I'm Thrilled That PEAK Is Doing So Well

Co-op climbing game PEAK has rocketed to five million sales in less than a month, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

At a time when there's seemingly no end of bad news across the gaming industry, it's wonderful to see a smaller-scale indie title like PEAK find the audience it has. Created by Landfall and Aggro Crab, you play as a group of scouts trying to survive after crashing on a mysterious island with plenty of slapstick humour. Less than a month since its initial launch, it's quickly become a massive hit.

That's especially impressive considering PEAK's short development cycle, which was originally conceived during a game jam back in February. As highlighted in Polygon's recent interview and GameDiscoverCo, the team's focus was to create a commercially viable game as quickly as possible after experiencing burnout during Another Crab's Treasure. Four months later, it was ready to ship for £6.39/$7.99.

Tasked with scaling up the mountain across four biomes, PEAK involves clambering up a summit to escape deadly fog, while managing your stamina and collecting supplies along the way as a deadly fog slowly rises. It's a delightfully straightforward experience that you can understand immediately, one that's both hilariously chaotic while playing with friends and offers just enough challenge to keep life interesting.

It's immediately become one of my personal favourites this year, joining an eclectic mix that includes Ghost Town, Clair Obscur, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Duck Detective, and Trails Through Daybreak II. Yes, I've not played Blue Prince, Split Fiction or Death Stranding 2 yet, leave me be. Michael, if you're reading this, I promise I'll start The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy soon.

While I believe there's still plenty of room for experiences across both ends of gaming, you can never truly tell what's going to take off with an audience right now. PEAK is testament to the fact that large budgets and long marketing campaigns are no longer the silver bullet to ensure success that they once were. There are no such guarantees across all forms of media. Still, PEAK's emphasis on sustainable development, which just so happens to have hit it big, should be a lesson to all publishers to stop viewing game development as an all-or-nothing bet. I'm glad to see this work for the team.

PEAK is available now on Steam.