Pepper Grinder Is a Fast-Paced Action Platformer Everyone Should Be Playing in 2024

As someone who's been following the progress of Pepper Grinder on Twitter for years at this point, I couldn't be more excited about its release.

The team behind the title was kind enough to give me a review key ahead of the big drop today, March 28, and after beating the game, I can say it's exceeded all of my expectations and was more than worth the wait.

The Story

Pepper Grinder follows an adventurer named Pepper whose ship is destroyed after a horrible storm, washing ashore on a strange island inhabited by nasty creatures called Narlings who steal her valuable treasures. Lucky for her, she immediately encounters a drill—Grinder—which happens to be just the tool she needs to go on an adventure, taking on the thieves and retrieving her loot in the process.

More of her tale unfolds as she powers through levels, navigating the unusual island's various locales and facing off against challenging bosses, and much of the game's charm comes from the stripped-back narrative. There isn't a single line of dialogue in the game, and it's up to players to read into the story based on the limited cutscenes, environmental storytelling and the names of levels and collectible stickers.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

 

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The Movement

The magic of Pepper Grinder is in its movement, facilitated by the titular Grinder, which allows Pepper to engage in fast-paced action-platforming I haven't seen anywhere else. Its main purpose is as a drill, sending Pepper through dirt, sand, snow and other soft terrain with speed and grace, boosting slickly moving around the environments, snatching up treasures, flying through the air at breakneck speeds, plowing through bad guys and making it to new areas is a thrill in itself.

Of course, that's not the only thing Grinder can do. It's also a tool for doing everything from utilizing giant keys to blasting massive energy guns and firing rockets. It can be used to activate cannons for fast-paced, Donkey Country-esque barrel-blasting segments and is even the key to piloting snowmobiles and mechs. It's also a weapon for use against Narling enemies and is how you raise the flagpole at the end of each level to complete it. Put all of these together, and you've got a gameplay mechanic that simply works and feels awesome whichever way you slice it.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

Outside of Grinder-driven movement, Pepper can also run and jump around on the land, and there are grappling hooks you can latch onto with the Y button to swing around in circles. Combined with the Grinder, you can chain these movements for even more speed. Even now, after many hours of the game, I still don't feel like I've quite mastered the grappling movements, but they're pretty fun nonetheless. For those who do fully wrap their minds around the controls of Pepper Grinder, this is bound to be one incredible speed run.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

 

Collecting Treasures

I'd love everything about Pepper Grinder and its levels even if it were just about getting from point A to point B, but the treasures sprinkled throughout each area makes them even more irresistible. There's just something so addicting about collecting as many coins and gems as possible during each run, regardless of whether or not it's risky to get them. There are also five Skull Coins tucked away in each level, usually in a hidden spot or hard-to-reach area, that are so gratifying to collect. Thanks to fun movement and great sound design, picking these items up was rewarding in itself, and being able to exchange them for goodies in the shop was an added bonus.

Skull Coins are a special currency that can be traded for a key to a special level, sticker pages and cosmetics to adjust the color of Pepper's hair and cape. Meanwhile, the coins and gems are also useful. One machine lets you exchange 200 coins to add to your total health going into a level (up to eight bars), while you can spend 100 coins at a gachapon machine for a random sticker to place in your sticker book. This aspect just adds to the ridiculously satisfying movement and gameplay—especially if you're a completionist like me, and even if you don't really engage in decorating your sticker book.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

 

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The Presentation

And on top of all of that, Pepper Grinder looks and sounds incredible, too. The striking pixel art just works, from the lush environments to the various enemies and sparkling treasures. Perhaps most importantly, the levels are also easy to read, which is critical when you're responding in real time to the rapid-fire movement of the game.

It's also full of charm, and it's always packed with surprises, whether you're facing off against a critter on the back of a huge beetle, navigating enormous pots and foodstuffs in the Giant's Kitchen, being guided around by said friendly giant or running around in a sunken city. The same also features some truly epic set pieces across the backs of a convoy of trucks in the snow and underground in the subway tunnels, giving us fascinating glimpses into Narling society.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

Incredible sound design makes every last action even more satisfying and Pepper Grinder's memorable soundtrack, sometimes dark, sometimes upbeat and adventurous, is perfectly befitting to its strange world.

The challenge of the game also feels just right. It's not particularly punishing, with infinite retries and fairly placed checkpoints, and once you've collected a Skull Coin, even if you die right away, you have it for good as long as you manage to finish the level, and you can purchase additional health before entering each one if you're ever struggling.

There are four boss fights in total, and though I was able to beat one on my first try, the others were seriously challenging battles that required agile movement as well as memorization of patterns—and the last fight was as memorable as it was difficult.

When I beat the final boss for the first time after three hours and 20 minutes, I was craving more. If there's one thing I'd change about the game, I'd love for it to be longer—but when the title screen told me I only had 51% of the game completed, I decided to head right back in, and learned that the game more than makes up for its short runtime with excellent replayability.

 

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Completing the Game

Chances are that once you beat Pepper Grinder, there will still be plenty to do in the game. After my first run, I still had Skull Coins to find in pretty much every level, and going back and finding all of the secret spots they were hidden within was just as fun as it had been the first time around.

Once I bought every key, sticker page and cosmetic from the shop, I realized where the rest of the game's valuables were hiding—in its Time Trials. Every main level has a Time Trial available, with bronze, silver and gold time records to beat, meaning there are two additional stickers and a music track unlockable for each area.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

Going back and playing these levels again with time restraints showed me just how tightly and well-designed each level is. Each one is crafted with fluid movement and speed in mind, and it's up to users to find the ideal path to get to the flag poll at the end of each level.

(Pepper Grinder via Devolver Digital)

And figuring out the Time Trials isn't just about going fast. It's also about managing to get through the end of the level alive with just four bars of health, as the Time Trials remove any checkpoints to save your progress along the way. In some instances, you may even want to sacrifice a bar of life in the name of shaving a few seconds off your time—but it's always a risky choice, especially in later, more difficult levels. And there are some levels—like a water-filled beach area, with a volcano that spews diggable lava—where I need to carve off an extra 20 seconds, but I can't figure out how for the life of me.

I've since played the game for another four hours, bringing my completion percentage up to 90%, and I've loved every minute of it. While I'll have to continue increasing my skills quite a bit to get that last 10%, I think it'll be well worth it. It may be a small game, but I consider Pepper Grinder to be an instant classic, and it's probably my favorite new game in the first quarter of 2024.

 

Pepper Grinder is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC for $14.99.

 

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