One of my most favorite feelings to have is nostalgia. Now I know it sounds very bad, but bear with me for a moment. To have a liking for the past or events that have transpired. Especially when it comes to video games and the influence past titles had on the market. It’s nice to remind ourselves when games were much simpler, and when developers were aiming to make challenging yet simple experiences. I didn’t grow up playing on older retro consoles like the original Playstation, Super Nintendo, and many others because I was born during the early 2000s. Yet for some reason I still respect the games that came out during that time period, because they would expand into bigger and broader ideas. Castlevania would transform into a game about exploring huge 2D open areas, and with the help of Metroid they created the metroidvania genre which is my favorite game genre. The Legend of Zelda would take new heights by moving towards a 3D space, and influence the key aspects of most adventure games today. There were so many amazing games that came out during the 80s and 90s, and it’s hard to capture the simplicity they had today. That is until indie developers came.
Thanks to some of these developers, they would remind us about the games that came in the past. Tomm Happ created Axiom Verge which recaptures the thrill of exploring an alien interconnected world that the original Metroid offered. Then there’s one of my personal favorites with a hefty amount of nostalgia, Shovel Knight, a game that borrows elements from a lot of classic platformers. One game I finally took the time to sit down and play was The Messenger which was released last year. In April 2016, a small indie studio known as Sabotage Studio was formed by two individuals, Thierry Boulanger and Martin Brouard. These two geniuses would schedule specific dates to gather around a bunch of gaming veterans and ask them for design tips. Inspired by the hardcore sidescrolling classics, mainly Ninja Gaiden, Sabotage Studio would go on to make one of the many unexpected surprises of 2018. One that would modernize the design philosophy of Ninja Gaiden and serve as a spiritual successor. Later during the late summer of 2018, Sabotage Studios released The Messenger, a throwback to the good old NES days and one of the most surprising titles of the year.
The Messenger was like any ordinary indie game at it’s time of release, not common and it didn’t do anything innovative, but it didn’t receive a single negative review. People praised The Messenger as a tight, responsive, engaging platformer that was easy to understand and more accessible than most retro platformers due to some interesting design choices. The Messenger even went on to win an award at The Game Awards, winning the award for Best Debut Indie Game. I’m happy to see The Messenger gain all this praise overtime, because I can tell the developers at Sabotage Studios were devoted to understanding and perfecting the formula of old retro platformers.
Recently I went on vacation to Tennessee to witness the sites of Smoky Mountain, and to pass the many hours spent traveling on the highway I decided to go and check out The Messenger. Not even one hour into the game and I was already getting settled into the world and level design The Messenger had to offer me. It blew my mind away to see that Sabotage Studio wanted to create more than just another sidescroller. They wanted to improve and fix the mistakes past developers made with 2D platformers and luckily they succeeded without messing up a single part. The Messenger is without a doubt a must play if you are a nostalgic platformer guy like me. It’s the perfect game to recapture this feeling of excitement, nostalgia, but you're not me who enjoys every single 2D platformer he plays. You're probably some random kid who clicked onto this review and will go back to playing some standard battle royale for the 350th time. So today I’m here to talk to you today about why The Messenger somehow exceeded my expectations and why it deserves your attention. So grab your sacred scroll, sharpen your katana, and prepare to jump towards an unimaginable future.
Story
Located far on the west coast on a mysterious island lives a tribe of ninjas that train every day and live peacefully together. Through their master they learn of the world beforehand and the reason why they continue to train and grow stronger. Generations ago an army of demons wiped out half the humans left on the island, leaving whoever was left to scurry away and fend for themselves. Afterwards the demons disappeared, but they left signs that one day they will return. The tribe knows that one day the demons may come back and strike at any moment, so they have to prepare for when the time comes. However, there is hope for the tribe as stated in an old legend a stranger known as The Western Hero will appear when the demons arrive and save them. It is just a legend though, as the days go on and the legend slowly begins to fade.
We cut to a young member of the tribe looking off into the distance, wishing to one day leave his village of brothers and partake in some epic adventure. A change in his repetitive and boring lifestyle. He doesn't believe in the prophecy of the Western Hero like everyone else, and starts to think that his elder might be lying to them all just so he can keep them under his control. As the tribe begins to meet up for another daily meeting, the young ninja asks the elder if he is really telling the truth and if he’ll ever let them leave the village. The elder scolds the ninja for questioning his teachings, but then their village is attacked by an army of demons led by their ruler the Demon King. The day of reckoning had finally come upon them. The village begins to panic as fire rains upon them, and they soon realize the Western Hero didn’t show up to save them. Proving the prophecy told by the elder was nothing but fantasy.
The young ninja decides to take matters into his own hands and defend the village himself. The village is engulfed in flames and there is nothing he can do to stop it. The Demon King flies above and states that mankind will finally reach extinction. Suddenly a golden phoenix flies through the skies and from a storm of arrows the foretold Western Hero shows up to save the village, but a little too late as he finds the village in ruins. He gives a mysterious scroll to our young ninja and tells him to travel to the far east side of the island and deliver the scroll to the highest mountain peak. The prophecy must come true and any events to break the cycle will lead to the destruction of mankind. Being tasked as The Messenger, our young hero ventures out into the great unknown. Hopefully to bring peace to the land. He is helped by a friendly demonic creature named Quarble who will resurrect him upon death. Along with a mysterious out of this world shopkeeper who will guide him towards the right direction and offer the equipment needed to progress. An army of ferocious monsters and foes stands in his way, and he’ll have to fight his way through them if he wants to reach the peak of the land. It’s his duty to fulfill his role as The Messenger.
It all feels really contrived though. Why is The Messenger being brought back to life through a friendly demon? Why does the Shopkeeper show up specifically when the adventure comes to a grinding halt. Why doesn’t the Demon King attempt to hunt down the main protagonist especially when he witnessed him survive. What lies at the highest peak on the island, and what is written down on the scroll The Messenger was given? These are questions left unanswered, but with time The Messenger will learn there is a much deeper story lying underneath. A story that has been told for cycles.
Gameplay
The Messenger plays like any ordinary side scroller. You navigate your way through each level jumping across hazards, fighting enemies, and eventually encounter a boss near the end of each level. At first the game seems like your casual linear platformer, but near the halfway point the game opens up. I won’t spoil the story, but I am going to explain to you what happens gameplay wise. Turns out the levels you navigated before in a linear pattern are actually areas with tons of secret pathways that lead to new sections of the world, and those secret pathways can now be accessed using the new gear and upgrades you obtained from the Shopkeeper earlier. So the game transforms into a metroidvania. Not in the interconnected sense of Hollow Knight or Ori, but in a sense that once you finally find the way forward you feel satisfied. I like how the game brings the sense of exploration to you, because it starts you off by making sure you know how the rules of the game work through linear design and then hours later plops you into an open world hoping you can figure out where to go. Contrived, but still with a sense of knowledge and seeking answers.
Each area has their own gimmick, terrain, and challenges to conquer. It can be pretty difficult at times since some sections can only be navigated with certain abilities. For example, you’ll know when you get a new ability when you fall into a pit with a shopkeeper gate and you can’t get out. The shopkeeper is who you go to unlock new equipment and upgrades. The equipment is given to you for free to progress, but the upgrades require Time Shards to unlock. Time Shards are your main currency in this game and they are scattered throughout each level. You are going to need a lot of them to unlock every upgrade by the end of the journey.
The equipment you gain will help you traverse around the world and discover new paths to take. You’ll acquire a shuriken that allows you to attack from afar, a grappling hook that pulls you forward and can actually be used to get up close and personal to enemies, a wingsuit that allows you to glide long distances or float slowly towards the ground, and more. One ability you’ll have from the beginning of the game is Cloudstep. By attacking enemies or objects while in midair you gain an extra jump. Press the jump button immediately after striking an object or enemy and you jump towards higher terrain. You only get one cloudstep from attacking, but you can chain Cloudsteps together to remain in the air longer. The game’s platforming challenges get tougher overtime and chaining Cloudstep is heavily used during these segments. Combine the combo of Cloudsteps with other tools and you may never end up touching the ground.
If you die you will respawn at a previous checkpoint, but there is a twist. Quarble, the friendly flying demon, will follow you around for a short period of time. He will suck up any Time Shards you try to touch, prohibiting you from collecting them. You can die an infinite amount of times in this game, but you are going to need those Time Shards to grow stronger so play carefully. Halfway through the game you are introduced to time portals. Time portals allow you to traverse between the future and past. The level layout will change when you time travel and sometimes you have to constantly flip between the two time periods to get to where you need to go. I like this mechanic, it reminds me of that one time travel level from Dishonored 2 and Titanfall 2 but they decided to make an entire second half of the game dedicated towards it. Bosses at the end of each stage have numerous attacks and require numerous attempts to get down, but they feel rewarding once you finally do and push forward to the next.
Besides that there really isn’t much else to say about The Messenger’s gameplay. It’s not anything special or new, but it’s pretty well designed and easy to understand after the first few hours. Hopefully you should be able to deliver the scroll to the top of the island’s only mountain and defeat the Demon King and his army.
Thoughts
The Messenger is a good game and perfectly recaptures that NES nostalgia I felt when playing other indie games like Shovel Knight. The controls are tight, nothing feels too slippery, and mistakes feel more on the player rather than the game creating a jump that is impossible to make. The platforming challenges feel fair, the level and world design is well rounded, and they expand further through the introduction of new mechanics to experiment with. The graphics are nice and I like how they change the color palette and detailing whenever you travel through time. When you're in the past everything is 8-bit, but once you step into the future everything is 16-bit. The soundtrack even changes as well, going from catchy beeps and boops of the NES era to killer riffs similar to the ones of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
I really like how the game opens up overtime, going from linear sidescroller to metroidvania. Helps change up the pace before the linear design gets old very quickly. I will address how the shift between two genres can be viewed as a good or bad thing, so we’ll get to it shortly. One thing that surprised me half way through the game is how much story builds up around the second act, because the game’s storytelling is vague and simple at first. It’s obviously not the main focus of the Messenger, but somehow they pull it all together. It’s a story about cycles and the suffering that is brought along with them. Progression felt rewarding, because like any ordinary metroidvania it felt like my character was growing stronger overtime rather than just getting an upgrade that will probably only be used once. There are loads of secrets to discover which reward the player for exploration and the overall product is packaged perfectly together.
However, while I am praising everything The Messenger has to offer there are a few problems I have with it. Backtracking or going through the same areas again can be pretty repetitive at times, especially since the second half of the game doesn't tell you specifically where to go. Half the time you’ll have those moments of, ”where the hell do I go now?” The game does offer you tips on where to go next and you can pay the Shopkeeper to give you the answer immediately, so the game does expect you to find secrets out on your own but not be totally lost. However, the hints they give you can offer poor descriptions at times and it’s stupid how you have to waste your currency just to get a hint. Ultimately, it’s poor guidance. That shift towards linear platformers to metroidvania will upset some who just wanted a simple experience. The Messenger also doesn’t have the interconnected world design of most traditional metroidvanias like Hollow Knight and Ori. Sadly the closest comparison I make about the world design of The Messenger is the second half of Dark Souls where it’s a choice of what linear path you want to go down next. The bosses have difficulty spikes, not terrible ones, but they never felt too difficult and understanding their mechanics can be really fun.
Overall, while some of you may not like games with old school design, The Messenger reminds us why letting the player have a clear and uninterrupted gameplay experience is more effective than having to constantly stop them and lay down the info using machine gun fire. No tutorials or explanation, just let the player have fun and figure the rules out on their own by navigating through the world. I highly recommend this game despite to anyone who wants a feeling of nostalgia or just wants to go through a fun, well made platformer. There are tons of independent releases coming out each year, but we don’t get well thought out experiences like The Messenger and Shovel Knight that often. In the end I am giving The Messenger a 9/10 for excellence at best.
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