Pepper Grinder

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You’d be surprised how many unique uses a single tool might have. Take the hammer, for instance. You’d immediately think about hitting things with it, and that’s entirely reasonable…but think about how many things you can hit! Nails! Walls! People! Pets! Word has it the hammer is actually an incredibly versatile tool with a diverse array of uses. You should give it a try sometime.

Likewise, in Pepper Grinder you’re going to take a tool that seems straightforward at first – a drill, in this case – and find a whole lot of new uses for it. You’ll still hit people with it, though, don’t worry.

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Everybody’s familiar with ninjas and their propensity for stealing diamonds, but what’s less well-known is that pirates love stealing treasure. Wait, that’s something everyone is familiar with as well? Huh. Well, anyway, pirates stole your treasure and left you marooned, penniless and grumpy. They’re probably spending all of your loot on grog. There’s only one thing for it: grab a drill and get to reclaiming what’s yours. Send them scallywags straight back to Davy Jones’ locker…or whatever the equivalent might be when we’re talking about dirt instead of the ocean.

There’s no question that Pepper Grinder’s big selling point is the giant drill you’ll be waving around throughout the game. On the surface this is a pretty simple tool: drill baddies to kill ’em, right? Sure, that’s a possibility, but you can get a whole lot more out of drilling if you experiment a bit. For example, you can dig through the ground with the greatest of ease, and by combining this with your underground speed boost ability you can make some pretty amazing dolphin-style leaps. Expect plenty of soil-to-air-to-soil platforming. You’ll want to get the hang of that speed boost quickly.

That’s not to discount the drill as a combat option, either. Enemies tend to have shields or other protective measures to stop you from just walking up and applying drill to face, but they also tend to be standing on dirt that leaves their soft underbellies vulnerable or that sort of thing. Figuring out how to make the most of your single versatile tool is key to the Pepper Grinder experience.

Unique mechanical conceits aside, Pepper Grinder’s closest comparison is probably something like the modern Mario games. Like them, Pepper Grinder is easy enough to complete, even if you’re not the most well-versed in platforming. On the other hand, if you’d like a little more of a challenge, you can go out of your way to collect the piles of optional goodies scattered around each level. The most notable of these are the large skull coins, five per level, that can be used to purchase secrets and also measure your scouring prowess. Some of the skull coins are pretty deviously hidden and you’ll have to think outside the box to load up on them all.

There’s also a vaguely ’90s Super Nintendo vibe to Pepper Grinder’s presentation writ large, and that’s a quality that suits the game like a drill suits a baddie’s face. This game’s environments and the characters that inhabit them all share a punkish, cartoony aesthetic that wouldn’t be out of place in the old Nicktoons. Sound-wise, Pepper Grinder is minimal but effective, and it’s clear that plenty of attention was paid to the jaunty tunes that accompany the swash-drilling action. All that and this game likely runs on a toaster. What more could you ask for?

You couldn’t ask for much more, really. Pepper Grinder is a game that has one job and does it well: offer tasty bite-sized chunks of innovative platforming, with a little collectathon spice on the side if you’re into that. This is a compact yet dense romp that’s begging for a sequel. Drill yourself up a little treasure and give Pepper Grinder a shot.