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The Messenger
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.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
82 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The Bottom Line: An 8/10 modern evolution of retro platforming that rewards patience through a slow opening with incredibly tight movement, fantastic boss fights, and a surprisingly funny narrative. (100% Achievement…”
“I see there are a lot of positive reviews, but many of those people didn't even finish the game. I understand why. The first part is great, fast platforming combat much like classic Ninja Gaiden, but with modern ideas…”
40 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The Bottom Line: An 8/10 modern evolution of retro platforming that rewards patience through a slow opening with incredibly tight movement, fantastic boss fights, and a surprisingly funny narrative. (100% Achievement…”
“Finally beat this after many years in the backlog. It's quite fantastic, as most everyone agrees, but it's difficult...lots of precision platforming required and the bosses are no push-overs. Still, it's fun and it's…”
“I have not finished the game yet, but I think I can confidently say this is one of the best games I have ever played. It carries the hart of those original 16bit games while at the same time bringing it up to speed for…”
29 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“[h1] Der Träger auch bekannt als Der Läufer oder Der Postbote alias Der Gesandte beziehungsweise Der Abgesandte besser bekannt als Der Kurier aber am meisten *bedeutungsvolle Pause* (!) ... Der Nachrichtenüberbringer…”
“I love this game. Everything in this game is so good, like they actually made it with love, Good music, good history, and of course excellent gameplay. I played for the first time when epic games gifted in 2019, since…”
“The Messenger is such a well crafted labor of love from its' 8-bit/16-bit Ninja Gaiden inspired visuals, to its' outstanding soundtrack and amazingly entertaining dialogue between characters. This is from the team at…”
20 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The Messenger is such a well crafted labor of love from its' 8-bit/16-bit Ninja Gaiden inspired visuals, to its' outstanding soundtrack and amazingly entertaining dialogue between characters. This is from the team at…”
“Very fun platformer game, not too difficult. The story is simple but good and the interactions with the shopkeeper are priceless. I played this game after their 2nd title Sea of Stars and was amazed by how similar the…”
“This game is a banger. It's funny, not overly challenging, but very satisfying, music rocks, and the 8bit to 16bit transitions are a delight. Just play the game, you can't go wrong with it.”
14 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The Bottom Line: An 8/10 modern evolution of retro platforming that rewards patience through a slow opening with incredibly tight movement, fantastic boss fights, and a surprisingly funny narrative. (100% Achievement…”
“Finally beat this after many years in the backlog. It's quite fantastic, as most everyone agrees, but it's difficult...lots of precision platforming required and the bosses are no push-overs. Still, it's fun and it's…”
“mekanikleri biraz yüzeysel gelse de her biyomda sunduğu farklı platformer türleriyle oynanışı ilgi çekici kılabiliyor, metroidvania olmasa daha çok hoşuma giden bir deneyim olabilirdi, özellikle oyunun "sahte son" undan…”
31 of the 103 reviews raise this · 18 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is unfortunately much more concerned with looking good than actually being good. There is absolutely a charm to difficult platforming games. There's a lot of value in a difficult game challenging you to get…”
“This game is unfortunately much more concerned with looking good than actually being good. There is absolutely a charm to difficult platforming games. There's a lot of value in a difficult game challenging you to get…”
“I see there are a lot of positive reviews, but many of those people didn't even finish the game. I understand why. The first part is great, fast platforming combat much like classic Ninja Gaiden, but with modern ideas…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is unfortunately much more concerned with looking good than actually being good. There is absolutely a charm to difficult platforming games. There's a lot of value in a difficult game challenging you to get…”
“An excellent game, well worth your time. The gameplay is very engaging, the world is just developed enough to be interesting without feeling incomplete, the characters are all very lively and fun to interact with. The…”
“A very enjoyable platformer although has some questionable boss designs.”
5 of the 103 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Entretenido, odio los logros de carreras o contra reloj, que horror el logro de mensajero estrella. Bueno overall y kinda funny at times.”
“Finished the liner part of this game. It feel like playing a NES Ninja Gaiden game. The action and platform was not as good but the humorous dialogue had its unique charm. Took 4 hours to beat the liner part of the game…”
“I'd grabbed this on GoG awhile back and was disappointed that it didn't have any achievements.. Gave up waiting on them to be implemented and grabbed it on steam to get them good ole achievements and have a good reason…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“I see there are a lot of positive reviews, but many of those people didn't even finish the game. I understand why. The first part is great, fast platforming combat much like classic Ninja Gaiden, but with modern ideas…”
“Pretty awesome platformer. It starts linear but then opens up toward the end. Sucks that the open world portion is the worst part of it all. The game then overstays its welcome a bit.”
“The Messenger is one of those games that would have been extraordinarily cool if they'd either taken the premise to the actual end of it or if they had ended the game three hours earlier...but they didn't, so I was…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“I see there are a lot of positive reviews, but many of those people didn't even finish the game. I understand why. The first part is great, fast platforming combat much like classic Ninja Gaiden, but with modern ideas…”
“There's a lot to love about this homage to Ninja Gaiden and similar games. The action and platforming are incredibly precise, and the writing has some genuine humor behind it. I'm not sure where I stand on what I spent…”
“Finished the liner part of this game. It feel like playing a NES Ninja Gaiden game. The action and platform was not as good but the humorous dialogue had its unique charm. Took 4 hours to beat the liner part of the game…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 93.2% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“2 words : Absolute Cinema. The combat and platforming itself feel really smooth The switch-up between 8-bit (past) and 16-bit (future) works really well altering both the sound quality as well as the area you're currently in It has some great banter between the shopkeeper NPC…”
— a player, Steam review · 30 hrs played“Ok, so - I finished it. And... it's complicated. The messenger is an overall good game with fun and innovative gameplay ideas. It's a bit of a raw diamond, that could do with a bit more refinement. I taught level design and balancing in a course for game design, and here are…”
— a player, Steam review · 21 hrs played“Went in with zero expectations, trusting that the game is probably decent if it managed to snatch Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2018. Fell in love with it immediately! One of the best metroidvanias I’ve played in years. Especially want to praise the writing and the…”
— a player, Steam review · 6 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 10:16 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Messenger Owners! Save 15% on Olija for a limited time*!
For a limited time*, Steam owners of GRIS, My Friend Pedro, Katana Zero, or The Messenger will save 15% on the just released Olija! Check out the animated launch trailer below: https://store.steampowe
*48 hours left to back Sea of Stars on Kickstarter*
On March 19th we announced Sabotage's next game, Sea of Stars, along with the launch of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The enthusiasm for our retro inspired turn based RPG is such that the fundi
The Messenger: Picnic Panic DLC Expansion Available Now for Free!
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31656805/32ffca8a384fd291b541d7c5d9b66d5e47d12766.png Picnic Panic is a FREE sun-soaked expansion to the Messenger in which the belov
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, Indie |
| Player tags | Retro · Platformer · Pixel Graphics · Metroidvania · Ninja · 2D · Great Soundtrack · Indie · Action · 2D Platformer · Singleplayer · Funny (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Cloud · Remote Play on TV · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 48 |
| Estimated owners | 500,000 – 1,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | https://themessengergame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or newer (64 bit) Processor: Intel core i5-4210 1.7ghz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400 Storage: 1200 MB available space Sound Card: Onboard soundcard or better