We have reached peak Peak. By that I mean, the final major update that was teased last week, The Final Ascent, is here and ready for you to try out. The big thing here is the two new variant biomes, Gloom and The Citadel. Gloom, unsurprisingly, is an incredibly foggy area filled with massive trees, mysterious bells and ominous spikes, whereas The Citadel is mostly just that; a castle-like structure with swinging spiky balls, secret arrow traps and those floors where a bunch of spears shoot upwards and you have to time walking across them just right.
There is also a lot more than this! Ascent 8, the titular final ascent, has been added in, although it’s being kept secret so you’ll have to make it that far to find out what it is. A new type of luggage, clown luggage, has been added in featuring “a bunch of wacky items,” including things like the lollipop, cannon, and balloon bunch, all of which will no longer appear in climber luggage.
A few new items have been added in like a jetpack (does what it says on the tin), warp fungus (“try throwing it to see what happens”) and a glider (you’ve almost definitely played or watched someone play Breath of the Wild, you know what this does). Apparently there’s also some new, “mysterious” statues to be found across the island that “seem to have a connection to the Scoutmaster’s original lost troop.” One for the Peak loreheads? Do they exist?
Perhaps the most important part of the patch notes for the update is the bit on why this is the last major update. The post explains, “as we’ve said since the beginning, PEAK isn’t a live-service-game. We intended to release a game that was ‘finished’ on launch, and any major content updates would be the cherry on top. Due to the game’s overwhelming success, we’ve already spent quite a bit more time on it than we originally expected, and added so much more to it! 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.”
Ultimately, with Peak being made by two studios, Aggro Crab and Landfall, the pair both “want to return to working on our own separate projects.” A reasonable thing to want! They are both small teams with their own needs, and frankly, it’s a bit silly that an expectation has developed across all of games where they must be updated ad infinitum. You’re going to die one day! Pick up a different game before you regret it! Or don’t, I’m not your mum, just don’t come crying to me on your deathbed.
