A title originally teased and announced in 2022, MP2 and Ahr Ech released Pepper Grinder in March. MP2 is also responsible for the run and gun action adventure and absolutely wonderful Mighty Goose, and the unplayed Baba is You. So I felt like this game would be pretty cool in concept. I was right. And Devolver Digital handled the publishing. Match made in heaven, this trio.
This game follows a sea loving protagonist named Pepper, and her drill, Grinder. A group of smelly pirates made her wreck her ship, and robbed her of her treasure. They fortunately left the drill, which you will use to navigate through most of the game. The premise is pretty straight forward here. Drill through the dirt, collect all the things, get to the boss, get your treasure back.
As you navigate along, there are no new powers. No upgrades. What you have at the beginning of the game is what you will have for the entire game. Grinder, a jump, and a dash is all you get. As you grind your way through, you can collect jewels and mostly hidden skull coins, which double as in game currency. Your drill is how you move in and out of the dirt and sand, and sometimes there are in game mechanisms to keep you going, like Donkey Kong Country-esq cannons.
Sometimes you'll use your dash to get some extra speed, and sometime you'll use it to open and close doors, which also brings in a puzzle element. There are also checkpoints, you know, for when you keep getting smacked, or you get overzealous and fall into a pit. And I'm talking about myself. After you finish each level, you can go right back in to get missing skull coins, or even to complete a time trial. You know, for speed runners.
There are probably about 6 rounds per level, each ending with a boss. After the first two or three levels, you can open a shop. This shop contains more hit points (up to 8) in exchange for the jewels you find along the way. You can also buy cosmetics for Pepper, and a sticker book, for some reason. There is a secret level in each which is unlocked by a key. The key costs about 10 of those aforementioned skull coins, and it's nothing but another level to maybe sharpen your skills, and by more optional cosmetics. And if you know me, you know how much I love cosmetics.
Again, each round of levels end with a boss, and I found the first boss WAY harder than the second one for some reason. They don't necessarily have a pattern, nor do they use what you learned from the levels you went through to make it there. It's just a boss. Something to stand in your way. I'll be surprised if anyone makes it through that first one on the first try. And no matter how far you deplete that health bar, you gotta start over, every single time.
That's pretty much it. Like I said, it's a pretty straight forward game. It is out right now for Steam, PC, and Nintendo Switch, for the cheap. If you want a cool straight forward game, pick this one up. I recommend it. Just try not to get frustrated at that first boss. He's dreadful.
