Pepper Grinder review: short, sweet and incredibly neat

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Pepper Grinder review: short, sweet and incredibly neatYou know the drill

You know the drill

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A tiny woman with a drill approaches a giant blue cyclops in Pepper Grinder

In fact, describing Pepper Grinder as aplatformeris already underselling it. This isn’t so much a game about jumping between ledges as it is about grasping your drill and holding on for dear life as it tears through the world around you. Solid ground means (mostly) nothing to heroine Pepper and her trusty grinder, as the bulk of your time is spent boring through said ledges - as well as clearly marked pillars, mounds and banks of pliable topsoil - before erupting back out into the open again like a rocket-powered dynamo, flying upwards and sideways before diving back into the bedrock. A bit like Ecco The Dolphin, but as a tiny metal Jaws.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A woman with a drill stands before a magma pool with a trail of jewels in the dirt above in Pepper Grinder

Each level is packed with lots of fun details, which makes the various trails of jewels all the more important to guide your eye safely through its deadly obstacles. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A woman attacks a gassy bug near two large steaks in Pepper Grinder

A woman prepares to fire herself out of a cannon in Pepper Grinder

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A giant beetle with two grinders for hands attacks a cargo ship in Pepper Grinder

Falling ice, grapple swings, mechs and more await in Pepper Grinder’s dazzling collection of levels. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A woman stands before an icy waterfall with an arc of jewels in the air in Pepper Grinder

A woman uses a grapple swing to avoid thorny brambles in Pepper Grinder

As you might expect, each of these biomes comes with their own respective traversal challenges - the usual ‘floor is lava’-style affairs, big ice blocks that need tearing apart with additional firepower, and eldritch tentacles lurking in the depths of its swampy bogs. Glimmers of additional ledges and telltale cracks in the harder, more impenetrable landscape will also lure your eye toward secret compartments containing big collectible coins. There are five of these in each level, which you can then trade in at each world’s curiosity shop for a special key that will unlock a further, even juicier level in each world. These are definitely worth seeking out, as these locked levels are arguably the standout setpiece of each world - though you can also spend your coins on extra capes and hair colours for Pepper, or trade your growing mass of jewels for stickers and additional (though temporary) life pips.

It’s all familiar platforming fare for the most part, but there are also bolder, more novel obstacles you’ll encounter that feel like pure, tailor-made adrenaline trips - like the developer has put them there mostly because they’re just heckin' cool, and yes, they’re right. Theyareheckin' cool. The key thing, though, is that they never feel pandering or gratuitous when they arrive. These are moments where the power trip feels earned, as there would’ve been plenty of moments leading up to them where you’ll have torn your hair out over a particularly tricky platforming sequence, or fallen several times in a row to a nail-biting boss fight.

Each world has its own curiosity shop where you can spend your jewels on extra health, but each pip beyond your default four is only ever a temporary bonus, as they disappear when you get hit. Still, given how many jewels you end up collecting, splashing an extra 800 on them every now and again is pocket change. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Devolver Digital

A woman uses a giant capsule machine to gain more health in Pepper Grinder

There are a few dents and scratches in Pepper Grinder’s toolkit, then, and some of them will require a little brute force to work through. But taken as a whole, three-to-four-hour experience? I wouldn’t say they’re devastating enough to spoil the otherwise immaculate performance of its drill work. Pepper Grinder is still a fun, novel and sparky breed of platformer, and one that will regularly make you break out in more smiles than anguished grimaces. Despite its hardships, you’ll still mourn when those credits roll, and if that’s not a sign of a good video game, I don’t know what is.