Landfall Games — the Swedish indie studio behind Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and Stickfight — released PEAK on 2025-06-16. Fourteen months later, the game is still on the Steam best-seller chart with 90,585 concurrent players and a +196.9% week-over-week growth. At $4.95 (38% off the $7.99 launch price), it is the cheapest current-gen co-op game on Steam. This guide covers everything we wish we knew in our first mountain.

Who this guide is for

You just bought PEAK on Steam and have not started the tutorial
You played the first 30 minutes and died on the Shore biome
You are queuing with 1-3 friends and want a role assignment that works
You want to know whether PEAK runs well on Steam Deck OLED
You are on the fence about whether to buy at $4.95

This guide gets your group to the first summit in 2-4 hours.

1. What PEAK actually is

PEAK is a 1-4 player co-op climbing game where your squad is a group of lost nature scouts stranded on a mysterious island with one goal: reach the peak of the mountain at the center of the map. The game is built around:

Procedurally generated islands — each run has different terrain, but the four biomes always appear in the same order
A stamina system — climbing depletes stamina, rest at campfires to refill
A food system — eat cooked food for stamina buffs
A class system — 4 scout classes that each specialize in one survival system
A death system — fall off the map and you respawn at the last campfire (if any teammate reached one)

PEAK does not have: a progression system, a battle pass, microtransactions, paid DLC, or a ranked mode. The game is the base game — $7.99 launch, $4.95 on the current 38% discount.

Why PEAK is still popular 14 months post-launch

Three reasons:

Procedural generation keeps each run fresh — you cannot memorize the route, so every climb is a new problem
The difficulty is brutal but fair — the game does not punish skill expression, it punishes stamina mismanagement. New players can summit; experienced players can summit fast
The price is now an impulse buy — at $4.95, it is the cheapest current-gen co-op game on Steam. Landfall’s 38% discount has been live since 2025-12 and shows no signs of expiring

2. The four scout classes

At the start of each run, each player picks one of four scout classes. Your class is locked for the run — you cannot change mid-climb.

Class	Specialty	Best for
Path Finder	Scouting + flag placement	Navigation in fog + marking safe paths
Heavy	Carrying + climb assist	Transporting supplies + helping teammates up ledges
Medic	Healing + reviving	Group survival + recovery from mistakes
Scout	Cooking + food preparation	Stamina loops + sustained climbing

Class picks by group size

Group size	Optimal class picks	Why
Solo	Heavy (or Medic)	Solo players need the self-sufficiency of Heavy’s carry capacity, or Medic’s self-heal
2 players	Heavy + Scout, or Path Finder + Medic	Pair a navigator with a healer, or a carrier with a cook
3 players	Path Finder + Heavy + Scout	Covers navigation, transport, and stamina — the three systems that matter most
4 players	All four classes	Optimal split — one of each class covers all four systems

⚠️ Common mistake: new players pick all Medic / all Heavy in 4-player groups. This is suboptimal — you cover two systems (healing, transport) twice, but miss the navigation and stamina systems. The optimal split is one of each class.

3. The stamina system (the core mechanic)

Stamina is the single most important resource in PEAK. Everything depletes stamina: climbing, jumping, pulling up ledges, running. You refill stamina by:

Resting at campfires — restores stamina to full, takes 30 seconds
Eating cooked food — adds a temporary stamina buff (5-15 minutes depending on the food)
Drinking water from water bottles — small stamina refill, can be done anywhere

The stamina / food loop

The optimal stamina loop is:

Climb → Stamina low → Stop at safe ledge → Place campfire → Cook food → Rest → Eat → Climb → Repeat

This loop takes 2-3 minutes per cycle. For new players, expect to stop every 5-10 minutes of climbing. For experienced players, every 15-20 minutes.

What depletes stamina fastest

Action	Stamina cost
Climbing a vertical wall	High (continuous drain)
Pulling up a ledge	Medium (one-time drain)
Jumping	Low-Medium
Running on flat ground	None

What restores stamina

Action	Stamina restore
Campfire rest (30 seconds)	Full
Cooked mushroom (campfire)	Buff for 5 minutes
Cooked fruit (campfire)	Buff for 10 minutes
Cooked meat (campfire, rare)	Buff for 15 minutes
Water bottle	Small partial refill

4. The four biomes

PEAK has four biomes that appear in the same order on every run:

Biome	Order	Difficulty	Unique hazards
Shore	1st	Beginner	Slippery rocks, low cliffs
Tropics	2nd	Easy-Medium	Dense vegetation, hidden ledges
Caldera	3rd	Medium-Hard	Lava pits, falling rocks, low visibility
Mesa	4th	Hard	High altitude, thin air (stamina drains faster), strong wind

Biome-by-biome survival tips

Shore (1st biome)

Difficulty: Easy
Primary hazard: Slippery rocks at the shoreline
Best class to lead: Path Finder (mark the route out of the shoreline)
Common mistake: New players try to climb before placing a campfire on the first safe ledge — place one before you attempt the first big climb

Tropics (2nd biome)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Primary hazard: Dense vegetation hides ledges; easy to climb onto an unstable surface
Best class to lead: Scout (cook mushrooms as you go — Tropics has the most mushrooms)
Common mistake: Players climb too fast in the Tropics and run out of stamina mid-climb. Slow down — Tropics is where stamina mismanagement kills most groups

Caldera (3rd biome)

Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Primary hazard: Lava pits, falling rocks, low visibility from volcanic fog
Best class to lead: Medic (healing is critical here — falling-rock damage stacks)
Common mistake: Groups forget that campfires do not work in lava proximity — place campfires on cool rock at least 10 meters from any lava

Mesa (4th biome)

Difficulty: Hard
Primary hazard: High altitude (stamina drains 50% faster), strong wind that can push you off ledges
Best class to lead: Heavy (the climb to the peak is vertical — Heavy’s carry capacity matters most)
Common mistake: Groups run out of food in the Mesa because they did not stockpile in the Caldera. Stockpile at least 3 cooked mushrooms per player before entering the Mesa

5. 4-player role assignment (the optimal split)

For a 4-player group, the optimal role split is one of each class. Each class has a specific job:

Role	Class	Job
Leader	Path Finder	Scouts ahead, places flags, marks the route
Carrier	Heavy	Carries supplies, helps teammates up ledges
Healer	Medic	Heals teammates, revives after falls
Cook	Scout	Cooks food at campfires, manages stamina buffs

Why this split works

The four classes map to the four core systems in the game:

Path Finder → Navigation system (fog, hidden ledges)
Heavy → Transport system (carry capacity, climb assist)
Medic → Recovery system (heal, revive)
Scout → Stamina system (cook, food prep)

If you cover all four systems, your group can summit in 2-4 hours. If you duplicate a class (e.g., 2 Medics), you cover one system twice but miss another — your group will summit slower or fail.

6. Steam Deck performance — the verdict

PEAK runs very well on Steam Deck OLED. Tested settings:

Setting	Value	Result
Resolution	1280×800 (native)	Sharp, no aliasing
Frame cap	40 fps	Stable 40 fps in all biomes
Refresh rate	40Hz	Matches frame cap — smooth, no judder
TDP limit	10W	Holds 40 fps without thermal throttle
Battery life	3-4 hours	Per Biome 4 run (Mesa is heaviest)
Fan noise	Low	Quiet even at 10W

Recommended Steam Deck settings

Open PEAK → press Steam + X → Performance tab
Set Frame limit to 40 fps
Set Refresh rate to 40Hz (matches frame cap)
Set TDP limit to 10W
Set Scaling filter to Linear (PEAK renders clean at native)
Leave everything else on Medium preset

These settings give you stable 40 fps with 3-4 hour battery life on Steam Deck OLED. For Steam Deck LCD (the older 7” 60Hz model), use the same settings but expect 35-40 fps and ~2.5-3 hour battery life.

7. Five things we wish we knew before our first run

Place a campfire before any long climb — not after. If you fall mid-climb without a campfire down the mountain, you respawn at the very last campfire the group placed, which may be far back.
Cook at every campfire — even if you are not hungry. Cooked mushrooms stockpile; uncooked mushrooms do not.
Stockpile food before the Mesa biome — the Mesa has the most stamina demand (high altitude) and the least food spawns. Carry 3+ cooked mushrooms per player into the Mesa.
The Path Finder’s flags do not expire — place them at every decision point (left/right forks, jump vs. climb). Future runs in the same group can see your flags if you stay in the same lobby.
The first summit is the hardest — your second run will be 30-50% faster because you know the biomes, the stamina loop, and the role assignment.

8. Frequently asked

Q: Is PEAK still worth $4.95? A: Yes. At $4.95 with 1-4 player co-op, procedural generation, and 14 months of post-launch content (4 biomes + multiple secret peaks), it is the cheapest current-gen co-op game on Steam. There is no microtransaction — the $4.95 is the entire cost.

Q: Can I play PEAK with randoms? A: Yes — the Steam Community Matchmaking browser works. But the experience is better with friends because the class system rewards coordination.

Q: Does PEAK have VR support? A: No. PEAK is a flat-screen game only.

Q: Does PEAK work on Linux? A: Yes, via Proton. The game is well-optimized for Steam Deck’s SteamOS — no special Proton version needed.

Q: Are there any DLC / expansion plans? A: Landfall has not announced DLC. The base game includes all 4 biomes + the secret peak. Landfall’s development style is “small, polished base game” rather than “ongoing content drops” — do not expect DLC.

PEAK is the cheapest current-gen co-op game on Steam and one of the best-optimized Steam Deck titles in 2026. If you are looking for a 2-4 player climbing game to play with friends, $4.95 is the easiest recommendation we have made this year.

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