After the first few minutes of the Pepper Grinder demo, I was transported back to the ending sequence of Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It was an instant reminder of being chased while burrowing through sand and soil.

To be clear, I was a huge fan of burrowing through the ground in Ori, so I was completely down for a game that was capitalizing on that one — very well-executed — mechanic from the game. The two Ori games (Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps) are some of my top Metroidvanias. 

After moving into the full game of Pepper Grinder, I started to notice that it was more than just burrowing through the sand. Yes, that’s a big part of this game, but the further you progress the more you learn.

Other than that one common thread (of burrowing), these two games couldn’t be more different. Both Ori games feature stunning visuals with dynamic lighting set in beautiful set pieces with an orchestral soundtrack. Pepper Grinder sports more of a grungy, pixel art style, which I totally “dig.”

That’s the beauty of games, there’s room for everything, from cinematic adventures to retro-inspired, pixelated masterpieces.

DIE. DIE. DIE. REPEAT. REPEAT. REPEAT.

Pepper Grinder is a bit sneaky about being a difficult game. The overall gameplay consists of making your way through levels, which gets tricky since you are mostly burrowing through the underground. As you progress, new mechanics are introduced to help/make things trickier.

This is one of those games where you must embrace failure. In fact, I embraced it many times. It came to the point where I would notice I had been working on the same area or level for almost an hour at times.

The sneaky difficulty comes in the form of the slow movement through terrain. Even with the use of short speed bursts, this makes the game feel more simple than it actually is. As you slowly traverse the underground, you have some time to plan your next move, but it’s all about execution. There were many times where I knew exactly what I needed to do, but my fingers would fail me. Pepper Grinder is a great slow-moving, speed-runner — if that makes sense.

I normally receive some notes with a review code for games. These always mention the “estimated hours” to complete the main story. Any time I find myself stuck in a difficult situation (or boss fight) I make a mental note adding minutes/hours to my playtime. Ok, it would take a normal person five hours to complete this game, so let’s double (even triple) that amount.

SKULL COIN FINDER

Skull Dubloons are scattered throughout levels in Pepper Grinder as a collectible side quest. I always go the same way about extra collectibles in platforming games. I start off excited, ready to grab 100% of them. After I get a few levels deep, they become harder to find. 

I move to a more reasonable approach — I will make it to the end of each level, if I find a few Skull Dubloons on my way that is cool, if I miss one (or a few) that is also fine with me.

The game Celeste (another favorite) had extra flying strawberry collectible for elite players. That began kind of “easy,” with the first few, but quickly became unnecessarily hard for my style of gameplay. I always tell myself, I will go back and get them later, but we all know that is a lie.

It’s nice when these quests are options for the hardcore completionists. Players get to choose their own way to play. I would love to go after all of the collectibles in games, but I will be here for years, and there are way too many games to play and not enough time. Why not instead try to complete the story to the best of my ability.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD + BOSS FIGHT

Once you reach your first boss fight in Pepper Grinder, it sort of changes the tone of the game. I originally thought that each level was just a make your way from point A to point B, 2D platformer with checkpoints along the way. Boss Fights add a different style of gameplay at the end of each “world.”

After defeating a boss, you move into a brand new “world”, which introduces new terrains and new ways of getting around, new mechanics, and a fresh new look. The last boss fight I completed took me so many tries, but I learned that even though I have my elemental-eating, pepper-grinding weapon I don’t have to always use it the way I’d expect.

I started off combining burrowing with attacks, but this proved to be counterintuitive. The better option was staying above ground for the most part. I learned the bosses basic moveset and walked over to hit her as much as I could. This made the battle take longer, but after days of trying I finally defeated her.

I would also like to shout out some clever level design tactics from classic 2D platformers. It’s because of classic 2D Mario Bros games that I always check behind me before traveling forward in these games. Before heading in the “right” direction, see how far left you can go. You never know what the team may have hidden — skull dubloons?

PEPPER GRINDER ROCKS!

What I thought would be a simple, fun game turned out to be something quite complex. I was tricked by the slow movement through the underground in Pepper Grinder. Just like in life, although you may feel like you’re moving quite slow sometimes, you must always be prepared for the next smooth combo to move forward.

I would love to check out what the speed running community is doing with Pepper Grinder. I always picture speed runners gliding through games, but I don’t think there’s any real way to speed things up in this game — other than those short speed bursts.

I’ve had a lot of fun with Pepper Grinder, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the last few worlds (and boss fights) look like.

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*myVGBC.com was given a review code for Pepper Grinder by the publisher.