The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus Challenges
The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus is now officially out, and with the launch comes a few new challenges to complete. For those of you who don’t know, challenges are essentially pre-rendered seeds which create a specific type of game to playthrough. Challenges in The Binding of Isaac are often fun and The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus is no exception. In the newest DLC, Afterbirth Plus, players have another five challenges to conquer. Below you will find a list of these five The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus Challenges.
LIST OF CHALLENGES
As you can see in the above screenshot, there are a total of five new challenge runs in The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus. These five new challenges are:
- BACKASSWARD
- APRILS FOOL
- POKEY MANS
- ULTRA HARD
- PONG
1.BACKASSWARD
BACKASSWARD starts the player at the fight with Mega Satan and then has the player work there way (wait for it)…. backwards.
Starting Items: From my testing they appear to be randomized on every start.
Unlock: Lazarus Bleeds More
Challenge End: First Floor (You work from Mega Satan all the way back to first floor where the trophy will be)
Strategy: This one is kinda hard to present a strategy for. I basically looked for builds that had high damage at MS and went from there. I am pretty sure each time you go to a new floor you lose one health, but also sometimes an item (?). If anyone can confirm this that would be nice.
2. APRILS FOOLS
APRILS FOOLS starts the player in Basement I and essentially switches the roles of most items. For example money becomes health and items you pick up end up being not what they appear to be (Krampus Head on pick up is another item for example). You will also find that your location on the minimap is random. This challenge is all about that randomness!
Starting Items: None
Unlock: Maggy Now Holds a Pill!
Strategy: As there are both Item and Shop Rooms present in this run, treat it similar to a normal run. Remember that the items you pick up will be randomized, so a lot of the run is out of your control.
Challenge End: Mom’s Heart
3. POKEY MANS
POKEY MANS is pretty self explanatory. Players are tasked with using The Friendly Ball that make them akin to that of a Pokemon master. Unlike a normal run, The Friendly Ball works a bit differently in this challenge. Instead of having to catch a new enemy every time, The Friendly Ball will automatically spawn a new, random enemy, every time the previous sent out enemy dies.
Starting Items: Friendly Ball, Mom’s Eyeshadow
Unlock: Charged Key
Strategy: The key to beating the POKEY MANS challenge is utilizing The Friendly Ball correctly. Keep in mind that the ball refills on the death of the spawn, so you should be using it multiple times per room. Also keep in mind that you will want to keep a charger in the ball as much as possible, in order to have a friendly spawn at your disposal.
Challenge End: Defeat Mom’s Heart
4. ULTRA HARD
ULTRA HARD is also fairly self explanatory. This challenge is ULTRA HARD. What this means is a couple things. The first is that any enemy or boss that can be in Champion form, will be in Champion Form. The second thing is that the player will suffer curses: Curse of the Labyrinth, Curse of the Lost, Curse of the Maze and Curse of the Blind as they progress. These curses cannot be lifted using traditional means. Other difficulty spikes include NO HEART DROPS, GUARANTEED DOUBLE TROUBLE BOSSES, and only the Negative drops on Mom kill.
Starting Items: Key Piece 1 + 2
Unlock: Samson Feels Healthy
Strategy: The name of the game here is healing. Try to gather as much healing as possible near the start of the run if you want any real chance at this run.
Challenge End: Defeat ??? or The Lamb.
5. PONG
PONG is a simple recreation of the classic game, Pong, but by using the classic Isaac tears. Items make the tears bounce around the room, giving a Pong like effect.
Starting Items: Cupid’s Arrow, Rubber Cement
Unlock: Greed’s Gullet
Challenge End: Defeat ???
Strategy: Collect Fly items. Given the massive amount of damage you do, collecting fly spawning items makes this challenge trivial.
There you have it, a look at the new The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus Challenges. As I complete more of these challenges, I will update this page with new information such as unlocks as well as strategies, so come back often.
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