The David Cronenberg of video games.
Edmund McMillen (born March 2, 1980) is an indie game creator and former comic author. Initially making a name for himself through Flash games on Newgrounds, Ed saw his breakthrough when he and programmer Tommy Refenes, collectively known as Team Meat, released a commercial sequel dubbed Super Meat Boy.
Since then, most of his work has been commercial releases, and he is now best-known for his even bigger breakthrough hit The Binding of Isaac and its expansions and further editions, which has become immensely popular with streamers.
Works by McMillen include:
- This is a Cry for Help (High School years)
- The Backup Files of Freddy the Robot (2000)
- The Lonely Hermit (2001)
- Dead Baby Dressup (2001-2008)
- Carious Weltling (2003)
- Clubby the Seal (2004)
- Gish (2004)
- Thicker Than Water (2004)
- Blast Miner (2006)
- Triachnid (2006)
- Cereus Peashy (2007)
- Host (2007)
- Guppy (2007)
- Coil (2008)
- Meat Boy (2008)
- Cunt (2008)
- Aether (2008)
- Grey Matter (2008)
- AVGM (2009)
- Spewer (2009)
- Time Fcuk (2009)
- Super Meat Boy, (2010), the non-flash sequel to Meat Boy.
- The Binding of Isaac (2011)
- Wrath of the Lamb DLC (2012)
- The Basement Collection (2012), a boxset of his older Flash games, comics, and misc. art, with most of the games receiving expanded contentContents
- Facist!
(2014) - The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (2014), a "re-quel" featuring a new, 16-bit art style and new content.
- Afterbirth DLC (2015)
- Afterbirthâ DLC (2017, received free updates up to 2018)
- Repentance DLC (2021, originally planned to release in 2019, currently receiving free updates)
- Fingered (2015)
- The End Is Nigh (2017)
- The Legend of Bum-bo (2019)
- The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls (2018), a physical card game.
- Mewgenics (Sometime in 2024), a unique game summed up as a "Cat Lady Simulator".
Tropes commonly employed
- Black Comedy: A lot of Meat Boy's cutscenes, and almost all of Isaac. A lot of his older flash games, too.
- Body Horror: A lot of his works runs on this trope.
- The Cameo: Often times characters from his other games will make crossover appearances.
- Canon Welding: Apparently, Time Fcuk and Isaac are highly related, and Steven may even be Isaac. This just complicates things more.
- Creator Thumbprint: Putting fetuses or fetus imagery in his games, as seen from the Big Bad in Super Meat Boy, the title character in Spewer, a lot of the monsters and imagery in The Binding of Isaac, and pretty much the entirety of Coil.
- Mind Screw: The amount varies depending on the game, but just try to piece together what The Binding of Isaac's plot really is. Coil and Time Fcuk are other major examples.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Apparently since he was a kid, if his biographical comic "Thicker Than Water" is anything to go by.
- Surreal Horror: Some of his games, but especially his trailers, done by James Id.
- Toilet Humour: A recurring motif ever since his first games and animations.
