A recent trend that’s taking the video game industry by storm lately is known by a term coined recently as “Friendslop”. On the surface it might sound derogatory but once you delve into it the picture becomes clearer. A Friendslop game is defined by two distinct characteristics. Firstly the game is developed by an indie company on a tight budget and with a small team, and secondly that it’s a game you can play with your friends. However just because the game might not be to the graphical and mechanical standards of a Triple A game developed by a multi-million dollar company doesn’t mean that it can’t still be a good, often addictive, time with your friends. Games like Lethal Company, R.E.P.O, and The Headliners all follow this trend, not only selling millions of copies but generating viral videos of people playing them on TikTok and beyond. The latest game to enter this pantheon is the co-produced Peak made in partnership between Landfall Games and Aggro Crab. You and up to three friends end up in a plane crash that sees you deserted on an island. The only way to save yourselves is by climbing to the peak (get it!). Peak is a phenomenal experience that rivals some of the true greats in multiplayer gaming.
In Peak, four people set off on a journey, which is abruptly stopped by a plane crash, which brings you to a desert island. In first person mode you and your friends must climb, and climb, and climb (no really there’s a LOT of climbing!), to reach the top of the mountain where you will be subsequently rescued and taken to a safe haven. To get to the top you must adventure through five procedurally generated terrains that become harder as you progress. Starting off on the shore, you make your way through desert, jungle, snow, and lava culminating in an extra-perilous climb on the inside of a volcano. Peak is genuinely difficult and not for the faint of heart, there is a normal difficulty and an easier version called Tenderfoot (which some people – me – still haven’t graduated from) to give you a softer ride upwards. The easy difficulty still makes it a challenge however so there is no chance of feeling less accomplishment as you reach the lofty heights of the mountain top.
The gameplay is incredibly simple to pick up. You move as you would normally and can climb by clicking and holding the left mouse button. The main stat to keep track of is a stamina bar in the bottom left of the screen. This depletes as you climb, and you never want to be caught halfway up a pitch when that runs out. Or maybe you do because half of the hilarity comes from the games precarity when it comes to making certain climbs. The stamina bar can also be shortened by certain conditions like carry weight, hunger, hot, cold, poison, sleep, and even health when you take a particularly gnarly tumble. It’s useful that the gameplay is so slick and easy to pick-up because the challenge then becomes finding ways to reach the checkpoints between each biome. Plus you don’t want to be too distracted when your friend accidentally slips 30 metres to their death, or your other friend eats a mushroom that poisons them so much they faint.
Landfall and Aggro Crab have also added a layer of variety to Peak that puts its replayability off the charts. Every twenty four hours the island changes in a LOST-esque fashion. The procedurally generated terrain of each section therefore becomes unique every day. A new set of ways to climb, and a new set of challenges that will be waiting to stop you in your tracks. It makes the game worth playing beyond the first time you complete it, because when you do you’ve climbed that mountain on that specific day, but you haven’t climbed tomorrow’s. There are also various achievements to collect that will help you unlock cosmetics for your character. It’s such a creative achievement track as it’s themed on scout badges. So for example if you cook at a campfire so many times you get the cooking badge and you get rewarded with a chef’s hat(!!!!). What’s even better is all your badges exist on your personal sash so you can take them with you and be reminded of your achievements on every subsequent climb you undertake.
Along the way you will also come across various caches of lost luggage (you have been in a plane crash remember) which will hold items in them to help you along the way. You can also forage the various environments for things to help you too, but be warned not all of them will be useful. At the end of every section you come to a checkpoint and a campfire to save your progress, and if you all survive you get to activate a scout statue which will give you crazy legendary items that could also be good or bad too. The variety of items is another way that keeps the game interesting, as you learn what works and what doesn’t. What food poisons you and what gives you an extra burst of energy. Even finding out what blowing the special scoutmaster bugle does. It’s all part of the experience that makes Peak so fun.
A strong game like Peak is only as good as its multiplayer integration. Thankfully in Peak it is stellar. It’s part bonding experience, part comedy of errors as you work together to get closer to the top. Doing it with friends adds to the feeling of accomplishment, or failure, and it also makes it ten times funnier. There is also an integrated proximity chat which singles out your voice to where your player character is on the map. It’s so well developed, the echos if you start to distance yourself from others all the way to the scream that starts off loud and slowly fades as your friend falls further beneath you gives the game an extra immersive feel.
Overall Peak is a completely phenomenal game. This is mainly down to its cleverly balanced mix of simple game mechanics and multiplayer friendly features that come together for the perfect gaming experience. This writer recalls the first time he made it to the Peak, after trying for more than 14 hours all together. You feel a sense of accomplishment that you don’t even necessarily feel in real life. Such is the strength of everything that’s thrown your way game wise to try and stop you from getting there. The crux of it all is though, it’s a fun game to play with your friends, and in times like these why wouldn’t you want something that brings you so much joy. It’s no wonder it’s already sold over two million copies.
Peak is currently available to play on Steam on Windows PCs only.
Learn more about the game on the Steam website for the title.
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