Pepper Grinder Review (NSW)

Pepper Grinder boldly defines short and sweet. This movement-forward, white-knuckle 2D platformer was impossible to put down—so impossible, in fact, that I ravenously finished it in two settings. With charming and detailed sprite work, a killer soundtrack, excellent movement, clever level design, challenging boss fights, and just the right amount of power fantasy, Pepper Grinder’s a refreshing outing compared to the all-consuming, big-budget games that have dominated 2024 so far. Still, it packs so much more punch than a simple palette cleanser.

Game Name: Pepper Grinder
Platform(s):  PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Developer(s): Ahr Ech
Publisher(s): Devolver Digital
Release Date: March 28, 2023

Pepper Grinder’s setup is as simple as it is classic. Cute little gremlin-like critters known as Gnarlings steal your treasure, and you need to get it back. Rev up your chainsaw-like drill arm and take revenge on your quest to win back your booty.

Like any 2D platformer, you can run and jump, but that’s just the start of your movement abilities. Your drill arm acts as a drill and a propellor, pushing you forward at breakneck speeds underground and in the water. You can’t dig through everything in the game, though; only soft ground, certain walls, and water. Popping in and out of the water or from digging underground gives you a speed boost, which you can (and often have to) use to get the necessary distance while jumping between sections of dirt. Pepper also has a grappling hook, which allows her to either grapple to a specific location or swing around a hook.

Throughout its pretty breezy four-to-six-hour campaign, Pepper Grinder throws these different mechanics together in a blender, exploring almost every possible combination of jumps, grapples, and other movement options but never exhausting it or draining it of its satisfying, white-knuckle nature. I found myself dying to the same chain of jumps and grapples handfuls of times in a row but always bumped up against challenges in ways that felt compelling and worthwhile rather than cheap. And like any platformer worth its salt (pepper?), vaulting over those hurdles that once kept me down is immensely satisfying.

Pepper Grinder is a tease, constantly dangling the carrot on a stick that’s always going to be just out of reach unless you really put your mind to it and always gratifying you for your work. It’s sometimes mean about it, too, closing off parts of a level if you missed a slight hint at a collectible or alternate path. But that meanness never comes at the expense of fun, instead encouraging you to give the level another shot.

Perhaps the best example of the challenge in Pepper Grinder is its bosses. Though they’re not the extended slobber knocker you’ll get from some of this year’s other beloved big-bads, they’re punchy and incredibly fun. I distinctly remember taking on one or two of Pepper Grinder’s bosses for the first time and thinking, How in the hell am I gonna beat this guy? Only to trounce them minutes later. Each boss presents a skill check that incorporates aspects from other levels in each world. The first boss, for example, sees the enemy riding a massive beetle on the ceiling, prompting you to burst out of the ceiling, knock it on its back, and drill the boss’ health bar down to zero as they scramble to hop back on their massive mount.

In between phases, the boss will start to shoot at you with rounds that can penetrate the ground, forcing you to get creative and comfortable with the movement. In moments like this, Pepper Grinder is so good at making you feel both small and powerful at the same time. During that same boss fight, I found a way to juice away extra health from the boss’ bar by exploiting their movement path as they tried to get on the big beetle again. It constantly makes you feel like you’re getting one over on it, even when it’s kicking your ass.

Another great example of this is its water traversal. Sure, you could use the drill to slowly propel you through the water, or you can use it like a jet ski to speed across the water, leaving destruction in your wake. Skipping across the water feels technical and secret—almost like something from a fighting game—because the game never tells you that you can do it, but it also encourages it with a wink and a nod. Doing so maximizes what makes Pepper Grinder’s sense of speed and chaotic bent so engaging.

To keep things interesting, Pepper Grinder surprisingly also throws plenty of non-drill-based sections at you. Power-ups like the Gatling gun or a giant mech stoke Pepper’s appetite for destruction. Where spraying and praying with the Gatling’s no-cooldown, unlimited ammo sections were a run-and-gun deluge of chaos and bullets, controlling its lumbering mech was a plodding but fulfilling power fantasy.

During one level where I controlled the mech, I found myself underwater next to a massive cargo ship. In one fell swoop, I rose out of the water and lept aboard, landing with an Earth-shaking thud. The Gnarlings tried to run. I felt like Godzilla as I squashed them where they stood, with Pepper Grinder’s spectacular pixel-based art style making each death pop with cartoonish gore.

Lastly, my adventures with Pepper Grinder were played on the Nintendo Switch, and I didn’t experience any issues on the platform. It’s worth mentioning since the Switch sometimes gets a bad rap, but it was smooth as can be.

Pepper Grinder packs a whole lot of punch in its short runtime. This dynamo of chaos, tight platforming, satisfying movement, tight-level design, and dazzling art style is one of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. As much as I wish there were more of the game to enjoy, I respect and admire its developers for not compromising such a tight vision by overextending it to squeeze out a few more hours of playtime. Plus, any time a game can leave me actually wishing it was longer should speak to its raw quality and fun factor.