

Shops also received a buff in Repentance, making them free to enter on the first floor of a run.

While it's great that the developer behind Repentance is so responsive to fans, it's also worth considering why the nerfs were made in the first place. Tinted rocks containing soul hearts were also made more common, making players less reliant on shops to find extra health. Shops in Hard Mode became less likely to receive a random downgrade and more likely to receive a Restock Machine. Within a few days, some of these changes had been partially reverted. Thankfully, the developers responded quickly.

Though the fan reaction to Repentance was mostly positive, these nerfs were a common complaint. Shops were once a vital way for players to buy items that could have a dramatic impact on their character builds, so the nerf ruined many tried and true strategies. Restock Machines were also made far less common, rendering shops virtually useless on a Hard Mode run. When The Binding of Isaac: Repentance originally released, shops in Hard Mode had a high probability to spawn without upgrades, offering fewer items than they normally would.
