You'd be pretty stoked to have a run through Isaac's basement too. Just watch out for piles of gore everywhere.
Whereas I have a pretty normal basement, with small spiders and crickets here and there, Issac got lucky. His basement is flooded with horrible mutants, freaks, undead, sort-of-dead, bloody, greasy, fetid, putrid and otherwise understandably disagreeable creatures. And Isaac's basement is randomly generated too! That means of course that even if Issac was to become bored with his newfound friends, he can be sure to be treated to a brand new treat each time he spawns! His basement is even possessed of multiple levels offering loads of fun. Isaac's primary means of defense are his tears, which inexplicably fly across the room and damage his enemies. This means that he is usually assuming an expression of extreme fear, though this doesn't seem to hinder his deadliness.
But Isaac is currently in a sort of bind. It turns out that Isaac's mother is rather deranged, and upon hearing an order from voice of God, quickly gets to work sacrificing her precious child. Luckily, Isaac escapes down a trap door into his basement (for better or worse) and begins his journey through a labyrinth of rooms with randomly generated monsters and unique environments each time. these rooms and levels are crawling with malevolent (but sometimes benign) creatures who are usually of sour temperament. Among them are simple flies, aggressive bees, deranged children, headless children, body-less children, bi-polar worms and plenty of other baddies. Some of them are harmless though, and almost make Isaac sorry for killing them, but alas, the doors won;t open until you proceed, so their death is necessary.
Each level has a store tended by one of many disfigured children handing by a rope around their necks from the ceiling. They'll sell you things like heart containers, bombs, tarot cards and augmented abilities among other things. Each level also has a room with a item in it (randomly generated) which may or may not do anything other than alter Isaac's appearance. There are also hidden dungeons which cast waves of enemies at our poor hero, and also some which require catch-22 type decisions. Each level culminates in a boss fight, and upon victory, a hole to the next level opens up.
There are tons of items that Isaac will run into in his journey. Some do nothing aside from cosmetic alterations. Others add heart containers, improve his primary weapon and unlock special attacks. By the time he finishes his quest, he is usually more of a freak than any of the monsters left in his wake. One common occurrence is the wire coat-hanger, which when picked up goes straight through his head and does nothing else. He'll wear that through the end of the quest. Others help him, such as Mom's shoes, which increase tear range and his little brother, who is impervious to damage and offers a second shot. Either way, Isaac is pretty much unrecognizable three or four levels in.
His ultimate goal is more or less revenge on his mother for her attempt on his life. It won't be easy, but even if he has to turn himself into a disgusting freak of nature to do it, he will do whatever it takes. If he manages to achieve certain goals, one of his three other friends can take the journey in his stead, offering different abilities, appearances and reactions to power-ups. Unfortunately, Isaac is only one boy and once he dies, he's dead (until he is conveniently revived to try again at the beginning.)
That's perhaps the most frustrating part of Isaac's journey, that he cannot "save" his progress, especially considering that his journey is very unforgiving. it requires a lot of skill, and even more luck running into the perfect items. Once he dies, he has to do it all over again from the beginning. Thankfully the journey is randomly generated, so there is a good amount of replay impetus. Isaac's journey itself is pretty simple. All that can be done is explore and hope the items encountered won't hold him back. The journey is almost dumb in that sense, more or less a hack and slash until the story reaches its conclusion.
With all the blood and gore, piles of ka-ka and we-we, blood vomiting enemies and all sorts of things better left untouched, The Binding of Isaac is not for the feint of heart nor the quick of temper. It also requires an open mind and tolerance for ironically cute graphics. Patience is a virtue in this endeavor. Sill, those who can put up with all that are up for a rewarding, albeit simple, adventure. Oh, and it's pretty cheap too.