The Messenger - Opinions

I loved the Messenger from start to finish pretty thoroughly. The controls are tight, and the Cloudstep mechanic is a wonderful way to give the player a double jump only in certain places without feeling too restrictive. All of the core upgrades work together very well and make it a joy to speed through (most) rooms once you know what to do. I especially enjoyed the platforming in the later levels because of how focused the level design becomes. Grappling to rings one after the other in particular is very satisfying to do. The dialogue is also extremely well done and witty beyond just the humor.

I didn't 100% the DLC, but I also enjoyed it well enough without doing so. The new enemies are a welcome addition, and it's a shame that they didn't show up in the late parts of the core game, since the basic monsters did get a little stale after spending so long mowing them down. I appreciate the characters almost as much as the gameplay, and I never thought I would look forward to text in a platformer, but the shopkeeper stories just kept me coming back for more. The end of the DLC did trigger my Punch Out PTSD, but, hey, nothing is perfect.