Death does not absolve from responsibility. Review of the indie gem PEPPERED: an existential platformer

PEPPERED has an unusual premise: you need to help a star thief keep the God of Death imprisoned and save the world. It is unusual not because it is another heroic adventure, but quite the opposite—the player can refuse this task. You will have to make a choice: continue being a hero despite popular opinion or build a career on the suffering of millions of people and bring the world to the apocalypse.

PEPPERED is an insane “existential 2D platformer” where the player's actions determine where the protagonist's world ends up. You can be either a hero or a careerist villain, ditching saving the world and profiting off its suffering. 

Immortal rotten world

Folk hero Theodor Glagolev brutally beat the God of Death and imprisoned him. For a hundred years, he brought stars of life to the prison—to extend the imprisonment by one year. The game begins with Theodor disappearing, leaving no one to bring a star of life, and Death threatens to break free.

Fun fact: Theodor Glagolev is a fictional Russian traveler, researcher, and apocalyptologist born in 1871 in Paris. The “Theodor Glagolev Order” found its calling in genuinely exploring the world around them, writing for the real-life and now-defunct publication “Batenka, da vy transformer”.

An immortal world can hardly be called a utopia. The population keeps growing, and the lack of fear of death has had a detrimental effect on morality. Immortal beings drag out a miserable existence and view the end of the world as just another way to be entertained. 

Work in the midst of the Apocalypse

According to the developers' comments, the game's protagonist is a hybrid of a rabbit and a Turian from Mass Effect. The protagonist gets a job at a company that distributes stars of life—as a coffee delivery boy. Theodor Glagolev's disappearance gives him a chance to become a hero and save the world, but it is much easier to keep climbing the corporate ladder—quickly unlocking the first endings along the way.

Although the company specializes in stars of life, its employees have no clue about what their duties actually are. There is only one inviolable rule: you can only move around the office on office chairs. Otherwise, everything is simple—employees do not even need to be competent. You can write complete gibberish in a presentation and use charisma to secure yourself a long life and stable income. 

What unfolds on screen is reminiscent of the popular indie game Yuppie Psycho. The goal of that game is to find and kill a witch. Yet players love the game for its brilliant depiction of the madness and futility of office life, rather than the drama surrounding the witch.

Saving the apathetic and ungrateful

If you want to play hero, the star of life is right under your nose! The catch is that it is only entrusted to Theodor Glagolev. Even if you steal the star with noble intentions, the protagonist will be labeled a star thief and declared public enemy number one. Throughout the journey, you will have to deal with concerned citizens and Officer Merdeka—a disciplined and emotionally traumatized doe. 

Existential platformer

PEPPERED features platformer gameplay you would expect, but rather unresponsive controls. The protagonist can run, jump, slide, and glide in mid-air. To advance through the story, you need to leap onto distant platforms and solve simple puzzles. 

Periodically, the game throws challenges your way. To progress, you will have to dodge spikes, blades, lasers, and robots. You will get to use grocery carts as transport and dumpsters as shelter from hazards. 

On one level, the Sun blazes down, and prolonged exposure outside the shade leads to death. Thankfully, the character is immortal, and any death sends you back to a checkpoint. But remember that actions taken on a level cannot be undone—you get one shot per playthrough. 

Boss fights are the toughest part. You have to survive all the attacks and seize the moment to deal damage. The trouble is that bosses have heaps of health, and beating them down is simply tedious. 

The variety of endings and playstyles allows you to play poorly. You can fail a specific section but continue the journey without much hassle. However, it is best not to count on leniency too much—the consequences of your mistakes will make themselves known!

Moral and not-so-moral choices

Throughout the game, the protagonist interacts with characters blocking his path. In most cases, conflicts can be resolved peacefully. Creativity is encouraged in every way—you can distract concerned citizens with a doorbell or by hiding behind a rotting hobo. The decisions made will influence public opinion of the protagonist, and along with it, the chances of successfully sealing away the God of Death. 

Warning! Beyond this point, I have to reveal a bit of the plot. Reading further may spoil your enjoyment of the game. 

Most likely, the God of Death will break free. Then everyone will become mortal, and stars of life will grant an extra chance after death. The player is free to continue along the hero's path—or become an opportunist and start selling stars. Collected stars shatter upon death, cutting off the path to good endings. And the game will not grant a second chance during a playthrough! Unless the player refuses to head to the next checkpoint and restarts the level instead. Yet even pulling off a trick like that is not always possible.

In most games, death is depicted as something natural and inevitable. For instance, in Nine Sols, the protagonist can wipe out his own race—fans of the game justify his actions by arguing they were predestined by fate. PEPPERED offers no such concessions! A cult obeys the God of Death, enforcing his will and executing infidels, and if you let the cult do whatever it pleases—that burden rests squarely on the player's conscience.

Diagnosis    

It is astonishing how the game manages to depict real-life situations within the realities of a mad fictional world. The player is free to take the careerist path and secure a comfortable existence into old age. Or they can take risks, try to make the world a little better, and face problems at every turn. Every choice has its pros and cons—the outcome depends solely on the decision-maker.

PEPPERED: an existential platformer is a true gem among thousands of other indie titles. If you give it a chance, it will make you ponder life, deliver a ton of positive emotions, and become a favorite in your collection. Definitely recommended!

Pro:

• Intriguing plot
• Brilliantly executed life situations
• Huge number of endings and walkthrough approaches
• Magnificently written and memorable characters 
• Dark humor
• Great soundtrack

Contra:

• Drawn-out boss fights

***

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