From now until November 21, Epic Games Store users can snag a copy of The Messenger free of charge. Sabotage Studio’s action platformer is one of the newer games to grace the Epic Games Store’s weekly freebies lineup, having just been released in the summer of last year. But that is by no means a knock against the game — The Messenger was easily one of the best indie games of 2018. The game is well worth its original price of $19.99, but free is a price that can’t be argued with. Act quick because next week The Messenger will be replaced by Bad North: Jotunn Edition. Prior to the Epic Games Store promotion, The Messenger was free for Twitch Prime users some time ago.
In The Messenger, players assume the role of the titular messenger, tasked with carrying a scroll up a demon-infested mountain. The plot quickly thickens with elements of time travel, magic, and the game’s charming brand of humor.
Pixel perfect platforming
The real stunner in The Messenger is the gameplay. To differentiate itself from the new wave of pixel art platformers, The Messenger focuses its efforts on building levels around its signature mechanic: Cloudstepping. Striking an enemy mid-air enables a double jump, lending itself to creative traversal, relying on precision timing and fast reflexes. Your mastery of the game’s mechanics will also determine how gracefully you can dance with the game’s many bosses. The game exploration possibilities of this mechanic puts it in the same class as 2018’s other platforming great, Celeste.
The Messenger takes roughly 10-12 hours to beat; searching for all the power seals should add another decent chunk to total playtime. It also features an additive New Game+ mode where every subsequent cycle ramps up difficulty. A free expansion, titled Picnic Panic, was released in July this year if you were looking for even more content.
Great action platforming, plenty of humor, loads of content — it would be a shame not to give it a look, especially for the price of free.
