Peppered: an existential platformer Preview: Immortality Day
It's the 100th anniversary of Immortality Day, and unfortunately, it looks like the God of Death will return. The known hero, Theodore Glagolev, is a no-show, so you decide it's up to you to save the world by bringing a new life star and excruciating deaths.
You play as an office intern in the middle of their job interview. What ensues is a comedic journey filled with platforming, choices, a branching story, and only ONE shot at every pivotal moment in terms of choices and boss encounters, leaving the ending you get solely in your hands.
Presentation
Peppered brings colorful pixel graphics and a cool, self-aware ambiance that leans on its musical tracks that hit at every turn. Furthermore, as you boot up the game, you are met with what appears to be a stage production featuring several of the anthropomorphic animal characters in the game. This unique start to the game sets the tone for the unhinged story you are about to experience.
Narrative
Your office intern takes on the role of the new hero, but it doesn't get quite as planned, considering the feds are immediately on your tail for whatever reason. What follows in the narrative is entirely at your discretion, but you only have one shot to get it right. For example, when being asked if you are going to replace the CEO of your current company, you are given the choice to dismiss it and move on with the catastrophe as is or Implore and try to do something about it. Several key moments pop up like this as you play, but the more exciting segments include puzzles and boss fights.
Taking that same philosophy with choice and applying it to puzzles and bosses makes for an alluring dynamic. These choices and how well you perform change and alter the story as well as the ending you receive. Even the demo itself has several different branching paths and endings.
Not only do the choices make for a fun mechanic, but the game's humor really shines, too. From funny one-liners to recurring bits, Peppered brings hilarious cognizant jokes that made me laugh several times during my hour of playtime. Despite time jumps, there’s a fish character that remains on fire the entire time, and I chuckle at every appearance.
Gameplay
The first several moments of Peppered feature your little intern sliding around in their chair. For the first fifteen minutes, your gameplay consists of the traversal and platforming in this chair. You collect coins here, but I never saw a counter for them or any practical use. Are the coins another joke?
Now, the first one-shot moment came in the form of a coffee test since you started as an intern. It's unapologetically straightforward this time around, and you practically can't fail. What appears on the screen is a button prompt QTE that is purposely slow this time around. More of these segments with varying difficulty appear in the game; some are even deliberately impossible, unlike the very first one you encounter at the coffee maker.
Once you go on your corporate journey, you eventually leave your chair, and that's when the real platforming starts featuring crawling, crouch jumping, trampolines, enemies, challenging boss fights, recurring characters, etc. Luckily, considering the game's branching narrative and varying difficulties, the game saves often with adequate checkpointing. Additionally, since it's the anniversary of Immortality Day, naturally, dying and respawning is a thing in the universe.
The story still allows you to progress even if you fail, as I did during boss fights. Just beware of your stories' fate, as it may not be positive. That being said, replayability could be sky-high with how quickly the game's segments ensue. This mechanic truly intrigues me, but I wonder if this makes the difficulty for each boss tricky to get right.
Breakdown
Game: Peppered: an existential platformer
Developers: Mostly Games
Availability: Steam
Previewed on Steam
Demo Length: Around an hour
Pros:
Self-aware humor
One-shot angle
Replayability
Player friendly
Cons:
Potential issues with difficulty considering the one-shot mechanic
Final Thoughts
All in all, Peppered is a refreshing take on platformers. It's funny, unique, and challenging with its one-shot mechanic. It has a branching narrative, crisp controls, immense replayability, and is very player-friendly. With no glaring holes in the formula, Peppered may be existential, but it's also a quality time worth your attention.
Preview By Austin Ernst