Pepper Grinder

There’s more to Pepper Grinder than just digging. Ahr Ech successfully managed to cram fluid platforming and free-flowing traversal in ways that make its hallmark digging mechanics joyous while innovating in using the drill for other utilitarian purposes. Its 2D platforming is refreshing and rewarding when you settle into the groove of being able to move in every direction. I truly dug Pepper Grinder, and I sincerely hope that Ahr Ech continues to make fantastic retro platformers while also expanding the current universe of narwhal pirates. Hopefully those games come sooner rather than later.

Pepper Grinder is one of the most entertaining 2D platformers I've played in ages, with fantastic motion and seriously creative and varied stages.

Pepper Grinder is an innovative platformer that should be on your backlog of games to play and is the perfect snack-sized experience to hold you over until your next big title. The fluid gameplay, stunning pixel art visuals and slapping soundtrack will make you hungry for more.

Pepper Grinder is a treasure trove of excitement and charm, beckoning players to sail into its captivating world and embark on a thrilling adventure unlike any other.

Pepper Grinder has a very good core idea and builds fun platforming levels and puzzles around its big drill. The four worlds introduce new ideas and challenges, as well as boss fights. The pixel art makes the world come alive more than the narrative. The focus on replaying levels and collectibles isn’t up my alley but the design is good and will satisfy gamers interested in it. Pepper Grinder is fast and tense, with plenty of variety, a steady increase in difficulty, and has the potential to reverse grinding’s bad reputation.

Pepper Grinder is a unique and challenging title that has you drilling through everything to recover your stolen treasure. With great visuals and jazzy music, this is a title to check out!

When taking a glimpse at the gameplay of Pepper Grinder, the brain’s neurons start rapidly firing as it looks so satisfying. And I’m elated to say that the experience delivers on it being an absolutely fun ride of an arcade platformer. There’s no doubt that developer Ahr Ech put a ton of work into making sure all the elements aligned for a gratifying experience.

In all, Pepper Grinder is a very fun time with a creative way to stand out from other retro-styled platformers thanks to the drill at the very centre of the gameplay. Add in enjoyable level design that encourages replayability, challenging but satisfying boss fights, and you have a very enjoyable and short retro platformer that is sure to delight fans of the genre!

Pepper Grinder offers players so much more than simplistic gameplay, despite centering around an incredibly simple mechanic.

Overall, Pepper Grinder is a solid action platformer. It has a unique feature that helps set it apart from the rest, despite some points that still feel quite generic. Aside from some difficulty spikes, Pepper Grinder is relatively easy and short to get through. While sometimes games can feel a bit too short or too long, the game feels like it hits the right spot in terms of length. Sure, we’re starting to reach a point of saturation with indie 2D action platformers, but there is always room for innovative, fun experiences and Pepper Grinder fits that mould perfectly.

It would have been nice if Pepper Grinder was a longer game, but the time you will have with it will be enjoyable. The fast-paced nature of shooting through the levels can be exhilarating. If you enjoy platformers, you’ll appreciate that someone has found a way to add a unique spin to a genre that has been around almost as long as there have been video games.

The platformer offers varied levels with funny ideas, an ingenious mechanic for locomotion that lets you explore the genre with a fresh pinch of cleverness and a really pretty pixel art design that convinces even pixel-skeptical folks like me.

Although it does not promise long hours, Pepper Grinder is definitely an alternative worth checking out for those who love platform games. We have a "delicious" package with various sections, cute pixel art design and ambient music.

Fun, smart but definitely too short - Pepper Grinder is another prime example of how innovative and fun the indie gaming community is. A project that first surfaced in 2017, because one of the most fun games of 2024 - I just wished it had more levels.

Pepper Grinder is anything but a grind, letting players drill through land, sea, and air with relative ease. While we would have loved to see more content – and more bosses in particular – this title proves that it’s the pirate’s life for us.

If you revel in a challenge and like the idea of a platforming game that offers something totally different, you’re going to absolutely love Pepper Grinder. When it’s all going right, few games feel as satisfying to play as this: there’s nothing quite like powering up your drill to dive through the ground, popping out to jump through the air before landing into a well-placed drill again. Sometimes it’s perhaps a little too tough, but even when Pepper Grinder’s not at its strongest, we couldn’t pull ourselves away, desperate to eventually succeed.

Pepper Grinder is a rollicking platformer that combines some classic level design with revitalised traversal mechanics akin to Ecco the Dolphin’s nose-first ocean-cruising, except on this occasion the nose is a big, bad-ass drill that makes short work of terra and pirate terrors alike.

Five hours of fun, frantic platforming that’s unwieldy and all the better for it.

Even if some of the boss battles and tougher platforming sections made me want to cry and the relatively short run-time had me done with Pepper’s adventure quicker than I’d like, Pepper Grinder is one of the most entertaining 2D platformers in recent memory and one that pushes its unique selling point to the limit. Pepper Grinder is drill-y good.

I expected a bit more out of Pepper Grinder than I got, but none of that is really a mark against the game. There are definitely things about the game I dislike – boss fights primarily, or the general brevity and simplicity of the game – but that’s also judging a game I didn’t get rather than one I did, and the title isn’t priced like a big sprawling adventure. At a $15 price tag, it feels like a light weekend thing, something you can drill through in a few nights of idle play and then pick up again whenever you have a hankering for something similar...That’s… what it wants to be. And so I have to kind of give it up for that. There are frustration points, sure, but if you like this style of platformer it simultaneously doesn’t feel like something that’s been done a dozen times before and is fun to play start to finish. Not every game manages that.

Clocking in at around three to four hours to roll credits, Pepper Grinder while not the lengthiest of platforming titles thanks to its prime drilling mechanic, makes said run-time a thoroughly satisfying one. A core premise that's aided on top by a thoughtful approach to level design, not to mention a knack for continually chopping and changing the formula with one interesting new element or introduction of a neat gimmick after another. Developer Ahr Ech's ability to conjure so much from out so little a detail as how a character moves should not go unnoticed. Serviceable, bordering on unnecessary, its secondary content might feel, Pepper Grinder's ability to be just as satisfying to control, as much to work out and eventually beat, grants this particular drill-powered adventure a well-deserved identity all its own.

Pepper Grinder is a digestible adventure that can be completed in about six hours. While there is some replay value to be had, the short runtime helps ensure the game does not overstay its welcome, making it perfect for those looking to play a satisfying platformer in manageable doses. Despite its brevity, the fluid mobility provided by the drilling mechanic and overall frenetic gameplay make for an engaging retro romp that will likely tunnel its way straight to your heart.

Pepper Grinder is highly enjoyable, but a touch too short. It's a very unique platformer that manages to stand out in a very crowded genre, even if it fumbles during the final levels a little bit.

Pepper Grinder isn't an indie that's going to shake up the industry; it's more of a cute little game that shows us that there's a lot of ground to be rediscovered in the genre. Its core mechanics are incredibly fun, so it's a shame that in the end you're left with the feeling that it could have been more.

Despite some flaws, Pepper Grinder is far from being an unsatisfactory video game. In an industry where quality has now become synonymous with quantity, the game developed by Ahr Ech and published by Devolver Digital goes against the grain. Nothing too complex, but complexity is certainly not required to propose a fun, old-fashioned adventure that looks more to the past than forward, while still being able to amaze with the "little" it has to offer.

Cat Quest 3 is a light but charming pirate adventure that'll make you feel like a kid again.

If you have the money to spare or see the game on sale I would highly recommend experiencing what this title has to offer.

Pepper Grinder is a side-scrolling platformer with a good pace and solid platforming mechanics, but it's marred by some questionable action choices that prevent the title from shining as much as it should. This is particularly regrettable in the case of the boss battles, which, despite featuring beautiful designs, offer unsatisfying gameplay, as does the overall duration of the adventure.

Overall, Pepper Grinder is a very good game. Some stages have unique gimmicks that blend well with the base move set, others just challenge players with the basics. I like Pepper, she has a lot of character for a silent protagonist and the soundtrack is quite good too. There’s a lot to like with Pepper Grinder, I just really wish the boss battles were better or absent because they weigh down the rest of the experience.

Pepper Grinder does a good job of making players feel like their skills are progressing as they play through the game. It does sometimes feel like a grind, but there are enjoyable aspects to Pepper's adventure that should be tried. The drilling as a travel tool is neat, and the boss monster's designs and fights are entertaining, but the fun seems to fizzle out a little too quickly. Still, despite this and the game's sometimes frustrating controls, Ahr Ech set out to create something a bit different. And while some aspects come up short, some players will find things worth drilling through to discover.

Pepper Grinder is a good video game but it doesn’t feel like a complete video game. The mechanic of burrowing away through different biomes is always satisfying as you make platforming leaps of faith between different bodies of ground. What exploration, world and mechanical growth is there is really strong, it’s just limited and brief. Fun throughout but over before you know it, Pepper Grinder is a charming title that is just missing that extra little spice.

Pepper Grinder offers plenty of fun during a surface level playthrough. Once you drill into the depths of its game mechanics, however, you’ll find an overly forgiving “casual” game and a relatively frustrating “time attack” game. That said, you can collect stickers and that’s pretty cool.

Like its diminutive main character, Pepper Grinder may be a little on the short side, but even this small pinch of Pepper still packs plenty of punch. Plowing through platforms feels fantastic, no two levels ever seem the same, and there are some wonderfully destructive toys to discover and employ along the way. I do wish the boss fights outside of the final encounter were a bit more challenging, and the lack of anything meaningful to buy in the in-game store meant I didn’t feel compelled to take too many return trips through each world to collect any missed currency and extend my playtime. But if you’re in the mood for a short but sweet slice of propulsive platforming action of a kind rarely seen since Ecco the Dolphin’s last adventure, Pepper Grinder is all driller and no filler.

Even with all that said, though, Pepper Grinder’s core gameplay is still ridiculous fun, and raising the flag at the end of each platforming level still feels triumphant, if only for short-term pleasure. Pepper Grinder is a short game, only four to six hours, so the lack of other compelling aspects feels disappointingly underwhelming. Still, the thrill of the precision-heavy chase is an oh-so-tempting one, even if you won’t remember the chase very well afterward.