Pepper Grinder [PC] | REVIEW

After playing the demo of Pepper Grinder earlier in the year, I was already sold on its brilliant drilling-platforming gameplay. And now, after playing through the full game, I love it even more, with it managing to stand out as a unique yet familiar experience that’s oozing with creativity, charm, and of course, satisfying drilling action.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Pepper Grinder puts players in the role of Pepper, who finds herself shipwrecked and robbed of her treasures by peculiar horned creatures that are led be an enigmatic pink-haired pirate. She tries to catch up with them to get it back, but when they cut down the rope bridge she was traversing across, she tumbles to the caverns below. Luckily, she managed to grab a special drill-like device during her fall, which she must then use in order to burrow and blast her way through the terrain in order to re-claim the treasure that is rightfully hers (and maybe find a bit extra along the way).

As you might have guessed, the core gameplay mechanic of Pepper Grinder revolves around using your drill to get from point A to B, with players able to use it to dig into the variety of different terrain types found in levels to build up momentum and blast themselves through each platforming challenge. And believe me, it’s VERY satisfying to do, with the game offering intuitive controls that make each leap you make between drillable terrain feel sublime to pull off. It’s complemented by the quick-paced nature of the gameplay that doesn’t only make your use of the drill flow smoothly but also ensures it never grows old.

It does help that levels are creatively designed to use the drill in a variety of clever ways, with each featuring an array of enemies to deal with, puzzles to solve, secrets to discover, and hazards to evade that are all built around the mechanic. New ideas are constantly introduced throughout levels to up the ante, and whilst they don’t always necessarily tie directly into drilling, they do demand quick reactions and pixel-perfect platforming if you hope to survive. It might not feel like a conventional platformer, but Pepper Grinder will still test your platforming prowess as you work through its tough selection of levels.

“Pepper Grinder stands out as a unique yet familiar experience that’s oozing with creativity, charm, and of course, satisfying drilling action.”

It never gets frustrating though, with each mechanics expertly delivered to make for an experience that manages to feel unique in design but familiar with the expectations it places on players – and I mean that in the best way possible. Whilst Pepper Grinder can be really tough at times, there’s something about it that’ll make it instantly click for players, with it easy to pull off its tricky terrain-leaping manoeuvres from the word go. And sure, there’ll be plenty of moments where you’ll have to think outside of the box and push your drilling capabilities to their limits to get through some platforming challenges, but you’ll never feel ill-equipped for the job. It takes something simple and makes it into one of the most rewarding mechanics that I’ve seen in a platformer for a long, long time.

With more perilous hazards to face, dazzling set pieces to conquer, and even weapons to utilise that temporarily turn Pepper Grinder into a run ‘n gun shooter, there really is a lot to love about the game. Even the boss encounters deliver, with each testing your drilling dexterity in clever little ways that force you to unravel their pattern of attack and take advantage of their moments of weakness. They’re a ton of fun, with each adding a nice change of pace to the constant push of going through levels.

The only real negative I had with the game is that it’s over so quickly. I managed to beat Pepper Grinder in around three hours, and that was after grabbing all of the collectibles along the way.  Whilst this time may vary depending on how swiftly you’re able to handle some of the game’s more difficult sections, it’s definitely on the shorter side. Whilst this isn’t ALWAYS a bad thing, I would have liked an additional biomes to play through or even just a few more levels to flesh out the existing ones.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Still, there was enough on offer to ensure I had a blast with the game, whilst the charming pixel art ensures that the environments pop and that characters look splendid in motion. There are plenty of unlockables on offer for those who grab collectibles, whilst the time attack mode gives you something extra to work towards if you are left wanting more after the game’s short runtime. Whilst I’ll admit that I was left wanting more levels, there’s still plenty of meat to Pepper Grinder’s bones to ensure you’re getting plenty of bang for your buck.

Developer: Ahr Ech, MP2 Games
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076580/Pepper_Grinder/