Title: The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint
Developer: Hack the Publisher
Publisher: Freedom Games
Release Date: October 23, 2023
Reviewed on: PC via Steam
Price: $19.99

I was there for the final days of the original arcades. My fondest memories all revolve around a single genre: the beat ‘em ups. Playing The Punisher with my father. Stumbling into a The Simpsons cabinet set to freeplay, and plowing through it with my family. Hazy memories of what could have only been Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. I owned many similar games on the consoles.

But in time, the beat ‘em up faded. Only a few series soldiered on, and genre throwbacks are still relatively rare.

In its 2D form, the genre demands a few things for success: smooth combat, mechanical clarity, and stunning pixel art.

The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint is the latest 2D beat ‘em up, taking inspiration from the arcade greats, Korean noir films, anime, and Lovecraftian horror.

Disclosure: Boss Rush Network received a review code for the PC version of The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint. Neither Hack the Publisher nor Freedom Games made any stipulations upon this review, nor did they or any representatives read it prior to publication.

Plot Synopsis

The man known as Mr. Peppermint, a police detective, is kept captive by a criminal mastermind. Each time he escapes, he takes down another one of the mastermind’s lieutenants. This case is intimately connected to a kidnapping case from long ago, which seems to be repeating itself…

Gameplay Mechanics

Mr. Peppermint has a very simple goal: fight your way through every enemy to reach the other side of the stage. You have a quick attack, a strong attack, and a dodge. The attacks can, of course, be strung together into combos. There are a plentiful number of combos, and they can build out of the dodge. The player can use a number of objects around arenas to increase their damage or (usually) instantly kill an enemy, such as bottles, chairs, and bags of dirt.

Dealing enough damage will send you on a spree of vengeance, with increased damage and a mixed-up moveset. Reaching this state also heals your health. Health is an extremely limited resource, and this is the only way to heal (apart from intermissions).

The developers describe the game as having “incredibly precise controls,” and that is true. But it is true in ways both good and bad. The game gives you very little time to learn the mechanics, and it’s easy to feel as though you have insufficient control of Mr. Peppermint, or that the combat is stiff, or that the enemies have ballooned health.

None of those things are true. You have the necessary control. The combat is smooth. The enemy health is reasonable. But the game is asking you to start attacking at a certain distance from the enemy, to know which combos are most effective in which circumstances, and to play the game almost from the start as though you’re a veteran. You are given virtually no time to learn these skills, apart from an optional chance to play around with combos in the first level.

The game would benefit massively from giving the player a chance to come to grips with its mechanics.

The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint features a unique mechanic, the Intermission. Imagining that this is a movie, you have a chance to essentially call “Cut!” and everyone in the fight takes a breather. This refills Mr. Peppermint’s health. You also have the chance to scare enemies away, stun them, or spawn a hammer (which grants an instant kill, in most circumstances). These choices have a percentage chance, but I never observed it drop below 100%.

While the game does make a big deal about your choices and the optional cruelty you can inflict with finishers, the impact is relatively minor and hinges on a single binary choice during a cut scene. Whether you beat foes unconscious or execute them ultimately has no bearing, despite the UI’s reactions. There’s a genuinely interesting idea in the good ending being locked behind a more difficult, mostly non-lethal path. It’s a shame that it’s not implemented here.

Homage & Surrealism

The game is not shy about its influences. The game plays as though the hallway fight from the original Oldboy is only one stage in a beat ‘em up. You can spot characters much like those from Kill Bill, Lupin the 3rd, Kung Fu Hustle, and more. You’ll recognize sequences from I Saw the Devil and The Raid. The entire game centers around a Lovecraftian cult, discussed in direct terms.

I’m not asking for these influences to be disguised or hidden. One of my favorite books is Philip José Farmer’s Tarzan Alive!, which is written as though Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan is a real person and the book is a real biography of a man who was, at least at time of writing, still alive. But it does not merely incorporate Lord Greystoke, but a galaxy of characters from mystery and adventure fiction: Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, and The Shadow play key roles. Much like this game, Arsène Lupin (the first, in this case) and the Mythos appear.

But all of the major characters are used for a reason, not only for the fun of it, but to make broader points about pop culture and some of the characters in specific.

The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint doesn’t. They tell the game’s influences, and what the developers love, and there is always something charming in that. But I wish that it did something with this rich combination of influences.

Beyond that, The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint strives for surrealism. It begins as the story of a captured detective used as an unwitting assassin, but it quickly comes to encompass an immortal’s murderous plan, a cult, an alchemical gardener, and eldritch horrors. We are also told repeatedly that Mr. Peppermint himself is insane, but it seems like all of this is literally true in the world of the story: the only elements that aren’t real are Mr. Peppermint’s visions of his family and a conversation with a plant.

I’m not asking for these elements to be false within the narrative, but I do wish they tied together more neatly. For example, every element of Twin Peaks is aimed in one of two directions. Through the surrealism, the fantasy and the heightened reality, we see the eternal significance of everyday life. Through their motives and actions, we see almighty Good and lingering Evil in ordinary terms (the greatest evil are abusive parents; the greatest good is love invested in a child).

The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint has all of the elements needed to bring it together, with a plot hinging on the cyclical nature of violence, but it never quite comes together. I can’t wait to see what the team does next, however. There are striking ideas, and perfect moments, that show incredible promise.

Presentation

The pixel art is expressive, dynamic, and easily read. Many of the locations you fight through are beautiful, and I wish there were fewer fights in back rooms because the game comes alive in night clubs and on neon-soaked streets. The music is excellent, with a synth-heavy sound that fits the tone and style.

Final Score

At its best, The Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint is a creative take on the side-scrolling beat ‘em up, demanding precise and strategic play. Once I realized what the game was asking from a player, I had a great deal of fun with its smooth combat and beautiful pixel art.

Unfortunately, the game poorly lets the player know what to expect or how to enjoy it. The game will also be over before you fully come to grips with it. You can finish it 100% in a little less than three hours.

If you love beat ‘em ups, it’s an enjoyable game. Go in with a willingness to experiment and explore.

Featured Image: Hack the Publisher

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