Everyone that knows Devolver Digital at this point has nothing but good things to say about them. Enter and Exit the Gungeon, Cult of the Lamb, and of course Hotline Miami. That means when a new Devolver game crops up, not only is there a reason to be excited about it, but there’s a certain expectation behind how much you’re going to want to keep playing it. This leads us to the newest title, Pepper Grinder, an action platformer with the main gimmick being fast travel and faster reflexes. The main idea is you play as Pepper, and you have a massive drill that functions with everything. You were robbed by a gang of land narwhals and their mysterious leader, and you just want your treasures back, and you’ll drill anyone to get it.. wait that sounded wrong..

Pepper Grinder has a lot of different mechanics to learn on your way to collect your treasure, but they’re introduced slowly as you progress through the story. To start you’ll essentially just need to know how to grind your way through soft dirt to traverse the levels quickly. Levels are a lot like Super Mario World, you’ll have a world with a handful of levels all culminating in a boss level. Each level also has five coins to collect, on top of the random treasure you can collect.

The coins and treasure are used at shops, coins can open locked levels in the world and can also be used for different customisation for Pepper, like a change in hair colour or outfit. Treasure is used to collect stickers, which are just used in the games photo mode which gives you pictures of areas and you can add stickers of treasure, enemies, and lots of other stuff to make it look like a level your friend may have missed.

Pepper Grinder flows really well through it’s levels, and much like a game like Celeste for instance, when you mess up you can admit it’s your fault and not a fault of the mechanics. Honestly, one of my biggest hurdles was the first boss, for some reason I just couldn’t grasp how the attacks worked for the first handful of runs against it. If you find it all too easy for whatever reason, you can even tackle time attack mode, which will really light a fire in how quick you need to move and how precise you need to be.

The real surprise with the old school art style specifically is that detail didn’t get lost throughout the different worlds. Sometimes things like secret walls can be harder to find in darker palettes, but I found I didn’t need to be any more attentive in the later worlds than I did in the first one specifically. That’s not to say I didn’t miss plenty of secrets on a first playthrough though.

Now comes the best part, the music. I have so much love for any game with a good soundtrack, and Pepper Grinder does not disappoint. The soundtrack is done by Xeecee and it’s fantastic for how fast paced the game is, matching the atmosphere down to the last note. We can just act like I didn’t struggle with the first boss, I just wanted to jam the boss theme for a while while I waited for the digital soundtrack to drop on streaming services.

If you like Super Mario World, or precision platformers such as Celeste, then boy, have I got an absolute treat for you. Pepper Grinder is the kind of game you’ll instantly start to scream about from the rooftops. It’s got fast-paced action, its worlds are vibrant and diverse, and it’s got a banging soundtrack to top it off. Not to mention the fact I’ll always have a soft spot for anything that includes narwhals. Pepper Grinder is already one of my top contenders for my favourite game of the year, especially being a replayable-as-hell Switch banger I can pick and play for ten to fifteen minutes at a time while I’m sat on a bus or train.

 

Graphics: 8.0 Very colorful and vibrant. Pepper Grinder appeals to a SNES-era, 16-bit graphical style, but it does a very good job in not letting things get lost in its ever-changing world’s looks. It’s retro without feeling dated.	Gameplay: 9.5 The fluidity and precision of Pepper Grinder feels so effortless that it’s hard to argue when something goes wrong.
Sound: 9.0 There’s honestly nothing better than having a great soundtrack in a game like this. There’s no dialogue, just constant jams as you grind through levels.	Fun Factor: 9.5 Pepper Grinder is a game I will return to and tell people about for a while to come. There’s not much else to say. This game is just that good.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Pepper Grinder is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Pepper Grinder was provided by the publisher.