Peak wasn’t on anybody’s radar at the start of this year, and that includes the people who made it. While it was originally pitched back in 2024, most of it was made in a four-week-long crunch session back in February. Months later, the ruthless climbing sim for friends is one of Steam’s biggest surprise hits of 2025. Player reviews are full of examples that help explain why. “Told my friends with panic in my voice that the lava is rising even though it wasn’t, one friend panicked and died because of it,” read’s one Steam review. “10/10 game.”
It was a project born “mostly from jealousy,”Aggro Crab studio head Nick Kaman told PC Gamer last month. “At the time we were on the precipice of launching our biggest game ever, Another Crab’s Treasure—an intense 3+ year-long project that burnt a lot of us out. While it was a success, Content Warning was a much bigger one made in MUCH less time,” he added. So the team decided to partner with some of the 2024 co-op horror playground game’s developers on something similar, but with the disarmingly twee quirkiness that Aggro Crab is known for.
The result is Peak, a first-person hiking adventure in which players control lo-fi, child-like avatars as they help one another traverse through hazardous terrain like steep cliffs and scorching lava pits. The game is cheap, just $8 to download, exploits social dynamics for drama and comedy in otherwise familiar gameplay scenarios, and is catnip for social media. TikTok and Instagram are full of perfectly meme-able moments that usually entail one player accidentally falling to their doom as their proximity chat screams gradually fade away. It’s already sold over 5 million copies in its first month.
Currently only available on PC, the Steam reviews are surprisingly glowing for a quick-turnaround crew-like with such a massive player base. It’s retained its “mostly positive” rating over 40,000 user reviews later. Like so many indie games that blow up on Steam, iterating on current fads often trumps dream projects years in the making, at least when it comes to grabbing that bag, though it no doubt helps that Peak is also a lot of fun. Here’s what Steam reviewers are saying about Peak.
“It’s a good game, but it would be better if there was a strangle button that I can use on my friends when they eat all the food like a greedy piece of lard.”
“I think this game is really fun . we completed level three, then my dad died at the start.”
“Peak is one of the best games ive ever played, I watched my friend die because he lost his grip on a side of a cliff and fell 700 meters down.”
“I had to use a Lollipop to climb my way up a ledge that’s too long normally and drop a rope down to my other three teammates as they were starving to death.”
“Perfectly passing on the experience of how I get to school every day. Uphill both ways”
“Btw if you use the feign death emote you enter a ragdoll state, DO NOT DO IT at the edge of a chasm, for reasons”
“The denial of the grieving process kept me going”
“not your average friendslop”
“George I swear if you don’t stop shooting me with the blow gun I will annihilate you.”
“I’m soooooo full, I’m getting so round and greasy”
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