90%Nintendo Switch

Absolutely loved it. I knew it was a more than a simple plateformer, so I knew was I was getting into.

Pros :
+ movement feels amazing (especially with the grappling hook)
+ level design is polished to the max. Every death is entirely your fault (and punishment by reducing your shards is clever)
+ the point where the game opens up is a nice change of pace, since you have to explore (and maybe get stuck a little) to progress
+ having to chose between paying for upgrades or for hints is a nice touch
+ visuals (both styles) are amazing, on a Shovel-Knight-like level of quality
+ story was great and full of little surprises
+ writing is excellent and full of humor
+ well-paced, with a perfect length overall (10+ hours)

Cons :
- sometimes you'll stick to walls when you don't mean to, which can mess up your platforming
- the game could have done with more portals (1 per zone maybe ?) to reduce traversal length (especially if you don't know for sure that you're going to the right direction)

95%PC

I loved every minute of this game.

100%PC

Lançado em agosto de 2018 pelo estúdio indie Sabotage Studio, The Messenger é um jogo 2D, que possui uma estética 8 bits baseada na franquia de jogos Ninja Gaiden criada pela Konami em 1988 para o famoso nintendinho também conhecido como NES. Entretanto, as semelhanças terminam na estética, The Messenger possui uma história muito bem construída com um tom humorístico bem marcante, os personagens constantemente quebram a quarta parede e até citam o seu antecessor espiritual, mas não de uma forma forçada ou pastelão.
Ao longo da história conhecemos diversos personagens e passamos por alguns plot twists que no final terminam sendo cômicos, dando a sensação de uma piada antiga que você só entendeu agora.
No início a gameplay é bem truncada, assim como jogos da era 8 bits no nintendinho, mas com o passar do tempo o Mensageiro, personagem que o jogador controla vai ganhando upgrades e novas habilidades, e a gameplay vai ficando mais rápida e responsiva. Ao decorrer do jogo, o personagem acaba ganhando a habilidade de atravessar portais, viajando no tempo e alternando entre os gráficos em 8 bits da era do NES e os 16 bits do Super Nintendo, mudando todo o mapa e game design já conhecido e criando uma espécie de puzzles com viagens no tempo.
Os chefes do jogo são extremamente carismáticos e, muitas vezes, bem cômicos. Nem todos são vilões por natureza, e muitas lutas são resultado de mal-entendidos ou erros de ambas as partes.
Com uma jogabilidade no estilo metroidvania, The Messenger é um jogo bem atual, possuindo uma gameplay viciante, diálogos interessantes e engraçados, e inclusive uma dlc gratuita muito boa que acrescenta várias horas a mais de jogatina. recomendo para todo mundo que aprecie o estilo de jogo, já que a dificuldade é bem balanceada e não é punitiva.

80%PC

A hardcore platformer with very pleasant visuals and soundtrack. The plot is just a formality. The game doesn't take itself seriously, filled with "humor" and references. And that's why I can't help but note the extremely bland dialogues. The developers may know how to do many things right, but writing isn't one of them. It could've been quite funny, but it turned out the way it did.

Gameplay-wise, the game is divided into two parts. The first part is linear. You proceed through locations one by one, each ending with a boss. No complaints except for one - the save points. The game is hardcore, no problem with that. But why be so unfriendly to the player? Why not place a save point right before a difficult section instead of 2-3 rooms before it? If you die, you're forced to go through those damn rooms again before reaching the difficult part. Frustrating.

In the second part, metroidvania elements appear - you have to return to places you've been before. And that would be fine, but the game is extremely stingy with teleports. Sometimes, I had to go through 2 entire locations from start to finish just to get to the place I needed. Frustrating for no reason (just to stretch out the game time).

Nevertheless, the graphics and soundtrack carry the game. It's just fun to be in it. And the boss battles are quite interesting and varied. 8/10. Minus two points for the frustration factor.

70%Nintendo Switch

Excellent platformer with abilities that feel cool, give you a greater range of options in easier sections, and enable some very challenging sections. Latter half of the game where it introduces light metroidvania-ness drags a bit, but is still fun. The frequent humor might be hit or miss for some people, and if it's a miss it could kill your interest in the story.

85%Nintendo Switch

Great game, with amazing platforming and the difficulty is fine, and spoilers the retro shift between 8-bit to 16-bit is amazing, plus the soundtrack is pretty good. However where this game faults is in the 2nd part of the game as it can be a bit tedious and hard to know what to do without a guide.

60%PC

Gameplay pas terrible, trop punitif et pixel perfect sans intérêt, rien à voir avec Celeste
Deuxième moitié pas du tout guidée, se la raconte trop à l'ancienne

90%PC

Gameplay: 9/10

Story: 9/10

Sound & visuals: 10/10

Overall: 9/10

90%PlayStation 4

Riktigt bra gameplay, story och grafik. Musiken... vetefan vad som hände där. Förutom 2 trophies så var det väldigt värt att 100%a!

85%PlayStation 4

Nota: Foda!

-Diversão: 8
-Desafio: 8
-Gráfico: 9
-Jogabilidade: 8
-Som: 9

Gameplay Canal: Indie James

80%PC

Lovely retro-futuristic vibe and tongue in cheek - a little too much here and there but not enough to be annoying. Definitely worth the playthrough, but the backtracking became a bit of a drag eventually. Great difficulty curve including the DLC. Very self-congratulatory over the retro references. Very sweet backstory of the devs though.

80%PC

The Gameplay and the soundtrack are magnificent

60%PC

decent game, good graphics. kinda slogged through the ending, a little metroidvania'd out atm

90%Nintendo Switch

The Messenger apresenta uma história simples, com uma jogabilidade satisfatória e inspirada em clássicos conhecidos, além de uma progressão bastante direta. Uma boa experiência, mas isso é apenas 1/3 de tudo que há pela frente. A troca de Plataformer Retro para Search Action, a transição dos 8-bits para 16-bits, a quebra da ideia básica da história e a mudança da base onde tudo já era conhecido encanta demais. Todo design muda, mesmo estando no mesmo jogo, usando o mesmo personagem e sendo zoado novamente pelo Sofismuto, são detalhes muito bem explorados e pensados. Um primor, poderia reclamar somente da jogabilidade não ser do mesmo nível de outros do genêro devido as poucas mudanças feitas nela desde o início da nova era, ainda assim, o design reina.

Que haja mais oportunidades de explorar esse grandioso universo, Sabotage Studio.

80%Nintendo Switch

It's a simple and fun metroidvania. Cloud stepping, the signature movement of the game, is cool and it leads to some fun platforming. Graphics are cool and the switch between 8 and 16 bit is a nice thing that sets this game visuals apart. Music is cool as well. Difficulty is mostly great, it keeps growing but it's never really unfair (Picnic Panic DLC is much tougher tho). I wish the platforming puzzles were a little more creative. I feel like the switch between past and future is barely explored in the game mechanics other than block certain areas. My favorite thing about the game was the writing though. It was top notch and it's usually something absent in most metroidvanias.

90%PC

Incredible

90%PlayStation 4

A great platformer. The time mechanics, the tools, the puzzles and challenges, the humor, the story, the amount of content, and the 8bit vs 16bit aesthetics, are all great. The difficulty is very high in certain places for my taste, had to retire it eventually. Still, it is a masterpiece just slightly short of 10 because of the difficulty spikes.

95%Nintendo Switch

Amazing soundtrack and visuals, hilarious and interesting dialogue, and excellent gameplay. Backtracking can be repetitive, but that's probably due to my lack of skill. Overall, an amazing indie game.

95%Nintendo Switch

Retro inspired 2D gaming at its best!

The Messenger sets to bring a style that captures a bit of nostalgia while delivering a game that is addictive and always trying to explore the next section.

The game starts off pretty easy and linear. My first impressions was comparing it to NES Ninja Gaiden. However, the gameplay changes and expands into a metroidvania design. A nice twist and excels in grabbing the gamers attention. Word of caution to those that haven't played it, YOU WILL DIE, but learn from those experience to progress.

Controls are well done and feel responsive. It has typical slash attacks, shurikens, rope dart and ect. Although there is a mechanic when a player hits an enemy or projectile, the player gains an extra jump. This encourages flow throughout the game and feel great to use.

Level design is great. Eventually there will be a part that allows for time travel in the levels . It is clever on how they implement it and shows the creativity of the developers. There are frustrating moments and the player will die over and over. This is apparent on trying to obtain the power seals. Some are diabolic in the way you have to get them. Once you get over those sections, it becomes a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

Art and music are awesome. Great pixel art. Excellent music. I kinda wish they had scanlines, but that is nitpicking on a nice looking game.

Overall, a rememberable game that I WILL play again. The moment I saw the previews, I knew I had to have this game. I wish I had a physical copy, but they are insanely pricey and in limited quantity. If you see this game on sale, it's a no brainer to buy it.

Pros:
- Awesome music
- Tight controls
- Great level design
- Cool boss fights
- Nice art

Cons:
- Temporary annoying minion that follows you on death
- Some power seals are extremely difficult to get

100%PC

Um jogo que te surpreende, começa como um jogo retro clássico e logo surpreende alterando entro 8 e 16 BITS mas pra mim ele brilha e prova seu valor quando se torna um metroidvania DO NADA e junto dos personagens secundários INCRIVEIS se torna um jogo inesquecível, já faz alguns meses que joguei e consigo ouvir a musica da loja na minha cabeça

90%Nintendo Switch

Wonderful game and by all means, one of the best modern platformers. The non-linear second part is probably less perfect and a little disturbing at first, but it only takes a few hours for the game to come back to what it excels at : super-quick action and overly fun boss fights.

90%PC

A awesome game! Great nostalgic moments for players that have grown up playing 8-bit NES and 16-bit SNES! The story is great, the controls are spot-on and the graphics are just magicaly nostalgic. Got the game for free but this one surely is worth paying for.

80%PC

Gran juego de Sabotage Studio, creadores de Sea of Stars y que comparte universo con dicho título. The Messenger es un juego muy divertido, con una gran jugabilidad y que tras su apariencia de plataformas 8-bitero esconde mucho más. Me he llevado más de una sorpresa mientras lo jugaba. Sin duda lo recomiendo para todo el que le gusten los plataformas clásicos... y no tan clásicos ;)

80%Nintendo Switch

This title is everything that is great about 2D platforming, but with a very nice twist that makes it stand out on its own.

I found the overall story to be pretty standard at first glance. But as it progressed, I was pleased to see that the writing contained some great humour and cleverly tied into the platforming itself. I don't want to spoil anything, but the way the game transitions from normal platformer to metroidvania is brilliant!

In saying that, there was some great character progression that accompanies some very tight gameplay. Every time things did get difficult it was tough but very fair. Needless to say, the gameplay blended in beautifully with the 8/16 bit graphics and top notch soundtrack.

It's hard to write too much as this is a title that shouldn't be spoiled. It might look familiar at first glance, but under the surface you'll find a very original title indeed. Worth every cent.

95%PC

In anticipation of the team's next game, Sea of Stars, I decided to finally go back and complete The Messenger as the worlds are connected. I went on to complete the main story as well as the free DLC. Great side scroll adventure/metroidvania with creative homages to the 8bit/16bit era of gaming. Story and dialogue were uniquely written while breaking the 4th wall and keeping things simple. Great for fans of the genre/aesthetic.

75%PlayStation 4

Review PT BR - No Bugs / Platinum Difficulty 4/10. 1,2 Playthroughs necessary.

The messenger é um jogo indie de plataforma que tenta ser um ninja gaiden e um metroidvania ao mesmo tempo. Combate é simples e raso, nada de complexo, design das áreas são interessantes, mas o posicionamento dos inimigos é irritante. Neste jogo, se você matar o inimigo e a câmera se mover para fora do ponto de spawn dele, ele irá renascer se tu voltar, ou seja, em áreas em que você deve escalar uma montanha, se você cair, terá que enfrentar os inimigos novamente. Os chefes são interessantes, as lutas iniciais são bem simples e esquecíveis, mas o jogo evolui bem com design de chefes para o meio e fim de jogo.

A história começa simples, o seu boneco é um mensageiro e deve mandar uma mensagem para o topo da montanha, progredindo em mapas lineares e enfrentando chefes ao final de cada área. Após isso a história toma um novo rumo e a segunda parte do jogo começa, onde o jogo se torna um metroidvania e você deve revisitar todas as áreas que já tinha explorado para descobrir coisas novas. O mapa do jogo é grande, logo de cara, tu vai ser obrigado a checar 8 áreas diferentes para saber o que tem que fazer. Tem lugares que é importante ir primeiro ou antes de outra área, mas não há como saber disso, então é fácil ficar perdido e não saber o que fazer. O lojista te dá uma direção se você pagar ele, me salvou de não me dropar do jogo.

Em geral o jogo é bem criativo, as interações com o lojista são interessantes, alguns puzzles de plataforma são desafiadores, principalmente os opcionais e os chefes são carismáticos e interessantes, a construção desse mundo foi bem feita e agrega para o jogo ser ótimo.

A DLC do jogo agrega mais um pouco de gameplay, porém com muitas áreas de escalada, onde se cair, tem que matar os inimigos novamente, agregou umas 2 horas de jogo, conteúdo mediano.
Joguei esse jogo após ter jogado Sea Of Stars, jogos da mesma empresa e que se passam no mesmo universo, os jogos possuem referências entre si, logo, para quem jogou este jogo antes de SOS, vai ter pegado as referências que eu não peguei.

90%PC

The Messenger é um jogo que cativa por sua premissa bem simples, gameplay e mecânicas precisas, ótima história e personagens, trilha sonora acima da média e gráficos lindos, aliados a belíssima direção de arte.

Tudo isso culmina em um jogo divertido, em que o elemento de plataforma se destaca, surpreendendo o jogador com novos desafios a cada área que é liberada. Aliado a isso temos excelentes boss fights e mobs estrategicamente posicionados para dificultar nossa aventura o suficiente. Isso torna a gameplay bem dinâmica e instigante pois ela é bem fluida e tem a dose certa de desafio, sendo assim um jogo quase que perfeitamente balanceado.

100%PC

From start to finish, I absolutely loved this.

80%PC

Decent platformer/metroidvania. Story was ok and some of the bosses were lacking in difficulty, but overall a worthwhile game.

100%PC

Beautifully made game inspired my metroidvania games. You can really feel the love that Sabotage poured into this game. This is definitely favorite in recent years!

75%PC

Just becomes harder and harder and frustrating. But the pixel art and atmosphere are perfect so eh

95%PC

The music, gameplay and visuals were brilliant and the story was very interesting for a 2d platformer.

90%PC

A great, tight, action platformer that both embraces and parodies the genre. I have loved sinking my teeth in to this and recommend it highly if the action/metroidvania gameplay is one you often seek.

90%PC

Very rarely do I play a game's DLC, especially when it's not crucial to the plot, but I did for this one, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This game was not one that I expected much out of (since I got it for free from a Humble Bundle), but I can genuinely say that I enjoyed this game more than I did many AAA games that I've played in the past. The combat/gameplay was clean but not overly simple, and the story was pretty interesting. The only downside to this game is that it is not any longer.

70%Nintendo Switch

This was a good game. There is a lot to it. It has been a long time since I completed it, but I finished it at a time when I did not finish a lot of games. It held my attention. Great gameplay and level design.

90%Nintendo Switch

9.2 stars. One of my favorite playlists in a videogame. The gameplay starts like Ninja Gaiden but opens into a great Metroidvania with a pretty good story too. Great writing, great gameplay, this game has everything you could want from an Indie. Sabotage Studios has insane talent, I cannot wait to check out Sea of Stars!

90%PlayStation 4

9/10

85%PC

8.5 - Stun esti de bon jeux, pi en plus c faite par des québecois avec une traduction québecoise, fou malade

100%Nintendo Switch

Fantastic action platform game.

40%Nintendo Switch

I thoroughly enjoyed Hollow Knight and Celeste and thought that this would be right up my alley after reading heaps of positive reviews and watching the trailer. However, I've come to realize that this game just isn't for me-- I feel bored and I haven't even reached the metroidvania section that many people think is a slog. The world isn't very compelling and the jokes don't land for me. The soundtrack isn't my taste either, and so I often play with the sound almost all the way down. There was no point during my 7.5 hours of playing where I felt that spark of excitement to explore everything the game has to offer. I really wanted to like this game. I tried. I'm glad there are many people that had a great experience with The Messenger, but I think it's time for me to let go.

100%PC

Good metroid

90%PC

Very fun platformer, I had some issues with the structure of the game, as it tended to have a bit too much backtracking.

75%Linux

The Messenger was a mixed bag

The first section of the game was great it had great soundtrack, good 8-bit artstyle and a bit of 16-bit near the end, linear platforming with so backtracking and nice pacing. The first section is a solid 8.2/10

But when the second section of the game starts it becomes more open and it is just collect this items on the place you already went type of gameplay for the most part and I found it really tedious and it could have been stripped down a lot more, there are some cool boss fights here and there but mostly it is just going back and forth which I didn't enjoy I think the second part is 6.5/10

Time took to complete:18 hours 24 minutes
Personal Rating:7.3/10
I recommend this game if you like platforming, 8-bit/16-artstyle(they are really good in this game) and nice chiptune music

The game would also not save my controls scheme and I had to change it EVERY SINGLE TIME I opened the game and it was really frustrating I played this on Linux(Wine-GE) so I don't know if this is a WINE or the game problem

50%Nintendo Switch

Great visuals and writing, the soundtrack in general is very good, but quickly gets annoying if you die a lot in a level

75%Nintendo Switch

Right out of the gate, The Messenger gives some Ninja Gaiden (on the NES) vibes. The visuals have a very NES look to their sprites, the character is a Ninja with the ability to cling to walls, and the game is broken up into somewhat quick levels to complete. Unlike Ninja Gaiden though, The Messenger is a much deeper game once you get through the first quarter of the game.

First, I feel obligated to start with this game's music. God damn is it good! Many of the areas of the game have great chiptune-esque tracks that could fit right in with some of the best tunes from the NES. Nearly every area in the game has its own music track and I really dug the majority of them, fantastic job with the music here!

The visuals definitely harken back to the NES as well, and have a decent 8-bit like charm. However, after a certain event in the game, the player is able to go into the future and when in the future the game changes its visuals style to more of a 16 bit style game. While I like the simplistic NES visuals of the past, I love the sprite work and detail of the environments and backgrounds when in the future. It looks fantastic, and could have been something you saw on the SNES, which I am sure was the intent.

An aspect that The Messenger really excels at is in its controls. Sabotage (the developer) nailed this aspect, which is good because a lot of the areas in the game present a real challenge to complete. The player will need to make full use of the mobility the game gives you in order to progress. Thankfully everything is buttery smooth with regard to the controls, and it feels great to deftly move around the screen with all the options you are given.

Despite nailing so many aspects, there is a big fault I had with The Messenger, and that is in its scope of the overall game. As I mentioned before, the game starts off as a level based action-platformer, and I REALLY enjoyed this part of the game, which is a very tight and focused experience. However, after a certain event the game opens up into a "Metroidvania-esque" type of game, where the player needs to traverse back through the previous areas, find specific equipment that lets them open up other areas, while looking for the required music notes needed to unlock the final area of the game. The problem here is I feel like this aspect of the game is just padding the number of hours of the experience, and it is a detriment to the overall game IMO. One of the bigger annoyances of the latter part of the game is the back and forth time travel, which happens when crossing through a portal. Many of these portals are put into a narrow area where you can't avoid it, forcing you to time travel. However, some of these zones have parts to them that are locked out when the player does this. This causes a lot of backtracking that quickly got very annoying in my playthrough. On top of this, there isn't a quick travel option to all areas in the game, which means a player will spend a good amount of time backtracking through an adjacent area to get to where they need to go. Both of these add A LOT of wasted time just running around backtracking and really wore me down in the process. Another odd aspect is that the shift between the past and future still has the same enemies in both eras. In fact, enemy variety throughout the entire game is lacking. However, the bosses were nearly all very well done, and each was varied from another.

It is frustrating to see such a great start with The Messenger devolve into a much less focused and not as appealing game. I would have loved this game had it had another four to five levels of the first part of the game, with varying difficulties to add replayability. While the game is not horrible because of the latter part, it loses a lot of what hooked me at the start, which is a damn shame because man it does a lot of things right.

Pros:

+ Outstanding soundtrack, with tunes that could rival some of the best music tracks in the 8bit era
+ The visuals of both the 8 and 16 bit modes both look accurate to that generation of consoles, and look great. With some fantastic sprite work in the enemies, environments and backgrounds
+ Controls are buttery smooth and there are a lot of mobility options the player is given that all feel great to use
+ Some great boss encounters, with their sprites looking awesome, and some unique gimmicks that spice up the fights

Cons:

- Lack of basic enemy variety
- Time portals cause many parts of an areas map to become inaccessible, causing a lot of backtracking to hit specific portals in a way that puts the player in the correct era to progress
- The latter part of the game needs to have quick travel options for every area to alleviate the huge amount of unnecessary running through zones
- Dialogue ranges from witty, to trying too hard with the humor

70%PC

Me ha gustado el humor y como rompe la 4ª pared constantemente. Quizá un poco largo para lo que ofrece, y algo repetitivo en ciertos momentos, pero sin duda merece la pena por lo original que es y como va mejorando al paso de las horas

80%PC

Finished the linear- side of gameplay. It's... just good.

85%PC

88

90%Nintendo Switch

I will definitely check out more games from this developer! This game really clicked with me, even though there were so many elements I hated about it. This has nothing to do with the game. I'm just not really good at these kind of tricky platformers where you could (and I would almost every single time) fall to your death over and over again. I understand that the game tries to get you acquainted with the mechanics when it throws all those difficult levels your way, and I definitely did become better at it.

What I liked:
* The conversation with the shopkeeper cracked me up every time. I even created screenshots of some of his wise words and thoughts in his completely unrelated stories.
* The story is just funny to me, so are the conversations.
* Clever design choices. The devs created around 10/15 completely different environment. They are all gorgeous. I loved the detail of how the music muted a bit under water.
* Area names are fun, and really contribute to the story.
* The difficulty seemed so easy at the beginning... (I was wrong later on, this is a hard game)
* I liked that the second part of the game introduced even more areas. I thought it would be a mindless back and forth, but it wasn't.
* I like how this game (especially after finalising it) makes me feel like a pro!
* The final boss fight is fun

What I didn't like:
* I missed a dodge or a dash. I felt a bit slow on the ground. This could be because I beat Metroid Dread prior to this.
* The difficulty ramps up like crazy. I got quite frustrated in certain levels. The bosses always felt difficult but doable due to their patterns, but the levels sometimes felt impossible.
* Cloud ruins. How dare they?

100%PlayStation 4

Even better the second time. Tight controls, amazing soundtrack, personality and humor. And great world building considering how Sea of Stars fleshes out the universe.