The Messenger

Instant classic and probably the peak of 2d platformers. I'm 5 years late to the party here and only discovered this unknown gem by accident because I liked this developer's demo for their upcoming retro RPG, Sea of Stars, enough to want to try their first game.
What you get here is an 8-bit platformer parody game that seems mostly inspired by Ninja Gaiden at first, but gradually adds mechanical and artistic homages to other classics of the genre.
The controls are tight and there's a bunch of movement mechanics. There's your standard wall climbing, a horizontal grappling hook that lets you reach enemies, ledges, walls and rings at a short range and enables sudden speed boosts, a Wingsuit that lets you glide horizontally and slow down your descent, and an underwater dash which if used near the surface can be used to give you a speed boost into the air horizontally.
There's also shoes that let the Messenger join the club of Hófvarpnir, Orion, Jesus, Morgan Freeman, Jim Carrey and co. by walking on the surface of still water (or lava or peanut butter). The limitation is that you can't stop or change direction on the surface without sinking, so you have to always terminate the walk with a jump or grapple if you need to dodge suddenly.
The Cloudstep, this game's take on the double jump, lets you gain extra height and chain the horizontal movement mechanics together being airborne for extended periods. Here you're not limited to a fixed number of mid-air jumps. Instead, you're awarded an extra one every time you hit a lantern, an enemy or even an enemy's projectile with your horizontal or vertical sword slash, or with the strongest version of the shuriken. Combined with speed boosted gliding it makes skilled speedruns of this game into truly awe inspiring shows.
This is now among my favorite movement systems across all games, only behind the likes of the Quake series.
The music is as good as it gets on the NES, the dialogue is hilarious, and the level and enemy design is interesting and varied. The early bosses are a bit too simple and easy even for newbies to this genre, but later difficulty modes fix that.
Save points are very common and deaths have very little consequence, so you're free to practice the situation you're having problems solving without having to repeat a big chunk of the level. Dying only prevents you from earning currency for movement/health/damage upgrades for a short time. But the currency is abundant (it only becomes a problem in New Game +) and you'll easily unlock everything in the shop before you beat the game, even if you're dying often.
After you've beaten 8 levels and their 6 bosses, the cutscene seems to be taking long and something big is happening, so you might think the game is done. You got your money's worth. After all, this was about as much content as each of the original Ninja Gaiden games.
But the credits aren't rolling.
Turns out you're not done. Now the music, sounds and graphics switch to the Sega Genesis Yamaha sound chip and gorgeous 16-bit visuals. You go through 2 big levels, beat their bosses and you're in for another longer cutscene.
"Ok, now I must be done, right? That last boss was tough to figure out."
Wrong. You're at less than a third of the game. Now it's no longer linear level after level. It opens up into a Metroidvania. You can now revisit the 10 levels to explore parts that weren't accessible without all the abilities you've gained by now, including the one you just earned - The Messenger's other unique contribution to the genre: the ability to shift between the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of every level, and these versions aren't just reskins of the same thing. They fundamentally change parts of the layout, making for interesting puzzles that require you to shift multiple times between modes to access certain areas. They're not too hard, just an interesting twist that adds to the richness of already having 2 versions of all levels and their music tracks.
Aside from this refresh of all the old levels, you can now reach 6 new levels with 4 bosses. One of these levels has sections, including its boss, which are a flying shoot-em-up minigame! And once you've collected all the quest McGuffins everywhere, the last non-DLC level and its boss unlock.
Then once you're done with that, the free DLC and the New Game + mode unlock. The DLC is 3 bosses on 4 levels, and they still keep getting bigger and more difficult. The first level is a surfing racer minigame reminiscent of Earthworm Jim's Andy Asteroids, or the Turbo Tunnel in Battltoads.
The last level here, the Voodoo Heart, is a series of speedrun races against a ghost image on a variety of obstacle courses. There's 25 sections and each loss gives you an easier obstacle course as your next section, and each win gives you a more difficult one. The first to reach 5 wins, uh... wins. This is my favorite level and I've spent by far the most time practicing it so far. Getting to the point where I can win all of the most difficult courses has really cleaned up my movement for the post-game challenge modes. Oh, and the boss after the last level isn't your standard platformer fight. It's a boxing minigame!
The New Game +1 option is an increase in difficulty. Basically a repeat of the whole game, but this time you take extra +1 damage from everything, bosses have more health, and deaths now incur an upfront cost in currency. You die permanently if you can't pay up. NG+1 lets you keep all your old upgrades, only losing your story/quest items that grant or ease up the access to certain areas. You get to pick just one of them to keep. Beat NG+1, and you get to pick another item and play NG+2 which is even harder.
In theory, if you live up to NG+14 or above (which means everything one shots you) and pick a new quest item each time, you start with all of them. This means the 0.01% of the players who can beat the game multiples times without ever taking damage are rewarded by basically skipping chunks of the game for a faster speedrun.
I find it lame that you can theoretically cheese your way up there as well. A less skilled player can spend absurd amounts of time farming currency to pay for their deaths, and still reach high NG+ values, which were supposed to be signs of mastery of the game, not hundreds of hours of farming. It's a perverse incentive, but that's remedied with the free DLC. Finding all the secrets on the DLC levels unlocks a roguelike mode in New Game +1 (or higher) called THE DEAL. This doubles your health and triples your damage, but you can no longer revive at all, so the currency becomes useless and a single death ends your run.
I won't get into spoilers here, but I really like how the story of the game is meaningful despite this being a parody game. The big plot twist and a few of the reveals gave me shivers. There's hidden Easter egg visuals in the levels that prove many of the mythical stories you'll hear and discuss with the few NPCs are literally true. There's runes scattered in the backgrounds in some places. If you learn how they correspond to the Latin alphabet, you can get extra hints about the world's history. The lore stuff especially got me excited because I found this game by getting interested in the RPG that will be this game's prequel.
Overall, this is the complete package. If you're a newbie to platformers, this game's gradual ramping of difficulty and good teaching methods will accommodate you. If you're a master of the genre and Shinesparking around Metroid games is second nature to you, you'll love the high skill ceiling here. Voodoo Heart runs and particularly speed boost Wingsuit gliding will entice you while New Game + and THE DEAL will give you endless replayability. If you just want to chill with minigames or a silly epic story with interesting lore, you're covered too. Do not miss this classic.

Steam User 73

Reviewed last year

Instant classic and probably the peak of 2d platformers. I'm 5 years late to the party here and only discovered this unknown gem by accident because I liked this developer's demo for their upcoming retro RPG, Sea of Stars, enough to want to try their first game.
What you get here is an 8-bit platformer parody game that seems mostly inspired by Ninja Gaiden at first, but gradually adds mechanical and artistic homages to other classics of the genre.
The controls are tight and there's a bunch of movement mechanics. There's your standard wall climbing, a horizontal grappling hook that lets you reach enemies, ledges, walls and rings at a short range and enables sudden speed boosts, a Wingsuit that lets you glide horizontally and slow down your descent, and an underwater dash which if used near the surface can be used to give you a speed boost into the air horizontally.
There's also shoes that let the Messenger join the club of Hófvarpnir, Orion, Jesus, Morgan Freeman, Jim Carrey and co. by walking on the surface of still water (or lava or peanut butter). The limitation is that you can't stop or change direction on the surface without sinking, so you have to always terminate the walk with a jump or grapple if you need to dodge suddenly.
The Cloudstep, this game's take on the double jump, lets you gain extra height and chain the horizontal movement mechanics together being airborne for extended periods. Here you're not limited to a fixed number of mid-air jumps. Instead, you're awarded an extra one every time you hit a lantern, an enemy or even an enemy's projectile with your horizontal or vertical sword slash, or with the strongest version of the shuriken. Combined with speed boosted gliding it makes skilled speedruns of this game into truly awe inspiring shows.
This is now among my favorite movement systems across all games, only behind the likes of the Quake series.
The music is as good as it gets on the NES, the dialogue is hilarious, and the level and enemy design is interesting and varied. The early bosses are a bit too simple and easy even for newbies to this genre, but later difficulty modes fix that.
Save points are very common and deaths have very little consequence, so you're free to practice the situation you're having problems solving without having to repeat a big chunk of the level. Dying only prevents you from earning currency for movement/health/damage upgrades for a short time. But the currency is abundant (it only becomes a problem in New Game +) and you'll easily unlock everything in the shop before you beat the game, even if you're dying often.
After you've beaten 8 levels and their 6 bosses, the cutscene seems to be taking long and something big is happening, so you might think the game is done. You got your money's worth. After all, this was about as much content as each of the original Ninja Gaiden games.
But the credits aren't rolling.
Turns out you're not done. Now the music, sounds and graphics switch to the Sega Genesis Yamaha sound chip and gorgeous 16-bit visuals. You go through 2 big levels, beat their bosses and you're in for another longer cutscene.
"Ok, now I must be done, right? That last boss was tough to figure out."
Wrong. You're at less than a third of the game. Now it's no longer linear level after level. It opens up into a Metroidvania. You can now revisit the 10 levels to explore parts that weren't accessible without all the abilities you've gained by now, including the one you just earned - The Messenger's other unique contribution to the genre: the ability to shift between the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of every level, and these versions aren't just reskins of the same thing. They fundamentally change parts of the layout, making for interesting puzzles that require you to shift multiple times between modes to access certain areas. They're not too hard, just an interesting twist that adds to the richness of already having 2 versions of all levels and their music tracks.
Aside from this refresh of all the old levels, you can now reach 6 new levels with 4 bosses. One of these levels has sections, including its boss, which are a flying shoot-em-up minigame! And once you've collected all the quest McGuffins everywhere, the last non-DLC level and its boss unlock.
Then once you're done with that, the free DLC and the New Game + mode unlock. The DLC is 3 bosses on 4 levels, and they still keep getting bigger and more difficult. The first level is a surfing racer minigame reminiscent of Earthworm Jim's Andy Asteroids, or the Turbo Tunnel in Battltoads.
The last level here, the Voodoo Heart, is a series of speedrun races against a ghost image on a variety of obstacle courses. There's 25 sections and each loss gives you an easier obstacle course as your next section, and each win gives you a more difficult one. The first to reach 5 wins, uh... wins. This is my favorite level and I've spent by far the most time practicing it so far. Getting to the point where I can win all of the most difficult courses has really cleaned up my movement for the post-game challenge modes. Oh, and the boss after the last level isn't your standard platformer fight. It's a boxing minigame!
The New Game +1 option is an increase in difficulty. Basically a repeat of the whole game, but this time you take extra +1 damage from everything, bosses have more health, and deaths now incur an upfront cost in currency. You die permanently if you can't pay up. NG+1 lets you keep all your old upgrades, only losing your story/quest items that grant or ease up the access to certain areas. You get to pick just one of them to keep. Beat NG+1, and you get to pick another item and play NG+2 which is even harder.
In theory, if you live up to NG+14 or above (which means everything one shots you) and pick a new quest item each time, you start with all of them. This means the 0.01% of the players who can beat the game multiples times without ever taking damage are rewarded by basically skipping chunks of the game for a faster speedrun.
I find it lame that you can theoretically cheese your way up there as well. A less skilled player can spend absurd amounts of time farming currency to pay for their deaths, and still reach high NG+ values, which were supposed to be signs of mastery of the game, not hundreds of hours of farming. It's a perverse incentive, but that's remedied with the free DLC. Finding all the secrets on the DLC levels unlocks a roguelike mode in New Game +1 (or higher) called THE DEAL. This doubles your health and triples your damage, but you can no longer revive at all, so the currency becomes useless and a single death ends your run.
I won't get into spoilers here, but I really like how the story of the game is meaningful despite this being a parody game. The big plot twist and a few of the reveals gave me shivers. There's hidden Easter egg visuals in the levels that prove many of the mythical stories you'll hear and discuss with the few NPCs are literally true. There's runes scattered in the backgrounds in some places. If you learn how they correspond to the Latin alphabet, you can get extra hints about the world's history. The lore stuff especially got me excited because I found this game by getting interested in the RPG that will be this game's prequel.
Overall, this is the complete package. If you're a newbie to platformers, this game's gradual ramping of difficulty and good teaching methods will accommodate you. If you're a master of the genre and Shinesparking around Metroid games is second nature to you, you'll love the high skill ceiling here. Voodoo Heart runs and particularly speed boost Wingsuit gliding will entice you while New Game + and THE DEAL will give you endless replayability. If you just want to chill with minigames or a silly epic story with interesting lore, you're covered too. Do not miss this classic.
Steam User 32

Reviewed last year

The Messenger is pure nostalgia in the form of a video game.
The music, graphic style and gameplay all work together to take veterans back to the first time they fell in love with games.
The sarcastic humor often hits the nail on the head and the gameplay is challenging and rewarding.
The only drawback is that the game sometimes feels negatively old-fashioned, but that does not alter the fact that this is a top game.
It's also a perfect game to have on your steam deck:
The Messenger is, for the most part, your average 2D side-scrolling platform game, BUT, a great average 2D side-scrolling platform game.
You use your ninja skills to jump, punch and slide your way through a series of varied levels that will test your control and agility.
As you progress you gain new abilities such as the ability to climb walls, use hanging hooks to swing and fly like a squirrel - and these are evenly spaced out to make the platforming more challenging.
Successive moves such as sliding down a ledge, then grabbing a wall and throwing a shuriken into the enemy's eye feel fluid and a successful execution provides the necessary satisfaction.
The Messenger carries the inspiration of the NES / SNES era on its tongue and is an instant classic for any retro games fan.
The action is fast and fluid, the script is funny and self-assured, and we love the ability to time travel between the 8- and 16-bit worlds.
Steam User 29

Reviewed last year

I like the shopkeeper. And I guess the game is pretty good too.
Steam User 20

Reviewed last year

The Messenger is an absolute masterpiece when it comes to retro styling games. The game combines the classic 8-bit/16-bit elements of classic platformers from games like Ninja Gaiden and Megaman with modern fast-paced modern action platformers. The result is a game that is challenging, fun and rewarding. The gameplay is a mix of nostalgia and innovation, giving the player a unique and addicting experience. The story is well-written and engaging, making the game's progression rewarding and meaningful. On top of that, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the levels are gorgeously designed. All in all, The Messenger is an amazing experience, and one I highly recommend.
Steam User 21

Reviewed last year

This is one of the best platformers I've ever played.
Stop reading this and buy the game.
Steam User 17

Reviewed last year

Such a good game
8.5/10
Came into it as someone who is really bad at platformers - and I did die a lot, but the game does a good job of easing you into the mechanics of it before adding more.
Has a really good mechanic with the time travel making it really unique. Even though initially in the first half it may feel like a standard platformer game, the second half really is where everything clicks into place and it all makes sense
It also has tons of small details that when you notice you’ll really like
Steam User 15

Reviewed last year

Cons:
Cringey "Uhm... well that just happened"-style dialogue
Tedious backtracking
Disappointingly easy late game bosses
Pros:
Literally everything else

The Messenger

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