Should I start PEAK on Tenderfoot or Peak?

Tenderfoot is the gentle option: climbing costs 30% less stamina, hunger grows 30% slower, and there is no rising fog or zombies. Badges still count there (except two). Peak is the standard game, and beating it unlocks the Ascents.

Why does my stamina bar keep shrinking?

Afflictions such as Hunger, Injury, Poison, Cold, Heat, Spores and Weight take up space on the bar. Hunger grows constantly and Injury never heals on its own, so eat regularly and heal with Bandages, First Aid Kits, Medicinal Root or a campfire.

How do I revive a friend?

An unconscious friend can be saved with a healing item before their timer runs out. Once they are dead, use the Ancient Statue near the route: it brings back everyone who is dead or unconscious, once, at the cost of some Curse.

Is the island different every time?

It changes once a day at 17:00 UTC and is the same for every player until then. The loot inside luggage is rolled again on every attempt.

PEAK Beginner's Guide: Your First Climb to the Peak

What PEAK is

PEAK is a co-op climbing game by Aggro Crab and Landfall for one to four players. Your plane crashes on a remote island, and the only way out is up: climb the mountain through several regions, reach the Peak at the top and call for rescue. Almost every surface can be climbed, but every move costs stamina, and the mountain slowly finds ways to take that stamina away.

You start in the airport lobby, where you can dress your scout and practise on a climbing wall. Board the plane and pick a difficulty. Tenderfoot makes climbing 30% cheaper, slows hunger and removes the rising fog and zombies. Peak is the standard game; beating it unlocks the harder Ascents. There is no shame in learning on Tenderfoot, and almost all badges count there.

The daily island and the biome order

Everyone plays the same island, and it changes once a day at 17:00 UTC. The regions always come in this order:

Shore, where you crash.
Tropics or Roots.
Alpine or Mesa.
Caldera or Gloom.
The Kiln (after the Caldera) or the Citadel (after the Gloom).
The Peak.

Terrain and luggage positions are fixed for the day, so a failed attempt is also a scouting trip for the next one. How the daily map works explains the 208-island rotation, and today’s biomes shows the current lineup.

Stamina and afflictions

The bar at the bottom of the screen is the most important thing in the game. Climbing drains it, and so do sprinting (5 per second) and jumping (5, or 15 while sprinting). Once you stand on solid ground and stop using it for a moment, it refills fast. If it hits zero mid-climb, you slide off.

Food can also give bonus stamina, a reserve bar underneath that is only spent once the main bar is empty. Campfires give 25 of it.

Afflictions are coloured chunks that eat into the bar’s maximum. Fill the whole bar with them and you pass out. The ones you meet first:

Affliction	Where it comes from	How it goes away
Hunger	Grows all the time	Eat food
Weight	Every item you carry	Drop or use items
Injury	Long falls, many hazards	Never by itself: Bandages, First Aid Kit, Medicinal Root, campfires
Poison	Bad food, urchins, poison ivy, spiders	Fades after 30 s without more Poison; Antidote is faster
Spores, Cold, Heat, Drowsy	Specific biomes	Fade over time once you leave the source

Falls only hurt if you are in the air for 1.5 seconds or more, and a three-second fall can take most of your bar. Injury is the affliction that ends runs, because it stays until you heal it.

Climbing technique

Walk up to a wall and hold the climb button (left click) to grab on, then move. A few habits make a huge difference:

Plan the route before you grab the wall. Look for ledges, roots and shelves where you can stand and refill. Even a tiny foothold works if you keep pushing toward the wall.
Empty your hands. You cannot climb while holding an item.
Lunge (sprint while climbing) for a short burst upward when a hold is just out of reach. It costs extra stamina.
Help each other. With empty hands, the helping-hand button (right click) pulls up a teammate climbing just below you. A crouching scout can also boost a friend: they stand on you, you jump, and they gain height for free.
Ping (middle click) to point out a route or an item to your group.

Climbing gear changes everything. A Rope Spool lays up to 12.5 m of rope that is cheaper to climb than rock. A Piton is placed while you climb and becomes a permanent handhold where you can hang and recover; it must be in your hands, not your backpack, to place it.

What to grab from luggage

Luggage is scattered along the whole route, and the luggage types guide covers all six kinds. As a beginner, remember three things:

Regular and big luggage hold items suited to the biome you are in, such as Antidotes in the Tropics and Roots or Heat Packs in the Alpine.
Explorer’s luggage (the orange briefcase) always holds two pieces of climbing gear: ropes, pitons, chain launchers, first aid kits and more. Open every one you pass.
Ancient luggage gives a powerful mystical item but costs 20 Injury to open. Do not open it when you are already hurt.

You have three hand slots. A backpack adds four more: there is one at the crash site and a fresh one at most campfires. Put it on and let a teammate rummage in it while you wear it. Do not hoard everything, though: every item adds Weight to your bar.

Campfires

Scouts toasting marshmallows at a campfire · Screenshot: PEAK Steam store page © Aggro Crab & Landfall

Each region ends at a campfire. It can only be lit when every living scout is close to it, and lighting it gives everyone 25 bonus stamina, heals 20 Injury and opens the way to the next region. While the whole group stays close, hunger and the fog stop. It also autosaves your run.

Cook at the campfire. Cooking doubles the hunger a food restores and boosts its bonus stamina. There is a marshmallow or hot dog waiting for each player. Do not cook your gear: pitons and rope spools burn up.

On Peak difficulty and above, a fog rises through each region (except the Caldera and Gloom) once everyone passes a certain point, or after about 17 minutes. It freezes you, but if your group keeps a steady pace you may never even see it.

Teamwork and reviving

When someone passes out, they are not dead yet. You can save them with a healing item before their timer runs out, or carry them; carrying pauses the timer. If the timer runs out, they become a ghost.

Ghosts come back at an Ancient Statue, which stands near the route in most regions. Using one revives everyone who is dead or unconscious at once, with 30 Hunger and some Curse. Each statue works only once, so do not use it for its random item while everyone is alive. The revive guide lists every method.

The regions in one paragraph each

Shore. The crash site has a guidebook, a backpack and guaranteed luggage. Watch out for jellyfish and spiky urchins, which poison you. See the Shore guide.

Tropics or Roots. The Tropics is a jungle with rain, poison ivy, bomb mushrooms and beehives; vines are your friend (Tropics guide). The Roots is a redwood forest with wind, spore clouds, spiders and zombies (Roots guide).

Alpine or Mesa. The Alpine throws blizzards full of Cold at you; hide in caves and warm up in the hot spring (Alpine guide). The Mesa is a desert where direct sunlight piles on Heat; travel in shade (Mesa guide).

Caldera and the Kiln. A lava lake of rock towers, then a vertical climb inside the volcano with no campfire or food. Save chain launchers and pitons for it (Caldera and Kiln guide).

Gloom and the Citadel. A haunted swamp whose fog makes you drowsy, then a trap-filled tower with no campfire (Gloom and Citadel guide).

The Peak. Light a flare at the top to call the rescue helicopter. From Ascent 4 on, you must bring your own flare.

First-run checklist

Read the guidebook and grab the backpack and both luggage at the crash site.
Pick up the Shore food you trust; skip mushrooms you cannot identify.
Open every explorer’s luggage you pass.
Keep one healing item in your hands or backpack.
Rest on ledges before every long wall.
Gather the whole group before lighting each campfire, then cook.
Remember where the Ancient Statue is.

Common beginner mistakes

Climbing with a nearly empty bar. Stamina returns fast on flat ground; wait for it.
Jumping off ledges to save time. Long falls cause Injury that never heals on its own.
Eating everything you find. Several mushrooms have poisonous look-alikes.
Splitting up. The campfire needs everyone, and helping hands only work up close.
Wasting the statue. Save it for an actual death.
Carrying too much. Weight takes up stamina just like Hunger does.