How To Survive Every Biome In PEAK (All Levels)

There are five biomes in PEAK, four of which feature full-fledged mountains or difficult terrain that players must climb to get to the end. Each island in PEAK appears after you light the campfire atop each level, except for The Kiln, which can be accessed via a magma tunnel near the end of the Caldera area.

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By Erik Petrovich

Every biome in PEAK has a different theme, new hazards to avoid, and requires different strategies to complete. This guide provides a brief overview of all PEAK levels and offers advice to help players survive and complete every biome in PEAK.

Updated August 12, 2025 by Erik Petrovich: At launch, PEAK had five biomes: Shore, Tropics, Alpine, Caldera, and the Kiln (plus the final short climb to the peak itself). With the Mesa update, PEAK players have one new biome to explore: the rocky desert canyons and tall sun-bleached stones of the Mesa biome. This biome presents significant new challenges for players to tackle, including the blistering heat of the sun, tricky antlions, sticky cacti, and even a gigantic tornado. This guide to how to beat every level in PEAK has been updated to include an overview and basic walkthrough for the Mesa biome, including tips to beat the Mesa biome's many obstacles and hazards.

Shore

Begin Your Ascent In The Rocky First PEAK Level

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Main Environmental Hazards: none
Other Hazards: urchins, various sources of poison

After the loading screen finishes, you will wake up on the beach of the Shores biome next to the wreckage of the plane. Loot the guaranteed luggage container, then continue across the beach toward the first summit you must climb. Pick up any luggage on the way as you look for a good route upward.

Generally, the Shores biome doesn't pose much danger and is relatively easy to climb, even as a solo player. But there are a few things that you should keep an eye out for as you climb up this starting island:

Avoid touching the giant spiky sea urchins that dot the sandy landscape and blanket the side of the Shores' mountainside. Touching an urchin will deal damage and inflict Poison on you.
Keep an eye out for poisonous plants and consumables as you ascend. These are typically marked with purple or bright green trim.
Don't get anywhere close to the clusters of exploding spores. Though these are relatively rare in Shores, they will deal lots of Poison damage and blast your character backward, possibly off the mountainside.
If you decide to cross a bridge, listen for a sudden loud creaking noise, which indicates the bridge is about to break. If you hear this, quickly run to the side you are closest to and be ready to climb onto the wall to avoid falling.

Tropics

The Twisted, Lush, And Deadly Second PEAK Biome

Main Environmental Hazards: rain
Other Hazards: bees, urchins, thorned vines, exploding spores, various sources of poison

Tropics is the first true hurdle in any run thanks to a variety of environmental hazards and a significantly higher peak to climb. In addition to random bursts of rain that make exterior surfaces much harder to climb, there are more sources of poison to keep an eye out for as well as bees, thorned vines, and other dangers.

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To get through Tropics, it's vital that you assess the current island layout and determine a relatively safe, reliable route upward before you enter the zone. You will have the best view from the Shores campfire.

Communicate with your teammates and identify safe paths up the Tropics peak, then follow these tips to complete the level:

Urchins, exploding spores, and poisoned environmental scenery can spawn in the Tropics, just like in the Shores biome. Avoid coming into contact with these as you ascend the Tropics.
Look for bee hives on every tree in the zone. These can spawn in pairs. If you get too close, a swarm of bees will relentlessly chase you and deal damage.
If it is raining, interior areas will not get wet. It's safe to climb wet surfaces if you only have to cover a short distance. For anything longer than a few seconds of climbing, you should wait until the rain passes.
You can walk on thick vines and climb trees to find new paths upward if there are no obvious climbing routes. Be careful walking on vines, though, as it's easy to make a wrong step and fall down.

Alpine

Stay Warm As You Climb The Third PEAK Level

Main Environmental Hazards: freezing wind
Other Hazards: ice crystal surfaces

Throughout the Alpine biome, PEAK players will have to deal with the Frostbite status effect from multiple sources. The main hazard in this zone is the freezing blizzard that blows throughout the level at regular intervals. Though you don't have to worry about rain or being poisoned anymore, the icy environment here offers its own set of challenges.

To avoid being hit by freezing winds, PEAK players should hide behind terrain or take refuge in a crevice. You cannot hide behind trees or other environmental scenery objects; only the actual terrain of the mountain will block the wind.

If you can avoid being frozen by the blizzard in the Alpine biome, PEAK players should be able to make it through this zone with few issues. Follow these tips to complete the Alpine level more efficiently:

Look for bushes and trees with Winterberry consumables. If you didn't bring food with you from previous biomes, this is the only way to restore Hunger in this biome.
Be wary of icy obstacles as you climb up surfaces in this level. Touching freezing environmental scenery (like the blue crystalline blocks on the mountainside) will inflict Frostbite buildup.
Bring the Lantern with you from the plane wreckage at the start of Shores. If you stand next to the Lantern and use one of its charges, you will restore some of the Frostbite meter.
If you find a Heat Pack item in luggage containers, save it in a backpack until you reach Alpine. This multi-use item will instantly remove a portion of your Frostbite bar.
Look carefully as you climb the mountainside and you may find a group of Capybaras taking refuge in a hot spring. This hot spring will protect you from the effects of Frostbite.

Mesa

An Alternate Third Level With Antlions, Cacti, And A Burning Sun

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Main Environmental Hazards: sunburn, tornadoes
Other Hazards: cacti, dynamite, antlion dens

The Mesa biome is the newest PEAK level, and is essentially split into two parts: the initial flat desert and canyon areas, then the towering mesa itself. There are a lot of new items in the Mesa biome, like the Scout Cannon, and lots of new hazards that players must either find ways to counter or avoid.

Throughout the entire level, players must run from shadow to shadow to avoid being burned to a crisp by the rays of the sun. This can be mitigated with several new items like Aloe Vera, Sunscreen, or a Parasol.

You must also keep an eye out for cactus plants, which will inflict a new Thorns status effect when touched, dynamite, which explodes if you get too close, and antlion dens, which will spawn an antlion that deals huge damage if you can't escape its pull. There is also a raging tornado that tears through the desert and canyon at the start of the biome.

To successfully beat the Mesa level and continue your journey through PEAK, follow these tips to overcome the challenges presented in the Mesa biome:

If you fall into an antlion den (which looks like a conical pit in the ground), an antlion will appear and start to suck you in – climb the sides of the den to escape and earn the Megaentomology Badge.
Keep any Sunscreen you find from luggage in previous levels – the heat is no joke in the Mesa level, and you'll quickly gain too much Heat to continue without a source of restoration.
You don't take fall damage with the Parasol, so you can use it to safely float into the tornado and cover an enormous distance quickly.
If you accidentally get too close to a stick of dynamite, don't run away. Instead, pick it up and hold down the Throw input to launch it far away.
Use the Mesa-exclusive Pickaxe items that spawn on canyon walls to more easily overcome the Mesa canyon. These function exactly the same way that Pitons do and offer a brief moment of stamina restoration mid-climb.

For the first week of release, the Mesa biome completely replaced the Alpine biome. After the first week, the Mesa and Alpine biomes will randomly swap between day-to-day level generations.

Caldera

Handle The Heat Of The Fourth PEAK Biome

Main Environmental Hazards: rising lava
Other Hazards: random fire explosions

Caldera is different from previous biomes in PEAK because it has a horizontal layout. Instead of climbing up a vertical mountainside to get to the end of this biome, players must carefully navigate across a field of islands that cover the magma-filled landscape while avoiding rising lava and large AoE fire explosions.

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Do not spend too much time on the bottom layer of this area; only go down to the flat area between rock pillars the moment the lava lowers, and only stay down there long enough to get to another pillar or loot a luggage container. Lava will kill you incredibly fast in the Caldera biome, so your top priority is to avoid coming into contact with it. Certain areas of the level will explode with wide AoE fire damage, too, but this will deal Fire damage to your stamina bar, which recovers over time.

To get to the end of this level and beat the Caldera biome, PEAK players should follow these tips:

There are not many ways to mitigate fire damage in PEAK. You must either wait for the Fire to dissipate completely, which takes some time, or use a Medkit or Cure-All to get rid of the Fire effect.
Many of the "islands" in Caldera are connected by chains. Use these chains to safely traverse gaps across lava.
You can also jump onto chains from a height to conserve your momentum and zoom to the other side without consuming much stamina. Just be sure that you are able to jump off and climb onto a ledge on the other side of the chain.
Use items like Chain Launchers, Shelf Shrooms, and Pitons to create more ways to traverse this hellish landscape and conserve stamina.

The Kiln

The True Final Biome In PEAK

Main Environmental Hazards: lava, long climbing segments in second half
Other Hazards: fire surfaces

When you reach the end of the Caldera biome, you will find a set of ruins and a cave that leads deeper into the volcano. Enter the cave to find the final level in PEAK, The Kiln. Caldera and The Kiln have many similar properties, including the presence of lots of fire damage sources and lava. Your goal in this final PEAK biome is to make it to the top of the volcano by climbing its interior.

It's difficult to figure out a good route for The Kiln because this level is fully enclosed instead of wide-open like previous biomes. Avoid the lava that is slowly filling up the room and climb up the knobbly, rocky walls. Though it can be hard to tell, there are a lot of good places to stand and recover stamina in the first half of The Kiln.

After about the halfway mark, you will see significantly more magma rocks and more lava flows that you must avoid. It's a good idea to save a boosting consumable like an energy drink or a lollipop for this final leg of the game.

These items give you enhanced climbing ability and stamina restoration for a brief time, but be careful not to become overwhelmed by sleep when the item wears off.

The Chain Launcher and rope items are incredibly useful for this final climb to the top of the volcano, too.

If you can figure out a way to climb the high interior walls of the volcano, you will reach the final area: the Peak itself. Climb to the top of this small island to call a helicopter and beat PEAK.

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