PixlBit

It’s not often that a game does something that completely surprises me, but The Messenger managed to catch me totally off guard. What appears to be a modern 8-bit take on Ninja Gaiden suddenly morphs into something more at the halfway point of the game. Its once linear levels branch out and become a Metroid-like maze, with hidden secrets abound. Not only that, but the graphics and sound boost into 16-bit and the world takes on an extra level of detail. While this gimmick was incredibly cool, the tight gameplay and intricate level design is what makes The Messenger a truly special experience.

Right from the start in its 8-bit form, The Messenger is a compelling experience. If you grew up playing Ninja Gaiden, you’ll immediately feel right at home. The exception being that The Messenger controls so much more fluidly than the NES games that clearly inspired it. As you progress, you’ll slowly start unlocking new abilities that make your movement more and more interesting.

From the get-go, you can perform a double jump by swiping your sword at either enemies or background lanterns. This will reset your ability to jump and you can activate your next jump at a time of your choosing while you’re still airborne. Progressing through the levels, you’ll be expected to leverage this ability to continuously hit successive lanterns and enemies and make it across expansive voids.

Throughout the levels are time shards, which act as a form of currency you can use to pay the shopkeeper, whose shop can be reached from special portals placed throughout the level. Here you can further expand your abilities or enable other perks to make the quest a bit more approachable. An early upgrade allows you to destroy enemy projectiles and also use them to refill your double jump, further improving your movement tech.

The shards are also currency to pay your dues for death. The Messenger is most certainly a challenging game and you will unquestionably fail throughout your quest. But you won’t ever actually die. Quarble, your specially assigned demon, saves you from death at the last moment, always restoring you to a recent save point. He’ll take any time shards you collect for a short while after your death, providing some penalty for poor performance. Funny enough, if he’s following you around and you encounter a serious threat, like a boss battle, he’ll scream in fear and take off.

The shopkeeper and Quarble are two great examples of where The Messenger injects its unique personality and humor. Quarble enjoys mocking you with each would-be death. Your interactions with the shopkeeper are all extremely casual and sometimes fourth wall breaking. Most of the time you’ll get a chuckle out of his stories or his explanation of what’s going on. As you discover more of the story and what’s happening in The Messenger’s unique world you’ll appreciate the shopkeeper more and more.

While The Messenger is a fun old school romp for its first half, it’s the second half where it really hits stride. You’ll suddenly be presented with interesting puzzles that include going forward and backward in time. There are plenty of secrets to uncover in locating the 45 Green Seals hidden throughout the world, which unlock a special (optional) upgrade.

Even if you don’t choose to rundown all of these seals, just finding all of the new abilities and items required to complete the quest will have you scouring every inch of every level, all of which were hidden from view in the first half. The 16-bit upgrade is super cool to see in transition and the way the world changes between the past (8-bit) and the future (16-bit) is a visual and aural treat.

It’s hard to talk about much from The Messenger without spoiling its story, but needless to say it’s very well done and the way it all slowly unfolds as you uncover more and more of the world is part of what makes the experience so compelling.

The Messenger is a surprise I absolutely wasn’t expecting in the best way possible. It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve played this year and one that nobody should miss, especially those who enjoy unique old school platformers.