The Messenger Reviews
2018 has been a great year for retro-style exploratory platformers, as seen with Celeste and Dead Cells. The Messenger continues that trend with aplomb with smooth controls, great presentation, and plenty of challenging and exciting levels to explore. It’s much more fair than its inspirations, but you will still die a lot (my final count clocked in at well over 300 and I payed over 1000 gems). If you love classic gaming with new twists, be sure to spread the message that The Messenger is another indie keeper.
The Messenger is an essential for lovers of the design of the classics of the NES and SNES, with a high level of difficulty and a story full of irony, sarcasm and above all memorable characters.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Just as surprising as the plot twists is the entertainment provided by The Messenger's dialogues. The gameplay is great and represents an evolution of the games that it takes inspiration from, but it's the unforeseen events, in the good sense, that makes this journey fantastic.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Messenger is an almost entirely well-made Genremix, which has his issues with the difficulty in the second half, but thanks to the humour, the flawless gameplay, the lovely artwork and the score the title manages to succeed in every discipline. Jump N`Run and Indiegaming Fans can`t go around this one
Review in German | Read full review
How difficult it is to make all this coexist in a single product, yet The Messenger succeeds, moreover with a maniacal attention to detail and an overall harmony
The Messenger is a finely crafted homage to the kind of game that first introduced many avid gamers to a lifelong hobby.
The Messenger is a retro-styled old school challenge that starts off easy but will soon test any player's hidden ninja skills. This is a multi-genre homage to some real classics that manages to feel like a long lost gem.
The Messenger is a brilliant action platformer (...or is it a metroidvania?), full of irony and pretty difficult jumps. The time shift between the 8-bit past and the 16-bit "future" is what makes the game shine - even with its low replayability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
When you're fully geared up and The Messenger is hitting you with brand new stages and challenges that you haven't seen before, The Messenger is an amazing, must-play experience. Taken as a whole, it's brought down only by fetch quests that make The Messenger last several hours longer than it feels like it should.
An inspired homage to old school Ninja Gaiden games, with a clever blending of genres and near perfect retro graphics and music.
The Messenger is a terrific throwback to action platformers like Ninja Gaiden with welcome twists. While a mid-game identity crisis detracts from the experience, it's still an adventure worth taking
Inspired by the 8-bit and 16-bit action-platformers of yesteryear, The Messenger is an ambitious and well-balanced side-scroller that's as difficult as it is funny.
The Messenger is a rock solid action platformer that balances out its retro stylings with modern touches and brilliantly slick controls. Blasting through the lengthy story is compelling, as new story beats and abilities are thrown into the mix. It perhaps flies a little too close to the sun later on as you hunt down the final few collectibles, but by and large, it's a cloud-stepping joy. Fans of 2D action games should have a blast with this, and that's a message we're happy to pass along.
The Messenger is a great example of "old school platform". It's fun to play, challenging but never frustrating, with good graphics and an excellent soundtrack.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sabotage Studio's debut title, The Messenger, is an impressive evolution for the platforming genre. It takes risks that at times work in its favor but also create frustrating mechanics for players to look past. The melding of 8-bit and 16-bit aesthetics into a love letter for the NES era of platformers is nothing short of genius, but the style outweighs the gameplay in some areas, including the difficulty level.
Even if it tends to be a bit frustrating in its second half, as it opens up a bit, The Messenger is still a magnificient and really great to play independent action platformer with some clever ideas and a lovable personnality.
Review in French | Read full review
Even with a shaky back-half, The Messenger is still an adventure worth seeking out. The agility focused platforming provides a satisfying challenge, the writing is surprisingly clever, and the graphical shifting is more than just a simple gimmick.
Overall, The Messenger is a really solid game for fans of the platformer and Metroidvania genres. Had the first half of the game been a little more condensed, and the second half not been too dragged out, the game could've been near-perfect. Even so, if you have even an appreciation for retro or old-school games, you can't go wrong with The Messenger.
The Messenger is a game that makes no effort to hide who its intended audience is, and its clever combining of two distinct gameplay genres ensures that it casts a rather wide net. Whether you're a die-hard retro gaming fan or a genre newbie eager to dive into the deep end, Sabotage's debut title is one adventure worth embarking on.