Unlike major content patches, v1.7.9B focuses on the "under the hood" elements. Here is what changed.
To understand v1.7.9B, you must first understand the chaos that preceded it. Repentance (v1.7.0) was released in March 2021 as the final DLC. It was brutal. It added the "Alt Path" (Downpour, Dross, Mines, Ashpit, Mausoleum, Gehenna), two new characters (Bethany and Jacob & Esau), and the terrifying Beast final boss.
But initial Repentance was notoriously unforgiving. Enemy shot speed was cranked up. Item pools were diluted. The "Holy Mantle" for The Lost felt mandatory, and Tainted characters were incredibly difficult to unlock. Over the following months, patches v1.7.1 through v1.7.8 tweaked the difficulty, fixed soft-locks, and added quality-of-life features. The Binding of Isaac- Repentance -v1.7.9B-
v1.7.9B arrived in mid-to-late 2022 (with slight variations depending on regional rollouts) as a "stability and polish" patch. It was not a content update per se, but it fundamentally changed how the game felt.
| Feature | v1.7.5 (Early Repentance) | v1.7.9B (Current) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Tainted Lazarus | Unplayable (separate items) | Viable (shared items) | | Co-op | Floating babies | Full 2-player characters | | Planetarium Chance | 1% base (too rare) | 3% base + item synergy | | Delirium Fight | Teleporting bug | Smoother hitbox detection | | Switch Performance | 30 FPS dips | Locked 60 FPS | Unlike major content patches, v1
The Tainted characters were designed to be challenging, but Tainted Lazarus was largely considered broken. His mechanic—flipping between a "Living" and "Dead" form with separate inventories—meant that items only benefited half of your run. In v1.7.9B, the devs finally implemented a system where items now affect both forms, though with reduced efficacy. This changed Tainted Lazarus from a "skip" character into a complex, strategic high-tier pick.
If you are playing the standard game: Yes. It is highly recommended to update to the latest Steam version (1.7.9J or newer). The later patches fixed thousands of bugs, fixed crashing issues, rebalanced unfair difficulty spikes, and improved the modding tools for content creators. Repentance (v1
How to update: Simply verify the integrity of game files on Steam, and it will automatically patch to the newest official build.
(Note: If you found this filename on a third-party site, please be aware that downloading older game executables can sometimes flag antivirus software or carry risks if they are not sourced from official archives.)