The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Collectors Edition Review

The Binding of Isaac is an immensely popular video game franchise, and when the game was adapted into a card game many years ago, it was again quite popular. With the release of promo cards and expansions, the game has evolved from its early state, and now all of that content is available in a beautiful collectors edition case, with so much room for more stuff!

Before we dive into the actual collectors edition, it’s worth taking a high level look at the game itself. The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls is played over a number of player turns, where players will gain loot, defeat monsters, earn treasure, and collect souls. Loot and treasure can be used to manipulate the game, but in your direct favour, but also by hindering others at the table.

Each player will begin the game with three loot cards, a specific character, and that character’s starting item. Over the course of the game, the characters and players’ hands and tableau will evolve, giving them more and more power on their quest to collect souls. When defeating specific monsters, souls can be earned, and the first person to collect 4 souls is the winner.

You’d be forgiven if you felt that Four Souls was similar to the Munchkin franchise. In some ways, they are pretty similar, but in other ways not so much. I find that given the choice, I’d play Four Souls over Munchkin any day, as Munchkin games tend to go on forever and ever as players team up against someone who is about to win. That can happen in Four Souls as well, but it’s much less likely.

The game’s turn-to-turn gameplay is incredibly fluid, and all it took was one game for the gaming group to get comfortable with the cards and how they worked. There is a ton of variety here though, which means you will be seeing new cards and new chaining experiences well after you first half dozen games. With dozens of characters to choose from as well, there is always something new to discover in Four Souls.

The collectors box for The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls was released alongside the Kickstarter campaign for the Requiem expansion. With over 45,000 bakers, and with over 6.7 million dollars raised, it is one of the most impressive board game Kickstarter campaigns of all time. People love The Binding of Isaac, and after playing my copy, I can see why. Included in the collectors case is over 750+ which includes the second edition of the game plus the Requiem expansion. There are 100 plastic pennies (used for buying cards) and a handful of plastic nickels. There are health and tear drop tokens, a special die, and a drawstring cloth bag for the plastic money.

Everything is stored inside a fantastic case with a gold coloured connector keeping it all closed. An included sleeve can slide over the closed box, although I’ve already removed mine permanently, never to be put on again. The inside includes 4 card trays that will hold 1000s of cards. If there are future expansions released for The Binding of Isaac, they will fit in this box, no worries about that. Each box can be removed if necessary, although I never saw a reason why. The collectors box also includes thicker card separators, so you can easily figure out where the loot cards are, where the treasure cards are, etc.

This is a fantastic product, well thought out, and created with love. Fans of the video game or the card game are going to love adding this to their collection. THe game doesn’t just look good either. Sure the box is nice, the components are Grade-A quality, and the artwork is fantastic. What I love is that this game is fantastic – it plays so smoothly and has a fairly fun take-that mechanic that should keep the people around the table laughing, not groaning. If you are looking for an easy-to-pick-up card game experience, look no further than this.