Sea of Stars Cover Story – Nouveau Pastiche

When The Messenger was released in 2018, Thierry Boulanger went into its launch with reasonable expectations. He was proud of the game he and the team at Sabotage had made, but he was prepared to consider it a success even if it didn’t sell well. “If 100 People bought it, I would have been like, ‘Oh my God, we hit three digits. So, for sure, there’s at least one person I don’t know that bought it,’” Boulanger says. The Messenger sold far more than 100 copies and even took home The Game Awards’ Best Debut Indie award alongside many other accolades. With its unique approach to platforming and a fun story twist that allowed it to exist as both an NES and SNES throwback, The Messenger was a hit and quickly allowed Boulanger and Sabotage to pursue its dream project: A large-scale RPG unabashedly inspired by 16-bit greats like Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and many more. “It’s been seven years, and it’s still kind of a dream,” Boulanger says. Read more…