They don't make many games like The Binding of Issac.

The gameplay it's part roguelike (items, challenge), part smash tv (combat), part Zelda (the stages layout). You need to find the boss room of the stage to go down a level, and keep doing it until the end. While doing it you will collect some items which will help you to keep going. The items you find are random and the levels themselves are also random. Luck pays a big part here.. you may find the boss room and some nice items very quickly, or you can roam on lots of dead ends filled with nasty enemies and need to fight the boss with nothing useful and half-dead.

The game also have no saving points at all. Dead? Go back to the start. A successful run will last no more than a hour but it sucks to go back to the begining and lose all your precious upgrades.

However, beating the game is very rewarding. After I beat it the first time I was not sure I could even do it again, or even want to try it, but to my surprise I end playing and finishing it a second time. Even with luck, skill and preparation played a big part on both runs.

It's a brutal (in more than one term) game, but it's the kind of brutality I miss these days. Beating hard games like Ninja Gaiden is, for me, a matter of time because the multiple save points means I can perfect the game a piece of time and given enough time, I will, but The Binding of Isaac let me guessing and until I beat it I was not sure if I would even pull it.

p.s. I found this on my backpack today. :)