Pepper Grinder Recognizes the True Joy of Platforming
Forgoing complexity and focusing on the fun, Pepper Grinder is guaranteed to make you grin with each rev of its engine.
Posted 7 months ago
A jump is simple, and that means it takes a lot to make it feel special. Just ask Mario; his boots have had years of practice, quietly refining hops, wall jumps, and backflips into one of gaming’s purest distillations of fun. In many platformers, lifting your feet from the ground often feels like mere necessity – a tool to get you from A to B. The greats make it the entire reason you’re playing.
2D platformer Pepper Grinder’s jump is far from special. But fortunately, that’s all part of the plan. The game opens with our pixel-art protagonist robbed and rudely jettisoned into a chasm, with only a power drill left for company. Her quest for revenge begins with, you guessed it, jumping between some rocks. Despite the equipment, it’s hardly ground-breaking stuff.
Taking it for a spin.
©Ahr Ech / Restart
After only a few hops, however, you’re presented with a wall of sand and asked to burrow away. So you rev your engine, spiral through the earth, and burst into the air beyond. By comparison, it’s achingly gratifying. As if to say, sure, using your feet is fine, but wouldn’t you rather be doing this?
From there, you’re off, carving up the scenery and linking together leaps between impossible chunks of suspended rock. The sense of flow and momentum is enough to rival the best of Mario’s triple jumps or Sonic’s spring-boosted vaults. It’s jumping, Jim, but not as a plumber or hedgehog would know it. Paired with a wealth of gems to collect (to a moreish chime, naturally) it’s a guaranteed blueprint for platforming satisfaction.
There's little more satisfying that nailing that perfect airborne arc.
©Ahr Ech / Restart
And then there’s the boost mechanic. The tap of a button grants Pepper an extra shunt, ramping up her velocity for a second. Timed just before exiting a surface, it’ll send her hurtling outward. It’s a mechanic necessary for many routes, but far more importantly, it’s just an absolute blast to do.
Pepper Grinder’s greatest success, though, is in ensuring the rest of the game doesn’t get in the way of that core. It’s a philosophy visible in almost every aspect. Direct your drill through pots (or enemies and practically anything else), for example, and gems will come splashing out. But there’s no tedious vacuuming required here. Continue cruising onwards and they’ll automatically zip over and into your pocket.
Pepper pulls off more curves than a sine wave.
©Ahr Ech / Restart
The best platformers know that it isn’t the manner of the jump itself that matters so much as the systems you wrap around it. Mario’s low-gravity leaps grant just enough hang time for mid-air realignment in trickier sections. Super Meat Boy’s rapid pace lets you leap even after you’ve technically left the edge of your current platform. The jump is the core traversal puzzle piece, and every other space has been tailored to accommodate it smoothly.
Pepper Grinder lets its movement shine through a multitude of mechanics. Water levels can be explored at a leisurely pace below the waves, but point your drill to the sky and you can skip across the surface like a malicious, spiral-tipped jet ski. Holiday goers? Steer clear of Pepper’s beaches. Grappling hooks feature prominently too, ditching petty concerns like gravity so you can circle them at full clip before launching to your next target. Later on you’ll return to jumping with two feet, but with the improvement of said feet being part of a towering, house-crushing mech.
Skimming across the surface of water lets you pick up unrivalled speed.
©Ahr Ech / Restart
When you do slow down, it’s usually to plan your route through a particularly fiendish arena or, more often, to indulge in a sense of discovery. Levels are linear, but with just enough hidden coves to keep your eyes frantically hunting for secrets as you whirl through. Mario games delight in enticing you to think could I get up there? And Pepper has certainly picked up the same penchant. Reach a hidden space and any rewards tucked away serve mainly as a tip of the hat from the developer – an acknowledgement ancillary to the thrill of learning that yes, in fact, you could.
There are great touches of humor in the background and environments.
©Ahr Ech / Restart
Even death takes a back seat to the relentless pace. Bump into too many thorny vines or plop drill-first into a pool of lava and you’ll instantly reset just a short checkpoint ago. Gems gained since are gone, but you’ll retain any key collectibles you managed to snag. Lives? Forget about them. You’re free to drill to your demise as many times as you like. Bonus levels and bosses drop some daunting boulders in your path, but that’s exactly why you’re wielding a power tool.
Pepper Grinder’s standard jump may not be special, but that doesn’t stop the game from boring straight to the bedrock of what makes platforming brilliant. And we’ll take a brief spin with joy over lengthy leaps in tedium every time.
Pepper Grinder
Release Date: March 28, 2024
