The Messenger Review

A game full of surprises

After discussing a more meta topic in my last post, I’m now back to reviewing a game. This time, I want to talk about The Messenger. The Messenger is an action-platformer that was released in 2018. It was the debut game of the French-Canadian indie developer Sabotage Studio. Despite looking like a fairly ordinary retro platformer at first, the game is rather extraordinary and features a unique blend of ideas.

Initial Gameplay

Things start out familiar enough. We’re taking control of a ninja who gets handed a mysterious and very important scroll, thereby becoming the titular messenger. Our job is to take this scroll to the top of a mountain in the east. To do that, we have to complete classic action-platformer tasks: fight enemies, avoid traps, jump over deadly pits, climb walls, and fight bosses.

The game also includes a shop where we trade an in-game currency called “time shards” for upgrades. These upgrades include standard things like a bigger health bar but also very impactful upgrad…