✏️ Loran Journal 002 - 11 July '25

Howdy :)

Here again for a little writing update. Officially on my work holidays, and thus far have just been taking it easy, seeing friends and all the sorts.

Prompted to write this after last nights gaming session, where myself and a handful of friends hopped on the new coop game PEAK. For those unaware, PEAK is a proximity voice chat game where you have to go on an expedition and climb a series of mountains which are uniquely generated each day. It was, sensational fun. Coop proximity voice chat games are already a recipe for a good time, but goodness, the combination of climbing mechanics and the daily level design of PEAK makes for an incredibly engaging experience. It starts off silly, but can very quickly become this challenge - where the group of you feel this push to conquer that days level that you have thus far spent so long trying to master.

Group photo! A screenshot from last nights play session.

I would highly recommend anyone get into this game. For the low price of like 7 euro, this seems like something you could farm infinite fun out of.

The climbing mechanics are surprisingly intuitive as well. I've played a handful of climbing games now (they seem to be becoming a popular genre in the past few years) and this one, while simplistic, works really well with the world and item design. Oftentimes you can make a certain ascent with the right items, with energy boosting food/drink buffs, or by working together and hauling people up the last bit of the way they otherwise couldn't make.

This turns scaling the mountains of PEAK into an incredibly engaging experience. Get the right items? You can take off yourself and leave your team behind but then become isolated and cut off from comms. Make a wrong move? Or some world hazard like rain makes you slip and fall? You're now lodged in some crevice, reliant on your expedition mates to seek you out. You can head off with a group or a buddy and attempt a perilous ascent together, barely making it, then potentially watching your friend slip and fall off into the abyss, leaving you on your own to complete the mission.

I'm doing a lot of studies into affective gaming experiences at the moment, I think the combination of proximity chat and great environmental design can create these amazing, isolated experiences that no other medium quite can.

Still haven't had the time to properly return to Death Stranding 2 just yet, but in time will properly sink into it. Another game about environmental expedition no less.

PEAK stands out to me as part of a great phenomenon going on right now in the gaming scene - the coop revival if you will. Since COVID in particular, coop games have had an incredible burst in sales and popularity like they have never seen before. The rupture of proximity voice chat mechanics, as well as the advent of streaming cultures has made many of these games into new gaming experiences that are growing increasingly popular. Juniper Dev recently put out a great video about this, I'd recommend giving it a scope out as she lays it out fairly concisely, and in general makes good game dev videos to boot!

I truly cannot wait to see more games like these come out. I am in particular beyond excited for Big Walk by House Panic - the Untitled Goose Game people. It seems to tap into these new shared, affectional, explorative mechanics in a major way, and I'm pumped to try it out when it drops.

In other news, I saw the new F1 Film on Sunday - in 4DX no less, and honestly, it was a very solid film. I'm not a massive F1 viewer, but have watched from time to time and have friends much more into it than I am. That being said, it was very enjoyable, I think they did as good a job as one could in making a movie about a sport like F1. It definitely pushes the boundaries of realism, but I think does it in a way that does not overshadow the sport itself but makes use of many of its elements in I guess a more engaging way for a cinema experience. First time in 4DX too, and literally had to hold onto my seat during racing segments to not get thrown off. Water spray to simulate rain, or champagne spewing. Smoke cannons to simulate tires burning out. Fans to simulate wind amidst moments of high speed - It was an incredibly immersive experience, admittedly I feel in a way that worked exclusively for this kind of film.

That's everything from me for this week. Thanks for giving this a read!

Have yourself a good one, bye bye.