The Messenger (Review)

The Messenger is a classic retro action platformer/16-bit metroidvania hybrid, about a young ninja who must journey through a cursed world to deliver a scroll vital to his clan’s survival. Developed by Sabotage games and published by Devolver Digital.

There are many retro recreation indies every year, most of which are bad or at the most don't add anything new, they're all just made to sell you on nostalgia or occasionally for budgeting purposes. However The Messenger is one of the rare good ones that we only see maybe once (twice if we're lucky) a year. As you probably know from watching trailers or looking at screenshots of the game, the graphics switch between 8-bit and 16-bit styles during some points. This instead of being some random gimmick, is explained as time travel. That's right, The Messenger is basically Ninja Gaiden with time travel. At the start of the game you are given a scroll and are told to travel to the other side of the island to deliver it, but not more than half way through you'll find that the narrative twists and changes in interesting and unexpected ways that will intrigue and keep hold of your curiosity.

For about the first half of the game you'll be running in a set linear path towards your goal, running into many obstacles, enemies, and bosses, many of which are challenging and fun (a few do feel a bit too lengthy and get a little tedious after a few tries, cough cough… the sky dragon). After reaching your destination, the entire genre and presentation of the game switches from linear 8-bit action platformer, to a time travel themed Metroidvania. While I knew this change was coming since I had already seen trailers and such, it still amazed and excited me. Once this takes place, time portals (or rather tears in the space time continuum) will appear all over the world. Going through these portals will send you five-hundred years into the future (or past if you're already in the future). This changes both graphics and music from 8-bit to 16-bit and it's amazing, the transition is very fluid and polished. This added gimmick prevents the backtracking part of the game from getting tedious too early on and keeps things interesting and fresh. Seeing and hearing the changes is fantastic as they really contrast each other, causing some areas to look completely different, in more than just the details.

While we're on the subject of presentation I have to bring up how amazing the chiptune soundtrack is (it's by far the best part of the game), the entire soundtrack was composed and created by renowned chiptune composer Rainbowdragoneyes with the Famitracker. Every track sounds impressive especially the memorable main theme, there's two versions of each song as well as a cool water effect when submerged that makes things just that much better. The pixel art is also top notch, the great attention to detail and the appropriate stylistic changes from 8-bit to 16-bit were handled very well. I especially liked the designs of the first and last levels as well as the arcane golem and necromancer bosses. There isn't a design in the entire game that doesn't look good, though if I had to pick my least favorite it would be the red rocky mountain area with the two ogres, it just looked a little bland compared to everything else (but still not a bad design).

The platforming feels pretty solid most of the time, though it is quite easy to slip up when simultaneously using abilities like the wingsuit and grappling hook in a quick sequence of jumps, this is quite annoying especially during long sections where the next checkpoint is far away. But luckily slipping up doesn't happen too excessively, though you will still die a lot due to the challenge of many areas. One unique platforming ability is the Cloud Step, hitting lanterns or other light sources and objects with your sword while in midair will give you the ability to jump a second time, this can be chained infinitely as long as you're making successful hits. This is incorporated into pretty much every screen and a huge amount of the platforming will involve this technique. But it never gets old, and once you've got it down it feels fantastic specifically when you pull off some crazy strings of jumps.

Although I am praising The Messenger for nailing it's retro aesthetic and gameplay, as well as adding something new to the overdone sub-genre of indie titles, I still have a couple issues with it. The main one being the initial transition from linear to Metroidvania. The first half of the game goes at a blazing fast pace, you're constantly going through new and unseen locations and fighting new bosses and enemies, and by the time you reach the metroidvania part of the game everything slows down very quickly. Although there are some new areas and bosses, they seem far and few between after experiencing the first half of the game. Thankfully as I previously mentioned, things pick up after a little while with the time travel mechanic completely changing some of the level layouts. Some of the last few locations are also some of the best the game has to offer, and there's always collectibles to get if you're really interested in exploring.

One other less important problem I had with the second half of the game, is the dialogue and conversations with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is a mystic figure who stays in his spacetime tower and waits for your continuous arrival, he sells a handful of upgrades as well as hints. He also gives you details and bits of lore on various locations and bosses, but the most interesting thing the shopkeeper does is tell stories. These stories vary in length but never cease to amuse, each told in a humorous way and end with a moral lesson. But the second half of the game is lacking in these stories and interactions with the shopkeeper, and even though these interactions and stories aren't a key part of the narrative or gameplay, they still added a lot to the charm and it felt like a part of the game was missing.

I had my initial doubts during the big changes the game makes at its half way point, but after completing it to 100% I can confidently say that The Messenger is the best retro themed throwback game of all time. Yes even trumping Shovel Knight (which I've always felt like had kinda bad slippery platforming and was overrated, fight me.) I definitely recommend checking it out even if you aren't an indie fan, i'm sure you'll enjoy it (unless you just don't like platformers period). The messenger is available for $19.99 on Pc/Steam, Humble Bundle, and the Nintendo Switch.