Life has the tendency to get in the way of things — ‘best laid plans,’ etc. Edmund McMillen, the creator of The Binding of Isaac, launched The Legend of Bum-bo about a year ago and, while the response was solid, communication completely dried up shortly after. There wasn’t a whisper of DLC to be heard. Many fans assumed the game had been abandoned. They have shown their displeasure on the Steam forums, which is also visible when looking at how recent reviews of the game are mixed. The game’s very positive rating is only a single percentage point away from becoming mostly positive at the time of this writing.
McMillen posted on Steam today and offered an explanation as to what happened and what fans can expect going forward. Long story short, The Legend of Bum-bo‘s lead programmer, James, fell into a spiral of depression following the game’s release, causing development to stop and start. Then the pandemic started, and soon McMillen’s second child was born. And then the California fires happened, causing him and his family to have to move. To put it simply, there are a host of completely understandable reasons for the “radio silence.”
DLC-tales
McMillen also goes into a bit of detail about what the upcoming DLC for The Legend of Bum-bo will entail. The team is hard at work on it and are expecting to add a new character, more items, alternate bosses, and some features that have yet to be announced. I’d imagine that fans will understand now that the veil has been lifted and I expect the overall tone on the game’s Steam page will become more positive. The game, a spin-off of The Binding of Isaac, is a deckbuilding rogue-lite with a cardboard aesthetic that focuses on collecting and upgrading various items to make it through runs.
It’s available on Steam for $14.99 USD. But the aforementioned DLC itself will be released free of charge.
