Before this Metroidvana became a hit, it was laughed off at its director's old workplace: "You aren't a designer, get back to coding"
Before it became a hit Metroidvania, The Messenger was only a pitch in its director's mind - and one that wasn't exactly a big hit with their old employer. In an on the making of Sabotage Studio's JRPG prequel to The Messenger, , director Thierry Boulanger touched on the series' origins. Apparently, he had originally pitched The Messenger at a studio while he was working as a gameplay programmer, well before he started up Sabotage. His pitch was soundly rejected. "I actually pitched The Messenger to my employer, who said, 'well there you have it, you aren't a designer, get back to coding," Boulanger said. "It was pretty clear that, when someone says 'you can't do something', it just means you can't do it with them." Of course, The Messenger went on to become one of the best indies of 2018, and . For reference, it's sitting at 7,157 "very positive" reviews on Steam alone at the time of writing. Sea of Stars serves as a prequel to The Messenger and ditches its Metroidvania roots for a more traditional JRPG format inspired by some of the including Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. , but it's also confirmed to be releasing on Switch, PC, PS4, and PS5 on August 29.
