I enjoy these mellow weeks where I get to play one game for these articles, especially when I already own the game. To put it bluntly, it makes for an easy week for me. That’s not to say I want an easy week all the time, just something away from three or four weeks of double bills so I can get some work on, killing strippers or whatever I’m meant to do. With that, let’s get to the free game this week on the Epic Games store.

This week it is The Messenger, a retro-ninja ’em up about killing the devil. It is very heavy on the side of reading text to advance the plot, and when I have a deadline to hit, so I get a bit more annoyed with that after a while. Though, I’m pretty sure the flying hell-demon with four heads, (torn directly out of Doom) with a pixel Beelzebub standing next to it should be on the nose enough. That makes The Messenger about as retro as it gets, not caring for themes and just looking for fun. I like it.

Given it is about as retro as those consoles you’ve only heard about in myth, its gameplay is easy to pin down. Platforming, hacking, and indeed, slashing. There’s a store to get upgrades, there’s a resource to pay for those upgrades, and there are save points that you’ll be taken back to if you die. There’s no lives system, though that’s about the only thing that’s cut from the late 80s to the mid-90s aesthetic of this platformer with more nostalgia than a Nintendo fan. That said, it is fun.

There’s not much to say about The Messenger, it is simple, fun, and I like it from just an hour or two of play. If you are a fan of the indie retro-platformers of recent times such as Shovel Knight, I’d suggest giving The Messenger a bit of time. The Messenger is free until the 21st of November; when Bad North: Jotunn Edition will replace it for a week.

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