Every year channel Nando V Movies invites essayists to talk about their favorite scenes on a specific topic and then adds all their videos to one playlist. This creates giant love letters that introduce us to moments from movies, TV series, and sometimes even video games. I wanted to join this, but for a long time I was having trouble with the past topics: "One Music Stage" And "One Villainous Scene". Which is very strange, because video games are full of cool music and treacherous bosses. For example, my dear Like A Dragon series is a wonderful combination of both. However, I did not have any personally impressive example to make a whole blog. until recently. I finally got to play the “final expansion” for one of my favorite games, The Binding Of Isaac . And it was this that gave me the boss, the villain, whom I continue to think about even when I turn off the screen.
Isaac and his Mom lived alone in a small house on a hill. Isaac drew and played with toys, and Mom watched Christian programs on TV. Life was simple and they were both happy. Until Isaac’s Mom heard a voice from above ordering her to kill her son. And she wasn’t going to refuse Lord. To save himself, Isaac went down to the basement and went on a dangerous journey into uncharted depths. Into the depths where. there are a lot of bosses, and they all know how to impress. Worms, excrement, demons — I remember my first encounters with each monster. Most of them, of course, are nothing more than obstacles in the player’s path. But some manage to stand out. As we descend deeper, we encounter thought-provoking creatures: non-human versions of Mom, Isaac as a hostile angel, a white face immodestly called “Madness,” etc.d. After defeating bosses of this type, cutscenes are shown, revealing to us. It’s not something that’s not obvious, but it’s something you don’t want to think about.
Of course, there are no caves, catacombs or cathedral under Isaac’s house. The Binding Of Isaac is a child’s fantasy. A child imbued with religious ideas, experiencing the divorce of his parents and blaming himself for all his sins. Those bosses I mentioned earlier reveal Isaac as a character: his lack of maternal love, self-loathing, and the traumatized, wild side of his psyche. I love this game for such images, and I’m sure the people who worked on the expansion Repentance, Same. So when creating a new boss, they most likely had a question: “How to make it as artistically rich as others?» Luckily, they found the answer, and it was quite simple. You use what is right in front of people’s eyes.
Repentance has added alternative paths to https://casinojettbet.co.uk/ the game, which contain most of the new content. One of these paths will lead us to Father’s note, which will start "Rise", The most obvious plot moment in the entire game. For the first time we have the opportunity to visit the locations in reverse order, and, rising higher and higher, we experience the most painful memory — a quarrel between our parents, associated with the religious mania of the Mother and the alcoholism of the Father. We walk several floors, return to the very beginning, and then we are greeted by. Isaac’s room. Not the strangest thing, because it could have been seen even in the depths. But everything seems. others. We leave the room, and we are not greeted by catacombs, but simply a corridor, a closet, a TV room and Mom’s bedroom. We go to bed, wake up in the middle of the night due to a terrible vision and approach the light in the middle of a dark house.
The first thing I will say is that this boss looks cool and very naturally. The Binding Of Isaac’s style strikes a balance between cartoonishness and gruesomeness. And some monsters, it seems to me, bend to one side or the other. But fighting this fetus made of noise, with its umbilical cord sticking out of the TV screen, feels right. This doesn’t mean that Dogma unoriginal. On the contrary, her design simply exudes attention to detail. If you apply certain effects to the boss, the interference will worsen dramatically. Sometimes Dogma turns into 4 images for a couple of seconds, symbolizing the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. And speaking of religious imagery, her attacks include features of both angelic and devilish objects. And this connection between holiness and darkness is emphasized by the sound design. Remember my whole tirade about “One Musical Stage” and so on and so forth? Well, Dogma has the most unique theme music I’ve ever heard. The song is filled with noise and interference, which after a while comes out like an explosion, emphasizing the full power of the boss. And after the destruction of the TV and the beginning of the second phase, the battle becomes unforgettable thanks to.
The cries of the preacher begin to be heard, warning of the wrath of God, saying that one must atone for one’s sins and that blasphemy is unforgivable! This voice passes from one ear to the other while we are trying to avoid the rays of light. By the way, they were perfectly described by a commentator on Youtube: “These rays sound like something heavenly and at the same time like inevitable death.”. And in the midst of all this beautiful cacophony, you may not hear the quiet reading of a psalm. Dogma tries to convey to us that in life and in death, God deserves our trust, while using the most sinister voice in the entire game (and by the way, the Devil is in it!):
Well, as you understand, this boss’s presentation is enough cool. But let’s return to the original question. Is Dogma "artistically rich"? Yes, absolutely. First of all, its concept is simply witty. Taking a phrase from the intro about “Christian broadcasts” and turning it into a monster—muah, beauty. Secondly, although the player has yet to fight the final boss, I think the most important moment in the game is the fight with Dogma. Let me be a literature teacher. As I said, The Binding Of Isaac is a child’s fantasy, and that fantasy is based on his worldview. In Isaac’s understanding, he is a demon, a sinner who deserves punishment from a higher power. He does not doubt the justice of his suffering, because it is more logical than the fact that the family can simply stop. But at one point Isaac decides to face reality, remember those terrible screams of his parents, which allows him to fly back up. He looks back on what he experienced, what story he created for himself, and wonders: “Where did it all begin?”?"The Ascension" is the beginning of Isaac’s doubts about the truth of his beliefs.
Beliefs that later take shape as Dogma, whose cries of God’s wrath now seem wrong. It becomes clear that the faith of the self-critical boy was distorted by television. The child’s curiosity, his love for monsters and dressing up turned into sins leading to eternal torment. And as soon as a family tragedy happened, this idea became true for Isaac. And that’s why it’s important to see that he resists Dogma. He understands that he does not deserve pain for his interests, that religion was used against him. And I hope he also stops blaming himself, because those shows played a bigger role in Mom’s bigotry and Father’s abandonment than any of Isaac’s hobbies. After defeat, Dogma turns into a cross of noise and falls on the hero, trying at the last moment to destroy him from the inside. But she fails, and for the first time Isaac himself becomes an angel. All that remains for him is to defeat his last figment of imagination, but not as a punishment, but as a final test.
I advise you to play The Binding Of Isaac. Not only because the gameplay is fun and you can spend hundreds of hours on it. Not only because, in fact, I NOT spoiled a lot of things and there’s more for you to see. And also because the game is a giant pile of metaphors that wants you to use your imagination. For example, for me Dogma is main villain: It combines the best features of the game, and the worst moments in Isaac’s life are directly related to this boss, making defeating him feel like real climax. Maybe you also have some ideas on this or any other matter? Maybe even something worthwhile, but thoughts about your own mediocrity turn creativity into a nightmare? It’s funny, because of something like this I couldn’t take part in a YouTuber’s flash mob. But now, I’m finally finishing this text and I can say the following without a doubt: give yourself another chance.