PEAK has received its final major content update, but Aggro Crab and Landfall are not quite finished with their ridiculously successful climbing game just yet. Alongside two new biome variants, new items, badges, mechanics and secrets, the developers have confirmed that work on console versions is now becoming a major focus, and, importantly, PEAK will support cross-platform multiplayer when they arrive.

The Final Ascent update is available now and introduces GLOOM and THE CITADEL, two biome variants that can replace CALDERA and THE KILN during a run.

For the next two weeks, every daily map will feature GLOOM and THE CITADEL, giving players plenty of opportunity to learn the new areas before the normal rotation returns. After that, maps will randomly choose between the CALDERA/KILN combination and GLOOM/CITADEL.

There also appears to be considerably more going on than the patch notes are willing to explain.

“Mysterious statues have begun appearing all over the island,” the developers tease. “No one is quite sure, but they seem to have a connection to the Scoutmaster’s original lost troop… and that’s all I’m gonna tell you!”

Fair enough. We will go and poke the ominous statues ourselves then shall we?

PEAK adds Ascent 8 and changes Ascent 7

The Final Ascent adds Ascent 8, although Aggro Crab and Landfall are deliberately keeping quiet about what it involves because even its description apparently contains spoilers.

Ascent 7 has also received a significant rethink. Previously, the difficulty modifier prevented players from reviving dead Scouts altogether. The team says that while the restriction made things harder, it was not particularly enjoyable, didn’t fit the spirit of PEAK and was effectively meaningless when playing solo.

Instead, Ascent 7 now causes players to start cursed and accumulate additional curse when reviving. Death can still make a run considerably more troublesome, but it no longer permanently removes somebody from the expedition.

There are also 10 new badges to unlock, accompanied by another collection of cosmetics.

And yes, if you had already achieved 100% completion, you have some more work to do. The developers promise this is the final time they are going to mess that particular number up.

Jetpacks, gliders and clown luggage

The update adds several new toys to PEAK, including a Jetpack that occupies the backpack slot and can be fuelled using various items.

There is also a Glider designed for travelling large horizontal distances, providing you can manage your stamina, and the Warp Fungus, which apparently produces interesting results when thrown.

The developers say there are additional secret items they aren’t revealing.

Perhaps most importantly, however, PEAK now has Clown Luggage. Opening one produces a selection of appropriately ridiculous equipment, with the Lollipop, Cannon and Balloon Bunch moved from Climber Luggage into the new container type.

Autosaves have also become rather more forgiving. Loading an existing autosave will no longer immediately delete it, with the save instead disappearing only after the run actually ends.

“Rejoice, save scummers!” says the patch note.

PEAK gets plenty of fixes and balance changes

The update deals with one of PEAK’s more annoying issues, where grabbing a wall without stamina could result in seemingly random fall damage.

The frequency of Scouts’ arms twisting into unnatural positions while carrying items has also been heavily reduced, while problems involving pitons, persistent items from previous runs, blindness, Scout Cookies and Remedy Fungus have been addressed.

ROOTS has received a sizeable balance pass as well, with the aim of bringing its difficulty closer to TROPICS.

Beetles are now slightly less aggressive, spore mushroom ranges have been reduced and windstorms should occur less frequently. Campfires can also provide Morale Boosts to solo players, the MESA has been lowered to better match ALPINE, and Ancient Luggage should appear slightly more frequently.

There are numerous item balancing changes elsewhere, covering Fortified Milk, the Scout Cannon, Scoutmaster’s Bugle, Portable Stove, Checkpoint Flag, Cursed Skull and Energy Drink.

Why PEAK is ending major updates

Aggro Crab and Landfall say The Final Ascent really will be PEAK’s last major content update. The developers stress that PEAK was never intended to become a live-service game and that, despite its success, they do not want to continually add content simply to hold players’ attention.

“We don’t wish for it to become a ‘forever game’ where we constantly add new things that bloat the experience, just to try to keep people’s attention,” the team explained.

PEAK was built by a relatively small group of developers from Aggro Crab and Landfall, and members of both studios now want to return to their own projects.

That does not mean development is ending completely. PEAK will continue receiving bug fixes and maintenance work, while the developers remain supportive of its increasingly active modding community.

Official Steam Workshop support is not planned, partly because the team says many PEAK modders prefer alternative tools and Workshop support would not work across every platform.

And that brings us nicely to consoles.

PEAK console versions will have cross-play

Aggro Crab and Landfall confirmed that PEAK has been slowly making its way toward other platforms and that, with The Final Ascent finished, the console ports can now receive more attention. Better still, console players will not be separated from the existing community.

“PEAK is going to be cross-platform,” the developers confirmed, meaning console players will be able to climb alongside those on Steam as well as players on other supported console platforms.

Exactly which consoles PEAK is coming to has not yet been announced, nor do we have release dates, but the team says more news will arrive later this year.

Considering PEAK’s whole appeal is built around going climbing with your mates and discovering which one of them will accidentally kill everybody this time, cross-play feels close to essential.

The end of major updates therefore isn’t really the end of PEAK at all. It is simply the point where Aggro Crab and Landfall have decided the game has enough stuff in it.

Given how many games spend years desperately trying to become forever games, there is something rather refreshing about a developer looking at an enormously successful one and deciding: you know what, this is finished, over, finito.

The post PEAK reaches its summit, and its final major update looks like a belter – here’s what’s included appeared first on The Escapist.

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