Review: The Messenger (Steam)
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. What begins as a classic action platformer soon unravels into an expansive time-traveling adventure full of thrills, surprises, and humor.
Pros:
- Graphics are a mash-up of 8 and 16 Bit sprites.
- Graphics options- V-Sync, Fullscreen, Resolution and pixel-perfect on or off.
- Classic chiptune soundtrack.
- Three save slots.
- Steam achievements.
- Tight responsive controls.
- Fast-paced action platformer gameplay.
- 1172MB Download size.
- Cutscenes are handled in-game and done in a retro style.
- Crystals- Collect them to upgrade your moves and attacks.
- Shop- Appears in the game and here you spend your crystals on the upgrade tree. The actual location itself is a thing of beauty.
- Humour and fourth wall breaking interactions.
- Power seals- Hidden collectibles and if you find them all you get a special upgrade.
- Seriously clever level design.
- Ki- Charge it by collecting Ki and allows you to use special moves and items.
- Save points throughout the levels.
- Quarble- Little devil/gargoyle looking guy who appears after you die. He then takes all crystals collected afterward as payment for bringing you back, You never know how much it will ultimately cost.
- Big boss battle sequences.
- Lush landscapes.
- Pick up health in the game.
- Steam trading cards.
- Short intro animations for entering a level.
- Jump then attack mechanic where as long as you hit something you can then jump again.
- Keep any collected crystals upon death.
- Colorful characters.
- Envokes memories of classic gamers like Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania on the N.E.S.
- Surprisingly easy to get into.
- Gam,e starts off as a straight platformer but then completely mixes it up with time changing mechanics.
Cons:
- The Messenger is very Difficult.
- Can get very reflex heavy.
- Little attack/combo options.
- No blood.
- Little replayability.
