All PEAK levels and tips to get through them – Destructoid

PEAK has multiple levels you need to get through before you can escape the island you just crash-landed on. While you initially start on a beach, you’ll explore some interesting locations throughout your journey, with each requiring specific strategies to conquer.

Complete PEAK level list

PEAK has five levels to complete before you reach the end and escape the island. Here’s a brief list of all five levels:

1. Shore
2. Tropics
3. Alpine
4. Caldera
5. The Kiln

The exact strategy you’ll use throughout your playthrough depends on your difficulty, whether you’re playing solo or with friends and the resources you collect along the way. For the sake of this guide, we’ll follow the perspective of a solo player on Peak difficulty while briefly touching upon aspects you’ll encounter with harder options.

Shore level guide

The first level you’ll encounter after crashing your plane is the Shore. You’ll arrive on a beach surrounded by luggage and other items, with a large mountain off in the distance. Your first goal is to climb this mountain to complete the level.

However, you have the perfect opportunity to claim early resources before progressing. Alongside the luggage containing items like rope, food, and bandages, you’ll also find Bing Bong and a Bugle, which you can optionally bring with you for Steam achievements. There is also a nearby backpack you can carry to store additional items and a flare you can avoid unless you’re on Ascent 4 or higher. If this is your first playthrough, only worry about the backpack and luggage supplies for now.

Oh, and study the guidebook. There’s useful information that’ll make your entire playthrough much easier. More on this later, though.

As you venture across the beach and toward the mountain, you’ll spot jellyfish on the ground that will poison you upon contact. Avoid stepping on these as you move, and loot any luggage you encounter along the way. As you get closer to the mountain, you’ll find purple plants that’ll also poison you, giving you two obstacles to face. Climb around these so you don’t have to worry about draining precious stamina.

As you loot luggage from here onward, you want to carry just enough food to satiate you if you become hungry. You don’t need to oversupply on food, as you’ll find plenty throughout the levels. The most important thing is finding items like rope cannons, pitons, and, if you’re really lucky, legendary items with powerful effects.

Generally speaking, since the Shore doesn’t have any major weather conditions or obstacles, you’re free to tread carefully here and venture off occasionally to loot luggage. Take advantage of bridges, as they can lead you to helpful spots if you’re lucky. Otherwise, watch your stamina as you climb and avoid unnecessary damage from poisonous plants or falling off random ledges.

Once you reach the top, you’ll find an Ancient statue that gives you a legendary item for free, a campfire, and some extra luggage bags. Take a moment to relax here before moving on to the next level.

Tropics level guide

Your next location after sitting by the campfire is the Tropics, a lush forest area filled with vines. The terrain is much more challenging to navigate, with a different variety of poisonous plants scattered around and the introduction of explosive bushes. Fortunately, you’ll have vines that help you traverse it.

You’ll also find mushrooms along the way that you can eat for various effects. However, some variants are poisonous, which can quickly end your run in some circumstances. The guidebook from the Shore will help you identify each type.

Beyond this, your strategy is mostly the same as that of the Shore. Climb up, use vines to make traversal easier, and keep supplies like rope cannons on hand as often as possible. The legendary item you received from the Ancient Statue from the last level can also significantly impact your strategy, especially if you gained a resource that grants you infinite stamina temporarily or cures all of your injuries.

Alpine level guide

Our next stop is Alpine, a tundra level full of snowstorms. Alongside the terrain being tricky to traverse and requiring more climbing than the previous two, you’ll also periodically get hit with blizzards that freeze your character, reducing your stamina until it ends. There are also fewer food sources compared to the last two levels.

Fortunately, opening luggage in this area will start introducing heat packs. Although they don’t completely mitigate the effects of these snow storms, they’ll restore your stamina much quicker, making it easier to recover from the experience. You won’t survive without using these, so make sure to hunt for as many as possible.

The terrain is also one of the most difficult parts of this level. There are no vines or bridges, only ice spikes jutting out of the mountain that make navigation much more difficult. Tread carefully, and don’t be afraid to check out some of these spikes for unexpected luggage bags on their tips. Just watch out, as you’ll occasionally encounter dark blue patches of terrain that freeze you upon contact.

Don’t worry, though. There’s an adorable surprise that appears in this section of the level. As you venture around Alpine, you can find a few capybara chilling in a hot spring. Not only are they cute, but they’re also part of a Steam achievement.

Caldera level guide

PEAK’s next level, Caldera, is a challenge. While the previous one was a frozen tundra, this one is full of lava. Luggage bags are also few and far between, making it more important than ever to rely on items, nearby chains, and parkour skills to navigate this region.

However, there’s a catch. Over time, you’ll notice rising and falling levels of lava under your feet. If there’s a bunch of exposed red rocks, you can run across this to help you travel across the map. Sure, you’ll take some burning damage, but it’s better than dying instantly. Don’t touch the lava, though. That’ll kill you quickly.

Fortunately, you won’t be doing much vertical climbing during this one. This is mostly about running across the map, avoiding the lava and minimizing your burning damage until you reach the volcano on the other side. As you get closer, you’ll see a black brick structure to climb up, bringing you to the next statue, luggage batch, and your final challenge. Rather than scaling a mountain, though, you’ll be entering the belly of it.

The Kiln level guide

The final level, The Kiln, is located inside the volcano after completing Caldera. As you enter the volcano, you’re met with a very similar environment to Caldera, with a region full of hot stones, lava, and difficult terrain to navigate. The only difference is that while the previous level had you traveling along a mostly horizontal path, this one has you climbing up again.

Overall, The Kiln is a massive pit that you must carefully climb up. You won’t find many ledges to rest on or luggage to open. Instead, this is mostly an endurance test until you reach the top.

What’s at the top? The end. Completing The Kiln will lead you directly to the final point of PEAK’s story, letting you progress to the end and see what happens when you master all five sections.