Peak is one of the latest viral Steam multiplayer releases, and it’s fantastic. The idea is simple: climb to the top of a procedurally generated mountain, overcoming environmental challenges using teamwork (up to four players), stamina management, and any equipment you scavenge. Developer Landcrab, a collaborative team comprising members from two seasoned game studios, delivers a wildly clever adventure full of curiosity, danger, and laughter.
After crashing onto an island, players must scavenge what little they can from airline luggage scattered across Peak’s four biomes. While the game engine generates a new mountain daily, the order of its environments remains the same: ascend from the rocky Shore, avoid poisonous fauna in the Tropics, then survive the frozen winds of the Alpine, and dodge the fire storms of the Caldera. The final ascent lies within the Kiln, a monolithic volcano interior with few handholds and dangerous molten rock that taunts anyone trying to escape the vent.
Players must manage a fickle stamina bar, which grows and shrinks based on consumables, fall damage, and status effects. Hunger, naturally occurring, requires food to stave off. Airline snacks are a safe bet, while wild berries and mushrooms are a gamble for uninformed explorers. After consuming poisonous food, you’ll need to drink an antidote or a cure-all. Items like the energy drink or lollipop significantly improve climbing abilities, but the sugar crash afterwards could force you to fall asleep and slide off the cliff. Other equipment, like chain launchers, pitons, or rope spools, can create life-saving shortcuts when you don’t have the stamina to climb to the next ledge. Regardless of causation, if stamina reaches zero, you fall unconscious, and your friends must save or revive you at a shrine at the top of the mountain.
Uncovering item properties and learning to use them to your benefit is an incredibly rewarding (and often funny) experience. However, losing an item (or player) to a rare technical glitch, such as clipping through the level, is frustrating in times of high item dependency.
The stylized art direction and toon shaders cultivate an inviting atmosphere, ripe for physical comedy bits. At the same time, weather systems like rain, fog, geysers, and windstorms further influence the party’s pathfinding and decision-making. When climbing through the Tropics, a dense mist descends upon the mountain as larger-than-life poisonous vines snake their way across the landscape, derailing any best-laid plans. Alpine is typically home to a more straightforward climb, but its chill winds inflict frostbite on players stuck in the storm. Luckily, items like the Heat Packs and a portable stove can stave off the bitter cold if you can’t seek shelter in a nearby cave or ravine.
In part, I attribute Peak’s virality to the humor its various systems facilitate. Seeing a friend confidently miscalculate a fatal jump is always hilarious, especially when hearing their screams slowly fade thanks to proximity chat. While being fed poison by my teammates is sometimes frustrating, my concerns disappear as I see my avenger silently blowdart the aggressor, causing them to fall asleep mid-climb. Indulging in healthy competition, I’ve also begun competing in climbing races to see who can reach the mountain ridge first. Regardless of whether we’re taking a challenge seriously, Peak’s sandbox is always entertaining.
Peak stands out as a delight in a year of self-serious major game releases, and I especially recommend it to anyone seeking levity amidst life’s stresses. The climb to the summit may be treacherous, but overcoming its many hazards with my friends is one of my favorite memories of playing games this year.