Games

The Messenger

Sabotage

2018•Platformer•PEGI 7•About 16 hours

Taste attributes: actionadventurecomedymonster/alien/supernaturalfastunsavourylightimaginarysimplelinearbig & variedhuman spirit/resilience/survivalsocial commentaryunderdog triumphs

See which match your taste

Boxlist takeA larger-than-life, breakneck platformer: sweeping and uncomplicated. Best if you like the extraordinary over the everyday.

Pace: very fast · Originality: balanced · Tone: dark · Weight: balanced · Realism: imaginary world · Story: simple · Structure: linear · Look: balanced · Scale: big and varied · Emotional punch: balancedHow we score

IGDB rating

83 / 100

203 ratings

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Based on your film and TV taste: games are matched on the same ten characteristics, with your own match bands.

About This Game

As a demon army besieges his village, a young ninja ventures through a cursed world, to deliver a scroll paramount to his clan's survival. Leveraging players expectations as a core game design ingredient, The Messenger is first presented as an 8-bit action platformer with a simple story, that unravels into an epic time traveling tale, eventually revealing itself as a 16-bit Metroidvania game packed with replay value and deadpan humor.

Summary: IGDB

Story

In a village of ninjas, an ancient prophecy foretells that a "Western Hero" will one day arrive to save them from the demons that plague the land. When the Demon King attacks, the promised hero appears and repels him, then entrusts a young ninja with a sacred scroll — naming him the Messenger and charging him to carry it east, to the top of a distant mountain. Aided along the way by a mysterious blue-robed shopkeeper, the Messenger sets out across a perilous world, his simple delivery gradually drawing him into a far greater struggle that spans centuries and bends time itself.

Characteristics

Where this game sits on each taste spectrum

SlowPACEFast

FamiliarORIGINALITYOriginal

DarkTONEWholesome

LightWEIGHTINESSHeavy

FantasyREALISMRealistic

SimpleINTRICACYIntricate

Non-LinearLINEARITYLinear

UnderstatedSTYLEStylised

IntimateSCALEEpic

RestrainedEMOTIONIntense

Genres and themes

ActionAdventureComedyMonster/alien/supernaturalHuman spirit/resilience/survivalSocial commentaryUnderdog triumphs

Keywords

RetroNinjaMetroidvaniaDifficult

Where to play

Details

Developer: Sabotage
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Released: 30 August 2018
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Modes: Single player
Perspective: Side view
Time to beat: 15h rushed, 16h normally
Age rating: PEGI 7
Taste scores: How we score
Source: IGDB

How game matches work

Games are scored on the same ten characteristics as films and matched with the same formula and your own match bands, from your film and TV taste. Game scores are estimates, made by fixed rules from IGDB genres, themes, keywords and descriptions.