Portal: Revolution starts-off very strong. I really enjoyed the different choice of environment (bright and leafy) as opposed to both Portal games. Unfortunately, the pacing does fall apart before the halfway point.

There are long sections with no puzzles and no dialogue, which would be acceptable in moderation but not to this extent. Puzzles don't reinforce one-another in the way you'd hope, new mechanics are only engaged with by themselves and then forgotten about.

I liked the world-building aspect of the game, but much of the dialogue was just not interesting enough. The joke density of the Portal franchise is just too hard to match it seems.

Overall, I think that Revolution is a really great fangame that does capture enough of the spirit of the originals to be worth playing for fans. Some fans will be disappointed by the lack of difficulty, but for me that wasn't a big issue.

Pepper Grinder has great visual flair and music combined with a core movement mechanic that's unique, fast-paced and fun to experiment with. Sadly for every couple of levels that add engaging complexity and challenge to the game's movement or a fun twist, there's another level that limits traversal or highlights the completely boring combat. The four boss battles were particularly unengaging to me. This results in a game that's very short while at the same time feeling overloaded.

On top of this, several aspects of the game seem poorly thought-out. You collect gems in every level but are given nothing useful to spend them on besides the stickers required for 100%. You can use them to gain a single-use health buff, but doing this requires leaving the level, going to the shop, activating the machine four separate times and then returning to the level you were struggling with, including watching through the cutscene if it's a boss battle. And yes, repeated attempts will require you to repeat the whole process. You also have to rewatch cutscenes when beating each boss on time attack mode, which is required for 100%.

Pepper Grinder could have leaned into its movement focus and had collecting gems increase your speed for a short duration or something similar. Cutscenes could have been skipped in time attack mode and there could have been a fast reset button as well. Instead both the game's economy and optional challenges feel rather tacked-on and rushed.

The game is still fun, but it can't compare to any of the really great 2D platformers of recent years. I recommend buying Pepper Grinder on sale.