Binding of Isaac creator explains art style change for Rebirth

The Binding of Isaac has some pretty striking imagery, but it seems its creator, Edmund McMillen, was never truly happy with the Flash art style.

In an FAQ on his blog today, McMillen addressed fan questions from Twitter, including several about the change of art direction.

"I didnt like the Flash style. Isaac was a big rush job and I did all the art in less than 2 months," he wrote. "I wasn't ever happy with it and hadn't planned on the game being so successful so I just got the job done so I could finish the game… the art was lazy and to me, just an eyesore."

McMillen also says that he always intended The Binding of Isaac to be rendered in a retro, pixelated style, to better match its influence from NES-era Legend of Zelda games.

When asked about why he's bothering to remake a game that's only two years old, McMillen blames the difficulties of working with Flash, including trouble providing post-release support and additional content. Remaking the whole game in a new engine solved many technical issues, provided an excuse for the art style change, and allowed it to be brought to new platforms.

In addition, McMillen claims this version will, content-wise, be almost twice the size of the original. Heaps of new items, playable characters, enemies, bosses and secrets have been included.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is due sometime in 2014 for Steam, PS4 and Vita. Versions for iPad and Nintendo platforms are also being considered.