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Seemingly with some reluctance, Aggro Crab has recently added cannibalism to PEAK, which at least some fans have called for since the game was released. This funny, dark addition allows starving players to eat their friends, although how you do this may not be immediately obvious.
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This guide discusses the new mechanic, how it works, and when (if at all) it’s worth actually using.
The Basics of Cannibalism
PEAK’s cannibalism mechanic allows you to eat a fellow climber, fully restoring your hunger at the cost of a small amount of Curse (and your friend’s death).
More specifically, you unlock the ability to engage in cannibalism while at 70% Hunger or greater, meaning seven tenths or more of your Stamina bar is penalized by Hunger. You will know you’ve met this requirement because any ally within a limited but decently far distance to you will suddenly take on the appearance of a giant cooked chicken (still wearing that player’s chosen hat).
If you get within interaction distance of your allies in this state, you will be able to hold your interact button to try and eat them. If your interact progress gets full, they will be consumed, instantly turning into a skeleton as you apparently munch them to the bone in seconds (thus killing them). At least at the time of writing, a player doesn’t get a good hint you’re doing this, besides the fact you are staying oddly close to them for a short period.
As stated above, eating an ally removes all Hunger but deals you a 10% Curse Stamina debuff, with Curse notably being one of the most difficult penalties to remove in PEAK. While one might assume the Scoutmaster wouldn’t approve, cannibalism doesn’t seem to interact withthe Scoutmaster mechanicat the time of writing.
Whether to avoid trolling or because one might be uncomfortable with this admittedly grim mechanic, you are able to turn off cannibalism from the Main Menu. While off, you will never see allies as chickens nor be able to eat them. Additionally, allies will never see you as a chicken or be able to eat you.
Practicality and Utility
The reality is that cannibalism seems to mostly be a joke mechanic, added because the fans demanded it but with only very limited use.
For one, food is fairly common in the first two biomes of PEAK, withedible berriesa common (although not constant) sight. Even after that, food isn’textremelydifficult to find, especially given that a number of food items can spawn inside containers.
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Secondly, 70% Hunger is a fairly enormous amount of Stamina to lose to one effect, especially one that builds fairly slowly. There aren’t many situations where a climber is likely to be doing so poorly that their hunger builds that high, they can’t top it off, and they aren’t also already unconscious from some other source of Stamina loss stacking with their high Hunger. Not to mention, you mustalsobe near an ally.
Third, cannibalism kills a fellow climber and gives you a Curse debuff. This means you’re removing an ally to heal your own Stamina, who likely was doing significantly better than you in terms of Stamina before you ate them. You then take on a debuff that very few items can heal and, when you reach your current biome’s summit and revive your eaten ally, they willalsoget a small amount of Curse because of how PEAK’s death mechanics work.
Should You Ever Eat Your Friends?
Cannibalism, likely intentionally, is a mechanic that willalmostnever benefit you to engage in.
There are extremely specific circumstances where it might be justified, but, even then, you should discuss the option with your fellow climber who may have a better idea that doesn’t involve eating human flesh.
For example, high levels of hunger without good food around can usually be solved by eating less-than-ideal meals, likepoisonous mushrooms. This is because Poison, while a debuff, slowly heals on its own and can also be healed by a variety of items (notably the Antidote). However, one can at leastimaginea scenario where the fog is too close to wait out that debuff and no healing items are available. If you’re at extreme Hunger and neither you nor your ally can make it to the next summit without one eating the other, thenmaybecannibalism would be the best option to continue a run.
If this scenario sounds contrived, it is. This being a game, one can put aside the morality of the act, but cannibalism just isn’t very good in PEAK and that’s unlikely to change. The chicken friends are a fun visual gag, but you’re unlikely to ever even get that hungry withouttryingto get to extreme Hunger levels. Eating your friends will almost never be necessary and, at the time of writing, doesn’t offer any permanent reward, like a Merit Badge or cosmetic items.
For additional context, the images in this article were obtained by waiting near the game’s first true campfire at the top of the Shore biome, allowing Hunger to build for multiple minutes. None of the runs in testing came close to getting either player’s hunger organically near the high levels needed to allow for cannibalism.
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