The Messenger Hacking Its Way to Nintendo Switch Later This Month

Back in April, I was able to get hands on with The Messenger, a Ninja Gaiden-esque 8-bit/16-bit adventure from Sabotage and Devolver Digital. I became instantly hooked on its gameplay and visual style, and swore that I would set aside a good amount of time to conquer it like the beast that it is. Well, now I know when I get to do so.

Over on the Nintendo eShop, a listing has appeared for The Messenger, pointing out both a release date and a price. It appears that the game will be available starting on Aug. 30, going for the affordable price of $19.99. Not too shabby at all!

You can watch the first gameplay trailer above, though it's very likely we'll be seeing a new one from Devolver Digital very soon with even more wicked ninja action. Here's a synopsis of the game in case you missed it beforehand:

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.

Leveraging player expectations as a core design ingredient, The Messenger is first presented as an 8-bit action platformer with a simple story only to turn into an epic time travelling tale, eventually revealing itself as a 16-bit Metroidvania packed with replay value and deadpan humor.

• An epic ninja adventure with challenging gameplay and tight controls.

• Legit 8-bit and 16-bit art and music reminiscent of your favorite NES and SNES games.

• Character upgrades, new abilities, hidden levels and story arcs to discover.

• Challenging and visceral gameplay where mastery is a thing to behold.

Based on our impressions with the game (which you can read in the link above), The Messenger has the potential to be a huge hit for the Nintendo Switch, and whatever other platforms it arrives on. It's been making waves at each expo it's been at, and it's become the crown jewel in Devolver Digital's recent Nintendo Switch push, which has also seen Minit, Crossing Souls, Not a Hero: Snazzy Edition and the forthcoming Broforce get announced. (You should pick those up as well.)

We'll have a full review shortly following the game's release. But, yeah, hurry up, end of August. We need our hack and slash!