Analyzing the Messenger's Simple Twist

The Messenger is a rad new Ninja Gaiden homage and I want to tell you why it feels so special in today's entertainment landscape.
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The Messenger. Sabotage Studios. Review. Critique. Retrospective. Video Essay. #KingK #TheMessenger #Review

[@someguy_namingly]

I don't think it was "just a story"; he's simply telling another adventurer about what happened. In a similar way, if you pay attention when travelling the world, you can see things from other stories that he's told, like the little mill that produces infinite resources (which you can see in the Sunken Shrine), and the parents frozen in ice (in Glacial Peak), for example.

[@voidska]

during my playthrough somewhere in the marsh or whatever it was called, I actually saw the grim reaper or someone who looked like him stuck inside a tree which I think correlates to another one of the shopkeep's stories

[@Gatekid3]

Can confirm. Going in blind blew my mind. i thought it was just going to be some ninja gaiden homage played straight, but then it hit me with dumb meta-humor (which i love) the shopkeeper's stories (best character), and then the twist hit me like a truck (the "youmust not have seen the trailer" joke only made me more hyped), and then everything after that was just bliss.

[@i_fish6657]

I honestly forgot that it was a game based off of ninja gaiden I think of it as the messenger nothing else

[@veezopolis]

I did too, I watched a minute and a half of the Completionists epsiode on it, heard nothing about the details just that he loved it so much and I bought it and played it right then

[@tumamaencosplay]

I also did not watch the trailer lmao, just went off Arlo's reccomendation. I actually complained that the VERY obvious "new game+" rooms along thw way were driving me insane, because I would have to play the game twice and I don't like that. Turns out it was just the time travel mechanic 🤣

[@DueceGaming]

My experience exactly! The way that game unfolded was sooo cool. Great music too!

[@NickZack]

I dont think it was all a story in the end. Hes just telling another messenger what legitimately happened. But it's a neat idea. Never thought of it before.

[@someguy_namingly]

In a similar way, if you pay attention when travelling the world, you can see things from other stories that he's told, like the little mill that produces infinite resources (which you can see in the Sunken Shrine), and the parents frozen in ice (in Glacial Peak), for example. When I first noticed one of those, I started to wonder if *all* the stories he told were true. :)

[@Stephanie-69]

I know this comment is old but I feel like pointing out that it's been officially comfirmed that everything that happened in the game isn't just a Shopkeeper story, that it actually happened

[@JustFun-lq9ef]

I agree, especially since many of the stories the shopkeeper tells have easter eggs in the actual game

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

It’s canonically canon. In other words you’re right.

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

@@someguy_namingly she*

[@benji-menji]

The stories that the shop keeper tells you are actually in-game. You can find the different elements and people throughout the world as proof that they existed at some point. Whether the monument was the actually story or inspired the stories is what fascinates me the most.

[@noahwilson63]

I found the frozen parents in the glacial peak and just stood there

[@1jidion]

except one, i think is more about valere from sea of stars, the one where the shopkeeper is talking about the moon

[@MC_CatMaster]

@@1jidion The one about the moon getting stuck in a bog shows up in the Corrupted Future

[@derpfluidvariant0916]

I think it's Interesting that Teaks performs a similar role in sharing these stories that give background on major events. The vampire rose in particular would've been very confusing with the knowledge from it's story.

[@BardianAngel]

Something about the cabinet sequences... Once he's telling you to open the cabinet, you can try to leave. If you do, he starts saying the opposite of his previous dialogue. "please do open the cabinet" "you ARE ready for this" and eventually gives a 3rd long unskippable story. It's really funny.

[@turtlefalcon5546]

You can also activate this by interacting with anything in the room besides the cabinet.

[@WhoIsSirChasm]

Wait a sec... a traditional platformer that turns into a Metroidvania with emphasis on re-exploring past parts of the game to find a music box? This is Wario Land 3!

[@Ageleszly]

But Wario Land 3 plays like that from the start

[@enderallygolem]

@@Ageleszly Then again you have way less options at the start

[@SpecterVonBaren]

God, what I would give for a new Wario Land game like 3.

[@adamzam1602]

technically in the messenger you search for music notes, not the music box.

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

The music notes are a reference to Earthbound.

[@gabrielmanari4454]

Gotta say I cried A LOT while reading the final story, where it's the developers telling how they got the game made. It's beautiful. This game is a masterpiece and a hell of a master class in game design.

[@Elgar337]

The "new player" that comes in when you become the shopkeep actually inputs the exact same movements you did when you first entered the shop. 11/10 Game of the Century. Oh yeah and the soundtrack still brings tears to my eyes.

[@DrGandW]

Oh my god I forgot about that I thought it was so cool at the time because I was messing around so it was really obvious

[@Josuh]

I was secretly hoping this was the case cuz what better way to mimick those movements than to record them directly and now i can rest easy knowing it was

[@Arkegox]

​@@JosuhI've played the game a couple times and I'm fairly certain the Soldier does the same movement every time sadly

[@FirebladeXXL]

sadly not true. would have been genius if it was that way.

[@jonathanvaux2715]

Unfortunately it only simulates what a player would likely do. The soldier enters the same way every playthrough

[@Ferkeshu]

The rope dart makes you IMMUNE for few frames You can literary take no dmg if you swing the right way

[@CT-1118]

That's how I beat the demon general boss in the Underworld, I started thinking about it as a "parry" and it was really helpful for all the attacks where he dashes at you

[@justmeaeron7354]

You actually go into the future by 500 years, think about your whole villages and how many generations have passed...

[@midasmagnezone4282]

Ninja does ask the Shopkeeper at one point about the possibility of multiple Messengers in between the past and future (to which the Shopkeeper says that's up to you) but as also stated in game, the Tower of Time is meant to transport Messengers to a point in time most needed of a hero. The stuff that happened over the 500 years kinda bottled up and resulted in the catastrophe of the future--at least that's how I see it. (Not to mention whatever happened to the Soldier Messenger.)

[@itsnotpaul8548]

@@midasmagnezone4282 my head canon is that soldier messenger fell down a pit

[@wingedapollyon1677]

I just finished Messenger today and after seeing Sea of Stars during the Indie world presentation awhile back, I think Sabotage studios are really doing something really special with how they're handling their classic inspired games and I am really looking forward to what ever they're cooking up. Also im very curious how Sea of Stars will connect to The Messenger considering it is a prequal to The Messenger.

[@BassForever]

The other issue with the messengers back tracking is there aren’t enough mcguffins to find that you couldn’t get the first time.

[@aneelahuja1212]

Ik this is an old comment but I didn’t find it that bad but that’s probably bc I barely got any power seals the first time.

[@zizoegy8460]

The only single problem with messenger is the back tracking yeah. Mainly either cuz of the limited teleportation and time portals. Some portals don't even let you switch twice. But tbf the game is excellent so its whatever. I had a lot of fun with the game :D

[@Euruk1]

This game is a gem and a modetn classic in my opinion. I only wish the twist was kept secret. Since it was in the trailer I was just waiting. Still awesome though. Great game.

[@trupotato]

I didn't watch any of the trailers. I went into this game with the description: It's Ninjas. I legitimately thought I was done with the game when I got to the top of the Glacial Peak and the Tower of Time. This is my favorite thing that happened in 2018, and will inevitably be my favorite thing that happened in 2019 when the Picnic Panic DLC comes out.

[@bigbluebuttonman1137]

TruPotato Honestly, I knew the game was going to wrap around back to the previous levels in some way. I just sort of figured it would be that you can level select and finish them, I never thought it would expand as much as it did. I never watched the trailers, so I got to experience the game entirely blind.

[@zizoegy8460]

I luckily did not watch anything of this game, not even the trailer. I bought it cuz it looked cool and I heard good things and I was not disappointed. This game is fantastic!

[@dallows3235]

Being their first release, they were just trying to showcase that this wasn’t just another piece of retro-nostalgia shovelware that’s been prevalent in recent years. But for real, this is in my top 10 games of all time. 👌🏻

[@snailcorepistolwhippits9488]

Its definitely one of the most satisfying video game moments ever when you go to the future for the first time and hand off the scroll. It's like you and the character are collectively coming to the same conclusion: "oh wait, I'M the guy. Now I get it. You're the guy too, Messenger! Here ya go." It still makes me smile from ear to ear.

[@Monke80s]

The Messenger came to me at a point in my life in which I was not enjoying a lot of games for various reasons. This game, alongside Celeste, completely revitalized my enjoyment of games in general to the max and to this day both these games stand at the top 2 of my favorite games of all time. The Messenger's OST, specially, stands as the top of my personal list of best video game soundtracks of all time

[@justinstewart9145]

I thought the twist was cool, but certain aspects of the 2nd part of The Messenger needed to be fleshed out more. I feel like the game could have benefited from telling the story more cohesively, instead of that plot dump at the end, maybe some secret boss fights, new weapons, and a fast travel system between shops.

[@benji-menji]

I actually ended up satisfied with all of what the 2nd part has to offer. Figuring out how to effectively get to my next objective and going through areas again a different way really made the good moments much sweeter and memorable.

[@ibacon1999]

fun fact: the stories the shopkeeper tells you are real locations in the game

[@phaedra._.]

What an incredibly articulate video about one of my favorite games. So nice to see another take on it! Didn't think about it all just being a story at the end, but it's certainly food for thought. I'll have to go through and replay it again, it's been far too long as it is.

[@Mylexsi]

Hey, I found you through this video, and I'd just like to say, I appreciate the effort you clearly put into these and the eloquence with which you put your thoughts into words. Keep it up, dude.

[@DominiqueGendronLanglois]

A-W-E-SOME presentation. I have less and less time to delve into new games but I think I really have to give this one a shot. Fun Fact : Game was made in Quebec city and they included a Quebec french language option. That's pretty neat. Great content, Good job! 4/10 KZbinr.

[@gamersinacontainer]

Dominique Gendron-Langlois 4/10?

[@DominiqueGendronLanglois]

a couple months ago, an infamous twitter user (forgot the name) made a list of all the gaming news/critique channels on KZbin he knew and rate them out of 10. KingK came out with a 4/10 youtuber. A new meme was born.

[@PsychOsmosis]

What?! There's a Québécois option?? I played it all in English like I always do because translation is always worse than the original, without realising that I was playing the translation this time around... Oh well, tant pis..!

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

@@PsychOsmosis the creators are bilingual so either one is in a way the original

[@LiquidSquidd]

Glad you've done a video on this. Easily one of my favourite games this year.

[@DawnRego]

Hey KingK! Been a fan for the past year. So happy you’ve made a Messenger video. I’m in the midst of playing it and I don’t want to be too spoiled so I’ll come back to the video very soon. Cheers! 😃

[@Deadestest]

"She does the thing with you" eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee lewd joke

[@booski1865]

Perfect review. Totally agree the game has a few rough edges but the abundance of good stuff totally make it worth persisting. Even passed the Abomination of the Abyss...

[@user-mh2ri7pf7q]

What a great analysis youve done! Really brought me back into the vibe the game gave me, thanks for the reminiscence!

[@SarcasmSunshine]

I only recently discovered your channel and I absolutely adore it. Videogamedunkey made a video explaining the importance of understanding the reviewer's relationship with games and I feel as though we consistently have similar tastes and experiences across the board.

[@sophmys7653]

I platinumed this on ps4 a few weeks ago, never heard of it before that now it is one of my favourite games.

[@yellowpie]

I got this game for free from Twitch Prime, so I got to experience it 100% blind, and that 16-bit jump blew me away. I wish they could have kept that part a secret, but I can understand how they might have had trouble getting people to spend $20 without showing off any special twists. One of my favorite things in games is when the “ending” turns out to be only halfway through, so the part when it turned into a metroidvania was also incredible to me.

[@7tales311]

its a great genre twist! I really enjoyerd how it played itself, and considering i got it free, the twist was definitely the best it couldve been.

[@matheuslongbill3525]

Thank you for this great video! I've played the game just now and then i've been searching for reviews,to see other people opnions about this masterpiece.And yours is the best review about it.Have a good day!

[@maisydog]

I watched your intro then picked up the game and I'm so glad I waited to finish watching this! It was a wonderful game and the twists and turns were excellent. Thank you for your recommendation!

[@ingeniousclown]

I absolutely loved all the little twists, but I didn't love the metroidvania half of the game as much as you did. The game was it's strongest at the first four hours. It's hard for me to truly file this game under "metroidvania", it feels more like "metroidvani-ish". As you mentioned, the world is still very segmented and kinda rough to get around... but I think what bothered me the most was the overall lack of upgrades you can get after the game takes off the training wheels. What do you get that changes the gameplay in a meaningful way in the latter portion? Isn't it really just the water run? MAYBE you can count the lantern, but I don't. In that way, The Messenger imparts it's final twist: it's actually just Banjo Tooie. (seriously though, it feels far more like a collectathon in the 2nd half than a metroidvania)

[@cgoldbac]

I agree that the metroidvania second half was not as strong as the first half of the game, I did not enjoy having to travel through nearly the same areas for little apparent reason. I didn't mind all the fetch quests but I think using the shopkeeper entrances as teleporters would have made all that traveling less tedious. II also greatly missed the shopkeepers commentary; that really brought the game to life in the first half.

[@Jose-se9pu]

Agree 100%

[@pixelcat_yt]

@@cgoldbac To be fair, the new areas did have shopkeeper's commentary.

[@cgoldbac]

@@pixelcat_yt True, just not enough of it. IIRC it was only like one new line each time.

[@pixelcat_yt]

@@cgoldbac Nah, he had entire stories to share.

[@onsidesilver7828]

Thx for the video. Really cool story, keep up the good work ^^

[@teslavoltagames3208]

"What a twist!" - M. Night Shyalaman

[@cactusloser]

God I love this game. And great breakdown! This vid definitely deserves more views

[@shannonhill3356]

Man, I'm so damn glad I found your retrospectives and reviews! You seem to nail it clear on the sweet spot as far as what I'm looking for, will like, and dislike in each game I'm looking Into. In depth, but not padding the script for time, or with $3 words. Nice span, and assortment of games. The Zelda series was my favorite, by far 🤙 Thank you!

[@pyrrhickong]

Hey so, uh, thanks for making me not overlook this one! Just looking at it made me go "oh, it's Ninja Gaiden". Ninja Gaiden II fights with Dragon Warrior III for my favorite NES game, so I thought, "cool, glad that's getting exposure. I'll never play it because I really like Ninja Gaiden II, let's play that instead". Upon seeing things like the shopkeeper's fourth-wall breaking dialogue, that feeling was pretty much cemented - the game would do a good job paying homage to the original, probably improve upon it in some ways, but ultimately would be a highly reverent and deprecating retread with a neat gimmick. Call it a kinda Yooka-Laylee effect, I guess, of something struggling to stick a landing after a promising concept. This is the kinda game I would pick up in five years after it's dirt cheap and just thrown into a sale. You've successfully elevated this into a "I am getting my Switch when I get home and we are downloading this sucker" title. So, y'know, kudos to you on selling it, giving it a chance, and stating the legitimate gripes and apprehensions you had about it. Your nuanced, balanced critique like that really helps in drawing me in and enjoying the content you've given. I could go on about what the game reminds me of - I see a lot of Robot Ninja Haggle Man 3 from Retro Game Challenge, for instance, to give the most "psh yes but I know of THIS obscure gem you've never heard of it, uncultured swine that you are" arrogant example - but that won't take away from the things it not only does well, but how excitingly you've laid out natural growth of a skillset, and how it looks fun to master in a way I don't think I've hunted for since... what, the first Guacamelee? You do the good video and sell the game better than the guys who tried to sell me the game. So, y'know, nice job. And stuff.

[@stevieavail5773]

What really struck me about the game is how damn funny it is.

[@shredjward]

I was so lucky to play this game with no pretext on the second half. I watched the episode of "Road to the speedrun" (i think, its a GDQ show about mapping a speedrun somewhat and then doing a race against another person not familiar with the game more than that). This show only went to the end of the linear section, so when i started playing i had ZERO idea what would happen after. Absolutely loved it

[@olekaarvaag9405]

Great video. I have watched some gameplay from this, but it was still in the starting faze and it dragged on for just long enough for me to write it off as a game that had potential but underused mechanics. I'm glad to see I could not be more wrong and closeminded in that thought. Definitively picking this up on the Switch as next in queue.

[@martindesantiago6508]

Great video king k. I don’t think I would’ve gone for this game before your analysis.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Yup, I was blown away. Absolute staple. Great review! (Forgot if you used spoiler tags, could use those if you didn't, just to be safe.)

[@shooter5769]

"She does the thing with you", way too hilarious knowing the context ;)

[@TheTruePacmanMG]

Loved the Messenger and I'm playing Sea of Stars now which just makes me love the Messenger even more. Sabotage is so good.

[@vladzf9655]

I got this game and started playing with no idea of what it was about and it was so fresh and fun all the plot twists were very unexpected, I thought the game was going to end twice! but it just kept going and I really appreciate it for it. Also the music is such a joy to listen

[@thedcgaming5]

Just stumbled on this game after finishing Sea of Stars and looking for deeper connections. I can already see some of the surface level connections and plan on running through this now! Hope you plan a review on this!

[@daemon3582]

Wow, I saw this in a direct a while back and while cool didn't standout all that much but after this review the game is on the top of my must play list.

[@paulsrc5603]

Can you do a retrospective on "Taking a break"? Your videos are awesome and i love them, but you shouldn't overwork yourself because of them, everyone deserves a break

[@LucasWolfGanondorf]

Much like Iconoclasts earlier this year, I watched ProtonJon stream this game before you made a video about it. I've never been a fan of the 2D Ninja Gaiden games, but after watching that stream and this video and hearing so much praise from both, I think I'm sold on this game. If I like this as much as I liked Iconoclasts, it'll definitely be worth the price of admission.

[@sahilhossian8212]

Lore of Analyzing the Messenger's Simple Twist momentum 100

[@magnumd-pad5138]

My friend recommended this to me because he knows I love old school platformers but I didn't know it was going to open up into a full on metroidvania. The latter is probably my favorite genre so that was an exceptionally good surprise.

[@giygas_9577]

Whoa. The fact that the while thing was just one of the shopkeepers stories flew right over my head. I thought he was just recounting the events.

[@timelordomega5914]

Fun fact I don’t think many people noticed: the song for the music box uses the 8 notes you collect in order. They didn’t have to do this, but damn is it my favorite song for that reason.

[@jonathanjon2357]

You are the reason I bought this game and yes it did spoil some things but I left your video right before you revealed what the scroll was. I love it and thank you

[@MagicSpartan1992]

The twist came as a real treat to me. I owe this video as to why I got this game. Loving it!

[@dukejaywalker5858]

Excellent video!

[@keaton5101]

the way i was introduced to this game was another video that was talking about how brilliant this game is- a series you may have heard of called Good Game Design? they talked a bit about the modernized ninja gaiden style of gameplay, mentioned that there was "a big twist", and said something about how the game had great dialogue- and i closed the video and bought The Messenger, because that was all i needed to hear. this is not necessary, but i would like to ask you- if you make any videos about games like this in the future- maybe provide the things that make the game great before talking about the twist, for the people who didn't know about the game until they watched your video? you mentioned yourself that you would rather have had no idea about the style-changing or the metroidvania stuff going in, so i think that could have been a good thing to do. ...also, this is a great video, and thank you for helping to give this amazing game the credit it deserves :p

[@techdeth]

Thanks King, this game was great and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much as well!

[@jossshhh7347]

So glad I came into this game blind I had no idea about the 16 bit transition

[@makesomething4093]

So ready for your Sea of Stars vid, oh my god

[@JammieBear]

I think I watched this a few years ago, but maybe I didn't listen well enough back then. I'd mostly written The Messenger off because the footage I'd seen made me think, "this is too Castlevania NES to be a Metroidvania, it looks like you don't even backtrack." But, after playing through Sea of Stars and watching a few parts of a The Messenger LP, and this video, I think I'll finally pick it up, add it near the top of my To Play list.

[@Luckysquirrel1256]

Never played The Messenger, but am playing Sea of Stars and there are a ton of throwbacks and references to The Messenger, that I might just have to check it out now.

[@shadowdahuman]

I'm really glad I held out on watching this video untill I played the game myself. I went in completely blind other than the trailer and that there would be 4th wall breaking and the game blew my mind a couple of times both with gameplay and the plot. I was really terrible at the cloud jump at the start but once I reached the searing crags I was stringin all the moves fluidly into eachother. Now I'm doing ng+ and I reached the summit withing half an hour.

[@Eener1000]

I am totally with you on the groan at the 4th wall breaking at first. I hated it!..untill after the twist and then it made sense! That was a wonderfull thing and I didn't expect it. Kudos to the devs.

[@Vasarcdus]

Me an hour or two into The Messenger: This is a really good retro tribute game! Me at the end of The Messenger: This may be my favorite game of all time, holy crap!

[@bigbluebuttonman1137]

I never watched the trailer so when the twist happened it was wholly new for me, lol.

[@DirectorToby]

Great analysis! And what a great game

[@Undonecribby]

I didn’t see the trailers, it changing literally blew my mind being unaware of what was bout to happen

[@ag3nt0r4nge4]

Great video for a great game. One of my top 3 of the year.

[@TheFiretiger]

Thanks for making my favorite content on YT

[@deedd4401]

oh boy ... this was a love n hate relationship ... but once i got into "phase " it all became so clear. ... every room ( mostly ) is designed for speed running - i'll never be speed runner and I never knew such thing even existed , but i begun to see patterns how to breeze across every screen in a very predetermined way ( given by the desing ) . It was much later on , that i found out about speed running. Even though I am too old and unambitious to ever give it a try, i can really appreciate how this thing was able to teach me , how to get into this speedy efficiency mode all in a natural way. Been searching to replicate this feeling with few modern games, Ori being the only coming close to it. I mean , there were some other games too, but the way too steep learning curves were rather off puting. This is a true gem in more than one instances.

[@jacobfuder8513]

I just got the platinum this weekend. Going deathless through quillshroom was almost as frustrating as doing the cave without the power of true sight. But loved it enough to power through on my second playthrough to listen to the rants I missed 👍👍

[@einkar4219]

I didn't see any promotion materials before playing so I was genuinely surprised by this twist

[@OstaniorRent]

i just saw it in steam one day, it looked like an old nes game, which i love, i thought nice, i could just complete it fast to feel nostalgia about old nes games, why not. and then when i actually tried to i was speechless, this game could really surprise me in so many ways, its a masterpiece for sure

[@Metroidhunter2112]

guys I’ve just now discovered that his name is dan because of this video I feel enlightened now

[@captaindapper5020]

My favorite genre is metroidvanias. It was one of the first games that unlocked in the Epic Store and I knew literally nothing about it except what the synopsis said and that it had amazing pixel art. I've lamented the lack of blindness in so many games that I am so very glad the universe conspired to make this the game I was able to go fully blind into.

[@DestroyerTriple]

yeah I agreed with what you said. Some of that backtracking got tedious due to me being really confused at some parts and refusing to buy hints from the shopkeep (my fault really), but otherwise, one word id describe this game with is sharp. All of it is incredibly well done and has a distinct style from the rest. Even though I did the same areas over and over again, I was still having a lot of fun with it because moving around is really satisfying.

[@MMLCommentaries]

Okay you've sold me. I don't see how I won't absolutely adore this game. Great video Dan!

[@jonasking9587]

Jonas King The reason that the Metroid inspired portion works so well is that the 8 bit portions were designed to beat left to right and right to left. I saw that when I was playing, and I figured that I would have to run back through the levels after delivering the message, a la Super Metroid's escape sequence. The twist was nuts, and well played.

[@Gooong]

Thanks for the video. I don't have the dexterity to play ninja gaiden type games. Had no idea that game was so deep.

[@hakim6933]

I was surprised that Celeste beat this for the indie game award at VGA 2018

[@turretboi]

Celeste was more powerful story-wise, and that's all people care about. The messenger should have won for gameplay.

[@ismetcancelik5052]

@@turretboi celeste also has a good gameplay though

[@dahamitaoufik6741]

@@turretboi I've found the level design in celeste to be Far superior. Meesenger is a game full of surprises i must admit, but in the end I vote for Celeste as a reference for the 2d platformer genre.

[@Anon9729X]

Isaac Fielding No it wasn’t. I couldn’t give 2 shits about the plot in that game.

[@i_fish6657]

It wasn't suprising mainly because I had not played Celeste and didn't find out about the messenger till 2019

[@devilish21885]

Every single one of the random fables the shopkeeper tells has a physical Easter egg referencing it somewhere on the map.

[@wolfpack_104]

Even though I have to wait until the PS4 release next year, I own neither Switch nor PC, I'm definitely looking forward to trying out this game.

[@joeltehguy]

The "to be continued" at the end may hint at a sequel in the works

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

out of curiosity did you catch the third cabinet rant? the one where you refuse to open the cabinet and he keeps telling you to open it

[@wrathchild7218]

love the choice of tracks first of all, the searing crags theme is an absolute banger, now, onto the serious stuff, a very important part is that it's neither a tribute nor a parody of itself being self-aware. to sum it up - the game HITS THE RIGHT NOTES - pun intended of course, fair challenge, progressive level design and difficulty that is not cheap. the complaint about the lore unveiling anticlimactically is a fair point, but could be worse - a modern classic without a trace of doubt and an amazing review to acknowledge it!

[@ElCheezus]

I like to say that The Messenger basically becomes its own sequel halfway through.

[@pralenkaman8105]

I loved when I tried to check the drawers it was so funny especially because one of my friends was in the room with me and he saw all the dialog

[@NESADDICT]

This game is pretty darn good! Love the 8-16 bit style.

[@halfastudio]

I didn't know ANYTHING about the game and went in completely blind. It was amazing and when I saw the whole time travel thing I was seriously shocked!

[@wizardsknowledge1138]

I actually went into this game completely blind, which I'm glad I did. I was browsing the Xbox game pass because I was bored and then I saw the cover art for the game and decided to download it without any prior knowledge. I enjoyed the games and thought it was enjoyable but nothing special until the game changed to 16-bit and time-traveled to the future and I lost my shit and all the sudden I couldn't get enough of the game. I 100 percented the game getting all the power seals and beating the ridiculously hard music box final box and the free DLC. I love the Messenger and I hope it gets more love.

[@therealstarMoses]

The messenger is one of my favorite games ever, I went in COMPLETELY BLIND on a whim. It took me halfway through the cloud ruins to realize the graphics upgraded, i thought I just unlocked a drip upgrade. When I found out about the map and the metroidvania aspects my jaw was on the FLOOR dude

[@RaiyanAlphaRanger]

6:33 Interestingly, Quarble is a far better alternative to what they did in Shovel Knight, where you lose money at the point where you last died. It withholds extra money from you without having you backtrack to the point-of-death just to get back the coins you dropped. (...and anyone like me who's played Shovel Knight will agree how annoying THAT is!)

[@gu3z185]

I didn't think it was really annoying, it worked pretty well in Shovel Knight. The only problem was dying over bottomless pits.

[@DarkWaWeeGee]

Just finished the game yesterday and was so hyped! I don't know if the game would have been better not knowing about the metroid-vania coming in half way in the game, but every other twist sure threw me off. The joke about "you must not have seen the trailer" was funny because I didn't. I only went into this game thinking "ok Ninja Gaiden and metroid-vania, cool." I really didn't care for it. Then every twist hit left and right and boy howdy was this a game! While it may sound like a cliche, my favorite part of the game was the final boss. Something I'm noticing is that games now don't have "grand" final bosses. The Messenger felt grand. Phantom pulled crazy moves, had one hell of a track playing, and I loved it so much

[@ChaosMarx]

I love this game so much. I played it for the 1st time this year, it really is great fun!

[@luisarriaga774]

This channel's logo is one K short from a harsh banned 😂 Amazing video, you got yourself a new subscriber

[@dallows3235]

I invested 30+ hours into my first run of this game and it’s picnic panic DLC. Explored and took in all the beautiful artwork and backgrounds in both 8-Bit/16-bit zones, listening to all the variations of the music, Collected every single item and enough currency to buy every toy and ability, listened to every story and just mastered all of the moves. The saddest part about this game was taking the cartridge out and putting it back into my Special Reserve collectors box after I finished it all. Give it a few years and I’ll take advantage of that New Game+ and it’s benefits that the picnic panic mask promised me! 11/10 modern classic for me. 👌🏻

[@fancyinthehouse9423]

Wait wait wait wait what?? I looked up the underwater maze thing and someone said it was a glitch or something and that the music was supposed to change when you got closer towards the right path so I just followed the KZbin guide. I guess that explains the empty spot on my save file/inventory.

[@JustAFanGamer]

Messengers story is canon and not just story but happened in alternative universe of many thousand as battle between Fleshmancer and Resh'an keeps on as explained in Sea Of Stars. Also you actually meet some characters who are in Messenger as they are not so twisted form yet.

[@richardoaks8333]

Still a must play. Re-watch of the review was great 👍

[@Arandomguy1986]

I LOVE the messenger! It is by far my favorite 8/16 bit game of all time, my favorite Metroidvania game of all time, and easily in my top 3 games in general of all time. In fact it’s actually number 2 right behind Zelda Ocarina of Time. This game is awesome! I play it all the time. Even after I beat it I’ll play it again and again and again. I listen to the music in the car. This game is fantastic!