How would you compare it to Binding of Isaac? I really love that game, so I'm curious how this one is similar and how it's different gameplay wise (don't need to go into the theme/art style stuff as that's fairly obvious).
Hm, let's see....
1. This is faster than Isaac; Isaac has a... more leisurely pace in comparison, and there's various non-exploding things that you stop to do in Isaac, such as searching the level for secrets, or going to the shop/arcade... Nuclear Throne doesnt have those "stop" moments. Oh, you might very briefly search over the level to make sure you didn't forget to grab a chest or something if you're as forgetful as I am, but that takes like 5 seconds, and then on you go, and the very moment you step out of that portal in the next level, the chaos begins.
2. Both games are extremely random, but you have alot more control over your build in Throne (not counting tricks like Arcade or D6 abuse in Isaac or things like that). Isacc has about 20 gazillion different items... but your character build is going to be hugely determined by the RNG. You go into a level, there might be one item there and that's it, and... no other real choices. Sometimes there's a "pick it up or not" choice to make, but that's about it. Isaac is more about just having these loopy builds sort of "show up", and then the zaniness of going forward with them. For Nuclear Throne, a huge part of the game is actually making these choices. When you level up for instance, between levels you'll get a screen that allows you to choose a new mutation. It randomly selects 4 of them, and you then pick from one of those. Making the correct choice is important... you really have to think about this. The right choice can help you out a ton, as these have major effects... the wrong choice can make you dead. Yet the wrong choice in one run might be the perfect choice for the next. More frequent though are the guns; the game is going to fart these at you pretty often, and knowing what to pick up and what not to is often not so easy. You have to consider the current level, current stocks of ammo, what weapons you already have, what mutations you already have... and this'll probably happen a few times per level. I rather like this aspect of the game, as while I love Isaac the usual lack of choice can be a bit uninteresting. Dont expect as MANY items as in Isaac though; dont get me wrong, there's alot of content here, but there isnt like 500 gazillion THINGS in it like with Isaac.
3. This one is harder. My core problem with Isaac: The difficulty maxes out WAY too early. It's why you see players like NorthernLion do his gazillions of videos of the game.... and never, ever, EVER lose. The game just isnt hard enough to beat a knowledgeable player even once. I already hit that point with it myself, for Rebirth, it didn't take long. That doesnt really happen with Throne.... even an expert player could still die at any time. The higher speed of the game, and the MUCH higher lethality of basically everything (you can take LOTS of hits in Isaac without dying, you cant even come close to doing that here) means that even for an expert, dying early can still happen. Even I will sometimes have really damn stupid deaths in the very first area, because derp. Of course, on the flip side, some players will find the game TOO hard. In this game, you're going to die..... alot. Over and over and over. This is not a game to play if you get frustrated by such things easily.
4. This is alot shorter. With my own personal playstyle, a full run of Isaac (as in, including the Cathedral or Sheol or whatever) takes me a little over an hour. A full run of Nuclear Throne, from the beginning of the game, to the end of the second phase of the Throne fight, takes maybe 25 minutes. Again though, part of it depends on just how you're doing things, but yeah, a run through in this is more comparable to the time it takes to make a full run at a typical shmup of some sort.
All in all though, the only real way to get a handle on how different they are is to either play it yourself, or watch it enough. There's no demo for the game, or I'd suggest that, so instead, Youtube is the best bet. If you wanna see good gameplay of it, look for a Youtuber by the name of SleepCycles. He does extremely frequent videos of Throne, and lately has been also making vids for Isaac: Rebirth as well. His stuff is a great way to see the game in action. He's skilled enough that he'll defeat the Throne itself decently often, so you can see some of the later content too.
