Ranking Pepper Grinder Levels

 Pepper Grinder is a great game, and it has some fantastic level design. Despite only having 19 main stages, each stage introduces at least one new mechanic to the table which lends the game a ton of variety. With such a strong roster, I wanted to go ahead and rank them all.

19. Breaker Pass

Out of all the levels in Pepper Grinder, Breaker Pass is the only one to kind of be a miss for me. It's uncharacteristically unfocused, trying to juggle multiple mechanics that don't really mesh with each other. The primary mechanic are missiles which you can attack to your drill and fire to break ice blocks in the way, but they're not particularly fun to use and often drag the pacing to a halt. The other main mechanic is a friendly giant who shows up to give you a lift at certain points, but he's not too different mechanically from any other moving platform. Breaker Pass also tries to end with a fake out where the giant catches you just before you fall into a bed of spikes... but it's also incredibly easy to slip off the giant's hand and fall into the spikes anyway, killing the mood. Still, I should be grateful that the worst level in Pepper Grinder is still mediocre at worst and not actively unfun to play through.

18. Wellspring Canyon

I appreciate that Pepper Grinder makes its obligatory bramble level the second stage in the game. Wellspring Canyon introduces the underwater gameplay, but it doesn't really show off the mechanic's strengths. Most of the stage takes place in shallow pools with lots of patches of sand and brambles covering the surface, meaning that you pretty much never get the opportunity to try jet-skiing on top of the water. On the other side, since most of the stage takes place in small ponds, you also don't get the terrifying claustrophobic elements that later water stages delve into. Wellspring Canyon is still a fun stage and weaving through the brambles can be really satisfying, but it definitely suffers a bit from being in the early game.

17. Icemelt Marsh

Icemelt Marsh is very much a literal transition stage, taking you from the icecaps of World 3 to the gross, swamp marshes of World 4. As a result, there really isn't too much to write home about it. There are a few memorable setpieces like a creepy underwater segment where you're dodging tentacles trying to drag you further in or a fun finale where you're drilling your way up a sinking ship, but those are brief instances in an otherwise pretty unremarkable stage.

16. Marauder Beach

Marauder Beach is the first stage where you can really let loose with the jetski mechanic. If you angle your drill right at the top of a body of water, you can start zipping across the waves super fast. It's always a blast to pull off and makes for some very fun speedruns. Most of Marauder Beach is admittedly somewhat empty, but between dealing with the sharks and the final bit with volcanos shooting rocks into the water, there's still a lot to like here.

15. Lost Claim

Lost Claim is the first level in Pepper Grinder so naturally it's going to be a lot simpler than most of the other stages. However, it's still a pretty great tutorial, quickly introducing you to how to use the drill before tossing you into some tight and tricky platforming right from the get-go. Lost Claim doesn't waste your time, it starts testing your skills right after you've learned them, but it's still generous enough that it doesn't feel like much of a difficulty spike. When I tried out Pepper Grinder's demo a few weeks ago, I stopped immediately after playing Lost Claim because it made such a good impression that I already knew I wanted to get the full game.

14. Poison Ridge

 Poison Ridge is your grapple-hook tutorial. Just like with Lost Claim, it keeps the tutorialization quick and out of the way, and by the end of the stage, you'll already be chaining together digs and hook tosses like a pro. The grapple hook in this game can admittedly be a bit tricky to get used to, Poison Ridge is probably the first real spike of this game for that reason, but once you do get the hang of it, this is a very fun speedrunning stage with a great flow.

13. Deeprot City

Deeprot City is the final level in the game, and as such, it tests you on everything you've learned. You got grapple points, cannons, tight digging bits, moving platforms, brambles, the giant robot, the gun, nearly every type of enemy, it's a full gauntlet, and most of it is quite fun. However, what keeps Deeprot City from getting any higher for me is the elevator segment at the end, which floods you with enemies for a smidge too long, on top of already being placed quite a bit away from a checkpoint. It is the final level so I can't complain too much, but I did get pretty frustrated by the end there.

12. Roboburr Pits

Roboburr Pits is one of the less memorable levels for me, but it's not even all that bad, and both of its main gimmicks are pretty solid. The giant sawblades serve as a nice obstacle that can be genuinely pretty tough to sync up with, and using water to create rock to dig through out of the lava is a clever reversal of the volcanic rocks in Marauder Beach. This stage is another notable spike in difficulty, but it's a fair one that's quite satisfying to complete.

11. Witchfire Bog

Witchfire Bog is a stage all about ooze. There's the dangerous blue ooze that you need to carefully squeeze around, and the helpful purple ooze that slings you back if you try to escape. It's that latter mechanic that really makes this level for me, the purple ooze is super creative and fun to use, and trying to find the nearest path of dirt you can use to break out is a fun platforming puzzle. However, Witchfire Bog did feel a bit too short and easy, especially for a secret level. It feels like it ended just before it could really make the absolute most out of its very cool ideas.

10. Magmaworks

Magmaworks is a fairly traditional stage about moving platforms, but man is it well-executed. Instead of making you wait for platforms, these moving platforms are on a conveyor belt, so you need to carefully land on one as you hop from dirt patch to dirt patch. Speedruns of this stage have such a fantastic sense of flow to them as you jump between the land and dirt, and the whole stage just feels great to play through.

9. Headstone Peak

 Headstone Peak is a unique change of pace as it's a vertically-driven level that's more focused on puzzle-solving. The main mechanic are these gates that you can push open with your drill that will shift other gates that they're linked to. The puzzles involving these gates starts out pretty simple, but some of the later rooms had me genuinely scratching my head. It's not all slow-paced puzzle-solving though, as there's also plenty of more fast-paced drilling sequences as you get to try vertical platforming for the first time.

8. Terminal Depths

Or as I like to call it, the Metal Slug stage. Terminal Depths is the second level where you get to wield a gun, and mow down a ton of enemies in a wrecked subway station. The dark and dingy setting is great and compliments the action well, and the sequences where you ride on a subway car as enemies pop out from the ceiling is a nice dose of adrenaline. The whole stage is just nonstop balls-to-the-walls action and it makes finally surfacing to see the sky again feel like such a relief.

7. Brittle Glacier

Brittle Glacier is just pure fun, with two equally enjoyable central mechanics. First is obviously the snowmobile which you can use to absolutely plow through everything in your path, but for most of the level, you'll also be dealing with frozen pieces of rock that crumble as you drill through them. Despite not interacting much, both the snowmobile and ice fragments force you to keep moving, giving Brittle Glacier a real sense of speed and momentum. Props for also having some of the trickiest coin spots to find in the whole game.

6. Sea Of Teeth

Sea Of Teeth rivals the abyss from Rayman Origins as one of the scariest underwater stages I've ever played. It starts off pretty unassuming. You're in an ice world, the ice will freeze you if you stay in it for too long, so the solution is simple: Stay out of the water. You can even use the jetski to make things even easier. But eventually, you start to hit giant tundras that force you to swim under them, drilling into floating chunks of ice to use as a safe zone. The second half of Sea Of Teeth forces you to go deep underwater, and it is immensely uncomfortable. The eerie music, dim lighting, and constant threat of freezing gives these bits such an oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere. It all adds up to what is easily one of the most striking and memorable stages in the game.

5. Cannoneer's Folly

Cannoneer's Folly was the first level in Pepper Grinder to truly wow me. It's a stage that feels particularly inspired by the DKC games, between its serene atmosphere, tough difficulty, and of course, the fact that cannons are a main mechanic. The cannons in Pepper Grinder are very fun to use too, and add an interesting twist to a fairly common mechanic by forcing you to re-activate your drill before you collide with something. I also have to mention the music, Airy, an absolutely blissful piece of DnB that easily stands out as my favorite track in the game.

4. Cannon Climb

 Cannon Climb is basically Cannoneer's Folly but vertical and even more atmospheric. As you can probably tell from then name, Cannon Climb is all about using the cannons to scale a giant mountain. The platforming is already a ton of fun, with plenty of solid timing challenges and tricky jumps as you bounce between using the cannons and digging upwards. But what really elevates Cannon Climb for me is the mood it creates. The sparse landscape, lack of enemies, and framing that often shoves you to the left or right of the screen does so much to create a feeling of loneliness.

3. Giant's Kitchen

 Giant's Kitchen is the first gun level, and it was an incredibly pleasant surprise. Going from having to poke around enemies for a weakpoint to blasting away at everything in your path is such a fun powertrip, though the enemy count is numerous enough that this stage doesn't feel like a cakewalk either. However, what elevates Giant's Kitchen even more is the setting. A cave filled with giant food and pots you can swim around inside is easily one of the most inventive locations in the game, and really solidifies Giant's Kitchen as one of my favorite levels.

2. Sunken City Limits

 Sunken City Limits is a stage all about destroying buildings. The first half is mostly about digging through the supports that hold up buildings, and then escaping as they collapse around you. It's a fun concept used in some very inventive platforming sequences. However, once you think you have this stage figured out, you come across a giant mech that you get to pilot, and destroy all of the buildings and enemies in your way. Like with the gun, it's an incredibly fun powertrip that ends Sunken City Limits on a very high note.

1. Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls has one of my favorite tropes in platformers, climbing up a waterfall. The main gimmick is that you have to drill up these giant ice chunks that are falling. They spawn somewhat randomly so you have to be on your toes, but they're also big enough that the stage doesn't feel too unfair or unpredictable. Eventually, bombs get tossed into the mix which makes things even more complicated. While I'd still call this one of the easier stages in the game, it has such a fantastic flow to it, on top of a comfy atmosphere to it between the soft colors and bouncy music. Out of all of Pepper Grinder's fantastic stages, Crystal Falls is the one I had the most fun with.