Rise & Grind
Pepper Grinder is a new Devolver published joint by solo dev Ahr Ech. In it, you play as Pepper, the pirate who finds that she’s been shipwrecked and her treasure has been stolen by the mysterious Narlings. Armed with a trusty hand drill and a badass attitude, Pepper is ready for adventure. Since it’s a game published by Devolver, you know it’s going to have lots of in your face action, but can the drill mechanic really carry the gameplay throughout the entirety of its run time?
The answer is mostly a yes. Despite it being a pretty rad drill, it’s far from one note. You keep it revving on your right R bumper, and that propels you forward through dirt and other drillable terrain. Drilling feels a bit squirrelly, but that’s kind of the point. Diving in and out of dirt, during intense platforming sequences feels like you’re on a bucking bronco with just enough control to avoid steering into sudden death. The fun is really about control, especially when you can boost out of the dirt like a dolphin, riding the edge between chaos and control.
Additionally, other abilities like mechs, guns, and grappling hooks are unlocked, which fit in nicely with the disarray. Plus the biomes themselves lend themselves to the fun with magma rocks that disappear momentarily, water skimming and snowmobiles. Once you get into a flow, it feels great stringing grappling hooks with burst jumps and switches. The issue is that those flow sequences are often broken up by other types of challenges, like combat arenas, or singular mechanics like mechs. They are great inclusions, but couldn’t help but crave more of that flow state Sonic the Hedgehog feel and less of a sudden slam of the brakes to figure out a combat sequence.
The levels and worlds are reminiscent of Mario World, where there are multiple levels per world. Each level has a bunch of hidden pirate coins to find that can be spent at shops. From shops you can spend your treasure on buffs, cosmetics and even keys that unlock special bonus levels. The worlds coincide with the different biomes and usually end with a boss fight. These boss fights range from relatively easy to “holy hell” and that kind of hits my second frustration here; the difficulty. The game’s difficulty doesn’t feel properly paced. It provides a decent challenge throughout then slams you with a super difficult platforming sequence or boss that demands an amount of precision that I felt was slightly unfair. Fortunately, the shops allowed me to buy the buffs I needed to power through, which makes for great accessibility, but did make me step away from the game out of frustration.
Outside of those two points Pepper Grinder does a great job at doing what it says on the tin. It provides some challenging puzzle platforming sequences that are both fun and engaging, while also introducing us to a wholly unique character in Pepper. It’s got a kickass electronica soundtrack by way of XEECEE that amplifies the action on screen, and time attack modes for tons of replayability. It’s overall just a super fun experience with a good pick up and play bitesize aesthetic that rarely wears out its welcome. I do wish the movement flow was a bit more cohesive, and less steep difficulty spikes, but this is another Devolver joint you shouldn’t miss. Gotta Drill Fast?
B Rank
For Fans Of:
-Sonic The Hedgehog
-Drill Dozer
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