There are games that want you to master them, and there are games that want you to endure them. PEPPERED: An Existential Platformer, released on April 7, 2025 for PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam, macOS and Windows), firmly belongs to the second category, though it disguises that intent behind absurd humour, surreal platforming, and an aggressively unpredictable structure.
Developed by Mostly Games, this is a platformer that refuses to behave like one. It is built on instability: mechanical, narrative, and emotional. Every action carries permanence, every failure becomes part of the story, and every expectation the player brings is likely to be subverted within minutes.
At its core, it is not really about saving the world. It is about what happens when you try, and the world decides you are the problem.
Story & Premise
You play as an ordinary office intern who, in the face of an impending apocalypse, decides to take matters into their own hands. It is a simple starting point that quickly collapses into something far more chaotic. Rather than being celebrated, your attempts to intervene are met with hostility. The world does not see a hero; it sees a threat.
Authorities label you a terrorist. The media distorts your actions. Civilians react with fear, anger, and confusion. What follows is a journey not of heroic ascent, but of escalating misinterpretation.
The narrative structure is heavily branching, and more importantly, permanently branching. Choices are not reset between runs. Failures are not erased. The game remembers everything, and that memory becomes part of the evolving story. This creates a rare sense of narrative consequence, where experimentation is encouraged but never safely reversible.
There is also a strong undercurrent of absurdism throughout. The tone oscillates between existential dread and comedic randomness, sometimes within the same sequence. It is intentionally unstable, reflecting the theme that control is an illusion rather than a design goal.
Gameplay & Core Platforming
At its most basic level, PEPPERED is a platformer: you run, jump, and navigate side-scrolling environments filled with hazards, enemies, and unpredictable events. But this description only captures a fraction of the experience.
Movement is intentionally loose but responsive, designed to support improvisation rather than precision perfection. This is important because perfection is not the point. Failure is not a reset condition; it is a narrative fork.
There is no traditional “game over” state. Instead, if you fail a section, the story continues in a different direction. Sometimes this means new locations. Sometimes it means altered characters. Sometimes it means the world simply reacts to your incompetence in unexpected ways.
Boss encounters embody this philosophy most clearly. These are not repeated until mastered; they are singular events. If you lose, you do not retry. The story adapts. You live with the outcome.
This creates a fascinating psychological shift. Players are encouraged to accept imperfection rather than optimise it. The pressure is not to succeed, but to understand what failure produces.
Narrative Systems & Branching Design
The branching narrative is the defining feature of PEPPERED. Choices range from dialogue responses to environmental interactions and major story decisions. However, unlike most narrative-driven games, these choices are not neatly contained within isolated arcs.
Instead, consequences ripple unpredictably. A minor interaction early in the game can subtly alter an entire late-game sequence. A failed stealth section might introduce entirely new characters who only exist in that timeline. Some routes even diverge into completely different gameplay styles.
This creates a sense of narrative density that is both impressive and occasionally overwhelming. It is not always clear why certain changes occur, which can be intentional but sometimes feels opaque.
The game’s humour helps offset this unpredictability. There is a constant stream of surreal NPCs, strange scenarios, and deliberately absurd situations, including everything from improvised escape sequences involving shopping carts to surreal street-corner gambling encounters with unhinged strangers.
It is a world that refuses consistency, yet somehow maintains coherence through tone.
Stealth, Exploration & Randomness
Stealth sections add another layer of unpredictability. Players can sneak, rush, or discover alternative solutions that are not always obvious. These sequences are rarely repeated in the same form, and many include unique mechanics or narrative twists tied specifically to the current branch of the story.
Exploration is similarly varied. NPCs are fully optional but often memorable, ranging from melancholic figures trapped in absurd situations to outright comedic characters who serve little purpose beyond tone disruption.
Then there is the “completely random crap” system, which feels like both a joke and a design pillar. Unexpected events can occur at any time, from surreal chase sequences involving improvised vehicles to bizarre mini-objectives that appear without warning. These moments are chaotic, but rarely meaningless; they usually tie back into the game’s broader themes of unpredictability and lack of control.
Even something as simple as an office chair becomes a recurring motif, allowing players to spin as a form of absurd respite. It is unnecessary, slightly ridiculous, and strangely fitting.
Presentation & Atmosphere
Visually, PEPPERED adopts a deliberately inconsistent style. Environments shift between minimalist platforming spaces, detailed urban scenes, and abstract surreal backdrops. This inconsistency is not a flaw but a reflection of the game’s branching structure.
Sound design reinforces the tonal instability. Music ranges from melancholic ambient pieces to sudden bursts of comedic or chaotic audio cues. Voice acting, where present, leans heavily into exaggerated delivery, enhancing the sense that reality within the game is constantly breaking down.
Performance is generally stable, though the sheer variability of systems occasionally leads to minor glitches or abrupt transitions between scenes. These rarely disrupt play, and in some cases feel almost intentional.
Structure, Replayability & Meaning
Replayability is not optional here; it is structural. Because failures permanently alter the narrative, no single playthrough can reveal the full scope of the game. Instead, each run becomes a fragment of a larger, shifting mosaic.
However, this also introduces a limitation. Some players may find the lack of narrative closure frustrating, particularly when outcomes feel arbitrary rather than earned. While the intent is clearly to emphasise chaos and consequence, it does not always distinguish between meaningful divergence and pure randomness.
Still, there is something compelling about the idea that no version of the story is definitive. The game resists completion in the traditional sense, instead offering accumulation through repetition.
Final Verdict
PEPPERED: An Existential Platformer is not concerned with stability. It is a game about consequence without reset, failure without erasure, and meaning that emerges only through repetition and contradiction.
Its strengths lie in its ambition: a branching structure that genuinely reacts to player failure, a willingness to embrace absurdity, and a refusal to treat outcomes as temporary. When it works, it creates moments that feel uniquely personal and unpredictable.
However, its reliance on randomness and opaque branching logic can sometimes undermine clarity. Not every outcome feels equally meaningful, and not every divergence feels intentional. This tension between design and chaos is both its defining feature and its greatest weakness.
Still, it is difficult to dismiss a game that so thoroughly commits to its premise. It does not ask you to win. It asks you to persist, adapt, and accept that every attempt reshapes the story in ways you cannot fully control.
