Automobile players can cruise around hotspots like the Burning Basement and the Scarred Womb in style.

The car can ram enemies, break rocks and doors, and goes much faster than the regular characters in the game. It’s worth checking out for the Eurobeat soundtrack that comes with it.

15 Colored Stat HUD Icons

The stat icons in vanilla Binding of Isaac: Rebirth leave something to be desired. It’s hard to quickly reference stats when using items that change them constantly, like several of the Mushroom-themed items. The Colored Stat HUD Icons mod recolors these all to be unique and easily differentiated from one another.

Each stat has a unique color, and stats that have similar coloration are separated by one that contrasts in between. It’s one of the best Binding of Isaac mods for improving the HUD, though it does take a little getting used to the simplified shapes of these new icons.

14 POG For Good Items

POG For Good Items is a mod that nobody asked for but serves its purpose perfectly. The latest (and last) DLC for the game, Repentance, created a new behind-the-scenes item rarity system that ranks every item in the game on a 0 to 4 scale. Every item that has a rarity of 3 or higher will cause Isaac to make the infamous poggers face when close by.

There is another mod, called The POGGING of Isaac, which enables the over-the-top reaction for characters permanently. It kind of loses its charm after a while, though. It’s especially funny if you forget the mod is installed, enter a room with a good item, and get surprised with Isaac’s take on the most famous Twitch emote of all time.

13 Animated Items…

If there’s one thing that The Binding of Isaac isn’t lacking in, it’s its art style. Whether playing with vectorized graphics or the original pixel-art style of the game, there’s just something about the classic Flash animation aesthetic to the whole experience.

Animated Items takes this to another level, giving more than 80 items in the game custom animations. For example, the Magic Mushroom rotates, The Ludovico Technique eyeball looks around the room, and Spider items will blink. It’s a small change, but something that adds another level of creepiness and life to the already beautiful game.

12 …And Animated Costumes

Similar to the Animated Items mod, Animated Costumes changes how certain items appear in-game. Items like Polyphemus and The Mind change the way Isaac looks, the former giving him a gigantic single eye and the latter making his brain poke out of his skull.

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Animated Costumes gives a variety of outfits throughout the game new flair. For example, X-Ray Vision glasses now shimmer, Polyphemus appears to glitter slightly, and The Mind makes Isaac’s brain swell in size constantly.

11 Hanging Dream Catcher

One of the most surprisingly useful items in The Binding of Isaac is the Dream Catcher. This item changes the introductory cutscene for each level of the basement, showing both the item in the treasure rooms and the boss Isaac will face on the floor to come. More often than not, players accidentally skip this altered cutscene thanks to muscle memory.

The Hanging Dream Catcher mod is simple – when a boss is defeated and the entrance to the next level is revealed, the Dream Catcher appears above the entrance. It’s a subtle reminder to players that they have the item, making it more useful than some other Binding of Isaac mods.

10 The Binding of Isaac: Vectorized

The Binding of Isaac: Vectorized is a fan-made visual enhancement to the sprites, items, and general artwork of the game. The Binding of Isaac has received lots of praise for its pixel art style, but vectorized art still looks much cleaner.

This is a great mod for players who want something fresh to look at, not necessarily to play. It overhauls countless models in the game, essentially giving every model the filter effect. It’s one of the best Binding of Isaac mods for aesthetics.

9 No More Breakfasting!

No More Breakfasting! is a simple mod that fixes one of the main gripes of the game’s randomization. Too often players will beat a boss, hope for an item that works with their build or provides something useful, only to be rewarded with Breakfast – a boring, bland, 1 HP up item.

This mod removes Breakfast from the item pool, making it more likely that players will find something actually useful. Having more health isn’t a bad thing, but it’s just not exciting.

8 Da Rules: A Sandbox Menu

Da Rules: A Sandbox Menu essentially turns The Binding of Isaac into a do-it-yourself dungeon designer. It allows the player to customize rules throughout the layers of the basement. These include how enemies function, which items and enemies will appear, and other niche rules that allow full customization of the game.

It’s one of the most creative mods to come out for the game. This mod essentially turns The Binding of Isaac into a dungeon designing game, not a roguelike.

7 Better Colored Stat Icons HUD

Better Colored Stat Icons HUD is another simple mod that makes the player HUD much more understandable. In the base game, each icon for the player’s stats is the same color, making it difficult to discern which stat the player is referencing at a moment’s notice.

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This mod adds a unique color to each of the HUD icons. Over time, it becomes far easier to tell which icon is which based entirely on its color, not its symbol, making it one of the best Repentance mods.

6 Better Character Menu

Better Character Menu overhauls the most-seen screen in the game: the character select screen. In the base game, this screen features sprites that aren’t exactly like the in-game sprites, and every character is in black and white.

With this mod, though, each available character is given its default in-game sprite. Each appears along with a colored name, to make it easier to quickly select a character for a new run.

5 Encyclopedia - An In-Game Wiki

The Encyclopedia mod for The Binding of Isaac adds an in-game library of information related to everything the player will come across. Explanations of enemies, levels, items, trinkets, chances, and everything in between can be found in this mod.

A major part of gameplay in The Binding of Isaac is constantly referencing fan wikis and item lists. This mod, though, reduces the number of clicks needed to access the same information – plus, players don’t have to tab out.

4 Dice Room Descriptions

Dice Room Descriptions, as the title might imply, adds a description to each Dice Room the player enters. While there are only six types of Dice Rooms, it’s difficult to remember exactly what each one does. When entering the room, text will appear on-screen describing exactly that.

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It’s a blessing for players who don’t want to waste time alt-tabbing to check what each room does – or for those who don’t want to risk everything on the wrong Dice Room. It’s a handy mod to have installed for getting through the game quickly, making it one of the best Binding of Isaac: Repentance mods.

3 External Item Descriptions

External Item Descriptions is one of the most useful mods for The Binding of Isaac. This mod adds text to the screen that describes the effects of every item in the game – pedestal items, trinkets, pills, cards, and everything else.

It won’t identify pills the player hasn’t already picked up. However, it will let them know what the pill is in the Shop if it has been picked up, which can help save some coin. Additionally, knowing what each item does greatly affects the chance that players will actually use those items. Usually, this mod tends to make a run much tighter in terms of time.

2 The Isaac of Isaac: Re-Isaac

The Isaac of Isaac: Re-Isaac is a hilarious mod from the creator of the famous YouTube video of the same name. The introduction to the game is normally the “Isaac… and his mother… lived alone… in a house on a hill.” cutscene. This mod, though, turns every character and referenced object in the default introductory cutscene to Isaac.

For example, the introductory line becomes, “Isaac… and Isaac… lived alone… in an Isaac on an Isaac.” It’s difficult to describe, but it’s a must-watch for any Binding of Isaac fan.

1 FPS Mode

The FPS Mode mod is one of the most unique mods ever to be released for The Binding of Isaac – or indeed, any 2D game. The mod turns the game into a first-person shooter, but it’s not a permanent effect. The player can toggle it on or off while playing the game.

For gamers who’ve wanted to play The Binding of Isaac as a DOOM-like game, this mod lets them do exactly that. It’s surprisingly free of bugs, and completely overhauls how a gamer gets through a run.

The Binding of Isaac is available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Series X|S

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