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Climbing in PEAK is not just about handholds, ropes, or mastering the vertical landscape — survival starts with what’s in your backpack. Hunger isn’t just a minor inconvenience; it directly lowers your maximum stamina. If you don’t learn how to forage, cook, and manage food efficiently, your climb will end far sooner than you’d like. This guide will take you through everything you need to know about cooking in PEAK, from the safest early-game foods to the risks of overcooking, and give you tips that turn simple sustenance into a strategic advantage.
Why Cooking Matters in PEAK
In PEAK, cooking isn’t a side activity; it’s essential for boosting stamina. Simply picking up food isn’t enough — you’ll want to cook it once to maximize its effects. But overcook it, and you risk burning it, which can poison you and undo any benefit.
Key points to remember:
- Cooking boosts stamina: Cooked food restores up to 66% more stamina.
- Overcooking is dangerous: Cook a food three times and it becomes burnt and poisonous.
- Packaged food is ready-to-eat: Trail Mix, Scout Cookies, Antidotes, and Sports Drinks do not require cooking.
- Poison persists: Cooking poisonous berries or mushrooms does not remove their harmful effects.
How to Cook
Cooking in PEAK is simple but requires attention to detail:
- Locate an open flame: This could be a campfire, a portable stove, or even the plane crash fire.
- Hold the food near the flame: Interact with it to cook.
- Track the cooking process: Cooking once boosts stamina, twice returns it to normal, and three times burns it.
Coconuts, berries, mushrooms, and other foraged foods all follow this rule. Understanding which foods are safe and which can harm you is crucial for survival.
The Complete Food Guide
There are 19 edible items in PEAK, each with its own effect and cooking rules. Here’s a quick reference:
| Food Item | Effect | Cooking Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut | Restores stamina (x2 halves) | Can cook once |
| Red Crispberry | Safe, small stamina restore | Can cook once |
| Green Crispberry | Poison, stamina boost | Still poisonous |
| Medicinal Root | Heals injury | Cookable |
| Button Shroom | Poison damage over time | Still poisonous |
| Chubby Shroom | Safe to eat | Cookable |
| Blue Berrynana | Stamina + peel hazard if dropped | Cookable |
| Green Kingberry | High stamina, some poison | Still poisonous |
| Cluster Shroom | Safe mushroom cluster | Cookable |
| Yellow Kingberry | Poison damage over time | Still poisonous |
| Honeycomb | Large stamina + bonus stamina | Cookable (risky to obtain) |
| Yellow Winterberry | Safe | Can cook |
| Orange Winterberry | Safe | Can cook |
| Trail Mix | Fills hunger | Not cookable |
| Sports Drink | Bonus stamina | Not cookable |
| Antidote | Cures poison | Not cookable |
| Scout Cookies | Multi-use hunger refill | Not cookable |
| Granola Bar | Multi-use hunger refill | Not cookable |
| Big Lollipop | Infinite stamina (brief), then fatigue debuff | Not cookable |
| Marshmallow | Hunger refill, found at peak campfires | Cookable if available |
Beginner Tips
- Start with coconuts: Abundant on the beach, easy to crack, and reliable for early-game stamina.
- Avoid green or speckled items early on: Unless you’re certain of their identity, leave them. Poison can easily end your climb.
- Cooking once is optimal: Overcooking negates benefits or introduces poison.
- Packaged foods are your backup: Use Trail Mix, Scout Cookies, or Antidotes when natural food is scarce.
By mastering early cooking strategies, you preserve stamina, avoid poisoning, and set yourself up for success on later biomes where the challenges escalate.
PEAK’s Early Success and Gameplay Context
Launched in June 2025, PEAK quickly reached over 130,000 concurrent players on Steam and sold two million copies in just nine days. It became one of the most-played survival titles of the month, cementing its place in the vertical-climbing survival genre. While stamina and climbing mechanics are the core, food and cooking are a constant underlying challenge. Ignoring them can result in exhaustion, status effects, or fatal mistakes.
Key Takeaways
- Cooking is essential: One cook maximizes stamina; overcooking is dangerous.
- Know your food: Some items are poisonous even when cooked.
- Packaged food is reliable but limited.
- Early-game coconuts are your best friend.
- Understanding food mechanics improves survival and helps you focus on the climb.
By following these strategies, players not only survive longer but also gain a deeper understanding of PEAK’s nuanced survival mechanics. Food management isn’t just a mechanic — it’s a skill that shapes every run.
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