History VideoGame / TheMessenger2018

Not to be confused with the 2001 French computer game ''The Messenger''.

In 2020, Sabotage revealed that they were working on a game called ''[[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sabotagestudio/sea-of-stars/description Sea of Stars]]'', a Retreaux turn-based RolePlayingGame set in the same universe as ''The Messenger'', and will serve as a {{Prequel}}, currently slated for a 2022 release. Notably, Creator/YasunoriMitsuda will be a guest composer for the game.

Not to be confused with the French computer game ''VideoGame/{{The Messenger|2001}}''.

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: [[spoiler:Of the '''Muscle Memory Lane''' type. The final level of the game, the Music Box, forces you to use all of your ninja tools (Climbing Claws, Wing Suit and Rope Dart) and master the time travel rift puzzles in order to finish it]].
** Before this, there are the elemental skylands, which are short FloatingContinent islands based on areas found earlier in the game.

* YearInsideHourOutside: The shop is located in the Tower of Time, which exists outside of time. Therefore, no matter how long the Ninja spends outside the shop between visits, from the Shopkeeper's perspective, it's only been a few seconds. [[spoiler:This is what clues the Shopkeeper in that something went wrong when the Soldier doesn't enter the shop again right away after leaving it]].

* VideogameSettings: Given this game is practically a homage to the 8-bit [[spoiler:and 16-bit, once you start OpeningTheSandbox]] era of games, this is to be expected:
** DoomedHometown: Your humble Ninja Village. Don't worry, it gets better. [[spoiler:It also features DecadeDissonance after you are able to time travel to the future]].
** LostWoods: Autumn Hills. Where your journey starts, in a secluded place of the world. It's also a ForestOfPerpetualAutumn as its name implies.
** AncientTomb: Catacombs. Features deadly traps, skeletons and a necromancer.
** GreenHillZone: Bamboo Creek. A (mostly) peaceful and verdant area, as the Shopkeeper herself says: "[[BreatherLevel This is as sunny as it gets in this here cursed world.]]"
** CrystalLandscape: Howling Grotto. Watch out for falling emerald stalactites. [[spoiler:In the future, it also has an underwater [[TheMaze maze]]]].
** BubblegloopSwamp: Quillshroom Marsh. Expect some real vile quillshrooms trying to kill you.
** DeathMountain: Searing Crags. Be on the watch for more falling stalactites.
** SlippySlideyIceWorld: Glacial Peak. Precarious grounding and slippery moving platforms galore.
** HailFirePeaks: What Searing Crags and Glacial Peak are together. Fire at the bottom and ice at the top.
** ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: [[spoiler:Tower of Time]].
** BubblyClouds: The Cloud Ruins features, it's naturally also a FloatingContinent.
** LethalLavaLand: [[FireAndBrimstoneHell The Underworld]], naturally, as well as the Fire portion of the Elemental Skylands.
** BlackoutBasement: The appropriately named Dark Cave requires a light source in order to see anything but the platform directly in front of the entrance (and two other platforms generating updrafts). There is an achievement for making it through the whole area without any light.
** BleakLevel: Rivière Turquoise takes place in a dead forest full of monsters, has a gray "sky" and dark water. [[spoiler:It's future counterpart, on the other hand, fits the name better as a SugarBowl [[NothingIsScarier completely devoided of monsters]].]]
*** The Corrupted Future takes it further [[spoiler:by adding an EldritchAbomination so powerful the Ninja [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere needs to escape to survive]].]]
** UnderTheSea: Sunken Shrine takes place in an undewater temple. The maze between Howling Grotto and it counts as well.
** FourSeasonsLevel: The Elemental Skylands is as close as it gets to this. Each one of the four features a distinct element.
** TempleOfDoom: While Sunken Shrine is an [[UnderTheSea underwater version]] of this, the Forlorn Temple is a more straightforward version of this trope.
** EternalEngine: [[spoiler:The Music Box]] functions as this, having the obligatory pistons, conveyor belts, and vents spewing hot steam. [[MickeyMousing All synced up to the background music, no less]].
** TropicalIslandAdventure: The entirety of the ''Picnic Panic'' DLC, volcano and all.

* CantTakeCriticism: Right before TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, the Shopkeeper reveals that she has been holding a grudge against the Ninja for the entire game for [[spoiler:saying his shop doesn't look like a shop]], but since the Ninja is about to save the world, she has decided to forgive him for it.

* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler:Barma'Thazel survives the Underworld collapsing in on him and moves to an alternate dimension (The DLC) with the goal of winning there to override the main universe's victories, usurping the role of active BigBad from the Demon King.]]

* PostFinalBoss: [[spoiler: After beating the Phantom, the Demon King's Curse breaks free from restraints and becomes ALL POWERFUL. He's beaten by the order, the Messenger, the Monk and the Phantom [[BuffSpeak doing the thing]] and blasting it in a QuickTimeEvent[[/spoiler]].

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The Ninja isn't made aware of nearly anything until it becomes relevant. This reaches a head when, before entering the final dungeon, The Shopkeeper reveals she did it out of spite [[DisproportionateRetribution because the Ninja said his shop didn't look like a shop]]. She then proceeds to tell The Ninja the entirety of the game's setting, backstory, and the purpose of the Messenger journey over a nearly nine-minute long info dump.

* NiceHat: The Messenger gets a [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats conical straw hat]] when he [[spoiler:is sent to the future]]. The Shopkeeper thinks it looks so badass that she gets an identical one for himself... [[BlatantLies and tries to pretend that he had it first and the Messenger copied]] ''[[BlatantLies him]]''.

** The Shopkeeper gets uncharacteristically panicked [[spoiler:when she realizes he messed up and forgot to tell Ninja (acting as the Shopkeeper) that he ''must'' send Quarble to save the current Messenger, or else the guy dies for real]]. This even allows Ninja to get some jabs in which the Shopkeeper has no dry or witty comebacks for them.

* OnlySaneMan: The Shopkeeper is clearly exasperated with her fellow Blue Robe members, as one constantly yells out ambiguous prophecies, while the other won’t shut up about "[[FusionDance doing the thing]]". The Ninja, meanwhile, plays this role to ''the Shopkeeper;'' he's forced to put up with her repeated abuse of the fourth wall, general snarkiness, and her [[spoiler:ridiculous grudge over being told his shop doesn't look like a shop]].

* PlotHole: We learn from defeating the Cursed Monk that each Messenger also has their own Greed Demon to revive them. [[spoiler:Once the Soldier rolls around, though, the Shopkeeper tells the Ninja that he had to send his own Greed Demon to revive the Soldier.]]

* SkewedPriorities: After the Ninja returns from [[spoiler:the Corrupted Future]], the Artificer is much more excited to hear about [[spoiler:the horrifying {{Eldritch Abomination}}]] therein and winning his bet with the Shopkeeper than she is about the Ninja making it back alive, much less finding the MacGuffin he went in there to get. [[spoiler:When Phantom is rescued, the very first thing the Artificer asks him is if he'd like to try the Tower of Time gauntlet.]]

In 2020, Sabotage revealed that they were working on a game called ''Sea of Stars'', a Retreaux Turn-Based RPG set in the same universe as ''The Messenger'', and will serve as a {{Prequel}} of sorts. ''Sea of Stars'' is currently slated for a 2022 release.

* AllThereInTheManual: Some information was revealed years after the game's release, like the Shopkeeper's gender. Turns out she's a girl!

* YearOutsideHourInside: The shop is located in the Tower of Time, which exists outside of time. Therefore, no matter how long the Ninja spends outside the shop between visits, from the Shopkeeper's perspective, it's only been a few seconds. [[spoiler:This is what clues the Shopkeeper in that something went wrong when the Soldier doesn't enter the shop again right away after leaving it]].

* WorldOfSnark: The only characters who aren't [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarkers]] are [[BoisterousBruiser Colos and Suses]], [[{{Adorkable}} Manfred]], and the [[TheJeeves Clockwork Concierge]]

* DifficultySpike:
** Searing Crags can be a real handful for first-timers since you'll have to get used to the Rope Dart mechanics and the level is filled with inconveniently placed enemies everywhere and has one of the most annoying bosses at its end.
** And just as you think you're getting into the groove with the game's mechanics, [[spoiler:the Tower of Time]] comes along and smacks you with room after room of PlatformHell, instant death traps that can only be avoided with pinpoint accuracy, and a severe case of CheckpointStarvation.

* YearInsideHourOutside: The shop is located in the Tower of Time, which exists outside of time. Therefore, no matter how long the Ninja spends outside the shop between visits, from the Shopkeeper's perspective, it's only been a few seconds. [[spoiler:This is what clues the Shopkeeper in that something went wrong when the Soldier doesn't enter the shop again right away after leaving it]].

** During the second half of the game, you have a two-tier hint system. Firstly, the Prophet's vague messages on where to go next will give some hint on an objective you have to complete. If you can't figure out the Prophet's hints, you can pay the Shopkeeper 300 Time Shards to have him just outright tell you what to do next.

* BreatherLevel: In-Universe and Lampshaded in Bamboo Creek. After the dark, oppressive Catacombs filled with crusher traps, spikes, and undead, Bamboo creek is a bright and green level with upbeat music, non-threatening enemies, few traps besides bottomless pits, with sparing enemy placement perfect for stylishly cloudstepping through. The lampshades come in with the Shopkeeper's extremely upbeat attitude upon arriving, refusing to tell you a story so you can go out and enjoy yourself, and calling the Ninja paranoid when he cites SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity, finding the idea of a boss in Bamboo Creek preposterous.

* ButHeSoundsHandsome: [[spoiler:The Shopkeeper refers to the Western Hero from the beginning of the game as "that cooler-than-you hero". Since you become the new Shopkeeper after you pass the role of Messenger onto someone else, it can be assumed that ''your'' Shopkeeper is that same hero. The fact that there is a statue of that hero right outside the first shop in the Tower of Time further implies that the two are the same person]].
* CantTakeCriticism: Right before TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, the Shopkeeper reveals that he has been holding a grudge against the Ninja for the entire game for [[spoiler:saying his shop doesn't look like a shop]], but since the Ninja is about to save the world, he has decided to forgive him for it.

** [[spoiler:After OpeningTheSandbox]], there’s a two tier hint system where the Prophet gives you a vague message and the Shopkeeper can simply reveal the location needed for a price. [[spoiler:When you access the DefinitelyFinalDungeon, the Prophet’s hint describes the scroll meeting its maker, obviously referring to Phantom. If the player buys the Shopkeeper’s hint, the Shopkeeper will be completely baffled that you would need a hint for this considering all the build up for the final area.]]

** Once the Demon General has been defeated, [[spoiler:the Shopkeeper neglects to tell the ninja the rule of "if your messenger isn't back in ten seconds, it means that he died" until more than ten seconds have passed.]]

* {{Irony}}: The Ninja openly states he hates boring lectures and history lessons. One of the things he can do during his journey? Ask for the Shopkeeper to tell him stories. This is surprisingly not lampashaded at any point.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The Ninja isn't made aware of nearly anything until it becomes relevant. This reaches a head when, before entering the final dungeon, The Shopkeeper reveals he did it out of spite [[DisproportionateRetribution because the Ninja said his shop didn't look like a shop]]. He then proceeds to tell The Ninja the entirety of the game's setting, backstory, and the purpose of the Messenger journey over a nearly nine minute long info dump.
* MalevolentArchitecture: Expect to see plenty of spikes, crushing traps and bottomless pits pretty much everywhere but your cozy Ninja Village.

* MediumAwareness: The Shopkeeper definitely knows he is in a video game, and will make meta-jokes about various games and make remarks like "if you fought the final boss already, we wouldn't have much of a game", which usually confuse the Messenger. However, the Messenger can apparently see the dialog boxes and hear the game's music, and is also GenreSavvy enough to pick up on the fact that a shop with a lantern on each side containing health and ki refills means there is a boss fight in the next room (except that when he points this out, there isn't actually a boss in that area and the Shopkeeper calls him crazy for seeing patterns that aren't there). [[spoiler:When he briefly takes over as the new Shopkeeper for the next Messenger, his level of medium awareness increases appropriately.]]

* NiceHat: The Messenger gets a [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats conical straw hat]] when he [[spoiler:is sent to the future]]. The Shopkeeper thinks it looks so badass that he gets an identical one for himself... [[BlatantLies and tries to pretend that he had it first and the Messenger copied]] ''[[BlatantLies him]]''.

** The Shopkeeper gets uncharacteristically panicked [[spoiler:when he realizes he messed up and forgot to tell Ninja (acting as the Shopkeeper) that he ''must'' send Quarble to save the current Messenger, or else the guy dies for real]]. This even allows Ninja to get some jabs in which the Shopkeeper has no dry or witty comebacks for them.

* OnlySaneMan: The Shopkeeper is clearly exasperated with his fellow Blue Robe members, as one constantly yells out ambiguous prophecies, while the other won’t shut up about "[[FusionDance doing the thing]]". The Ninja, meanwhile, plays this role to ''the Shopkeeper;'' he's forced to put up with his repeated abuse of the fourth wall, general snarkiness, and his [[spoiler:ridiculous grudge over being told his shop doesn't look like a shop]].

* OverlyLongGag: If you repeatedly attempt to open the cabinet in the shop, the Shopkeeper will have a seemingly endless amount of dialogue as he attempts to discourage you from opening the cabinet, eventually trying to bore you with a long and philosophical speech that you can’t fast-forward through. He even has ''three'' unique cabinet rants over the course of the game depending on the situation, the last one even parodying the first rant when [[spoiler:you are ''supposed'' to open the cabinet but try to leave the shop instead. The cabinet returns in a secret area in the ''Picnic Panic'' DLC, with even more of the same.]]

* RealAfterAll: Although the Shopkeeper insists all of his stories are pure fiction and mere fairy tales for children, you can actually find some of the things mentioned in them around the game world, such as [[spoiler:the frozen couple who attempted "The Trek", Madam Misery's house with Death trapped in the pear tree, and a crystal pumpkin]], which shows that at least some of his stories are true. [[spoiler:Of course, it's possible that the game itself is just one of his made-up stories (see AmbiguousEnding above)]].

* SkewedPriorities: After the Ninja returns from [[spoiler:the Corrupted Future]], the Artificer is much more excited to hear about [[spoiler:the horrifying {{Eldritch Abomination}}]] therein and winning his bet with the Shopkeeper than he is about the Ninja making it back alive, much less finding the MacGuffin he went in there to get. [[spoiler:When Phantom is rescued, the very first thing the Artificer asks him is if he'd like to try the Tower of Time gauntlet.]]

** GreenHillZone: Bamboo Creek. A (mostly) peaceful and verdant area, as the Shopkeeper himself says: "[[BreatherLevel This is as sunny as it gets in this here cursed world.]]"

* WorldOfSnark: The only characters who aren't [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarkers]] are [[BoisterousBruiser Colos and Suses]], {{Adorkable Manfred}}, and the [[TheJeeves Clockwork Concierge]]

* WorldOfSnark: The only characters who aren't [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarkers]] are [[BoisterousBruiser Colos and Suses]], [[Adorkable Manfred]], and the [[TheJeeves Clockwork Concierge]]

* PostFinalBoss: [[spoiler: After beating the Phantom, the Demon King's Curse breaks free from restraints and becomes ALL POWERFUL. He's beaten by the order, the Messenger, the Monk and the Phantom [[BuffSpeak doing the thing]] and blasting it in a QuickTimeEvent[[/spoiler].

* DumbMuscle: Colos and Suses, the orc bodybuilders in the game, have an intellect as uneven as their workout regimen. They'd rather starve to death than eat the cauldron of stew they're sitting right next to without adding a strength-enhancing herb to it. After getting said item that will "save" them from starving the game itself call them idiots.

* CommonplaceRare: to pass the [[BlackoutBasement Dark Cave]], you need to do a sidequest to get the only available candle in the game. However, the entire game is full of lamps, and the entrance to the Dark Cave has numerous candles standing next to it!

* AdiposeRex: The Demon King is very fat, although he kind of has to be in order to fit [[MultipleHeadCase all four of his heads]] on one body. [[spoiler:possibly a subversion, since it turns out [[Oculothorax most of his body is actually a massive eye.]] ]]

* AdiposeRex: The Demon King is very fat, although he kind of has to be in order to fit [[MultipleHeadCase all four of his heads]] on one body.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: See OverlyLongGag above. If The Ninja persists in trying to open The Shopkeeper's closet, he will be forced to listen to a very long exposition without being able to skip through the dialogue. Similarly this occurs again if the player ''refuses'' to open the closet when told to. As mentioned above, [[spoiler:Quarble will decide to terminate your working relationship if you accept "THE DEAL,"]] meaning that if you die, you ''die.'']]

* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:After a particular screw up with the Ninja's heir, the Soldier, and the new Messenger dies for real the Order of Blue Robes decides you have to go and finish the tasks at hand]].

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: [[spoiler:The game shifts from a straightforward platformer into a more open-ended adventure after completing the Underworld]].

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: See OverlyLongGag above. If The Ninja persists in trying to open The Shopkeeper's closet, he will be forced to listen to a very long exposition without being able to skip through the dialogue. Similarly this occurs again if the player ''refuses'' to open the closet when told to.

''The Messenger'' is a 2018 {{Retraux}} {{Metroidvania}} platformer video game developed by Sabotage Studios and published by Creator/DevolverDigital for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.