Aggro Crab, LandfallOne of the year’s most surprising games still has more surprises in store. After its successful June launch, multiplayer hit Peak is getting another major update, making some of its creepiest additions yet just after Halloween.The update’s biggest feature is a new biome, called Roots. From now until November 17, Roots will always show up as the second biome in your Peak climbs, replacing the existing Tropics. As someone who’s had more runs ruined by the incessant rain and exploding plants in the poison-filled Tropics than any other biome, a replacement for that nightmare sounds perfect — until you get into what the Roots actually entails.Peak’s developer describes Roots as “a shrouded redwood forest infested by mushrooms and creepy-crawlies alike,” so we’re already off to an unsettling start. Its forest of towering trees and giant mushrooms is shrouded in a spooky mist, and while the danger of plummeting from the treetops you need to climb is ever-present, there are much scarier things lurking in the woods as well.The biggest threats in Peak are falls and starvation, but in the Roots, the environment takes a much more active role in hunting players down. Spiders are capable of trapping climbers in their webs and inflicting large amounts of poison damage to those they catch. The Roots are also full of giant beetles that knock climbers around, which can be fatal if it happens in the wrong place.The worst of the new enemies are zombies, which take the form of fungus-infested scouts with blank eyes. Once they spot a climber, they’ll chase them until they catch them, grab hold, and inflict spore damage, which can end your run if you’re not careful.Some of the Roots’ mushrooms are more dangerous than others. | Aggro Crab, LandfallOn top of these more active threats, my hopes of avoiding the worst parts of the Tropics have been dashed. Exploding mushrooms are still here, while their poisonous counterparts are replaced by mushrooms that launch spore clouds. Wind is also a threat in the Roots, as it throws objects around and causes all sorts of chaos.Along with all the great new ways to bite the dust, Peak’s latest update adds new rewards for surviving and a few items that could help you do it. There are 11 new badges to earn for completing new achievements, which add new cosmetics to your collection. The Roots are also home to shroomberries, a new edible item that grants a random status effect, making them one of the riskier foods to eat when you’re low on stamina. New items let you pull other scouts toward you, set a checkpoint where you’ll respawn, and add a new way to revive your fallen fellow scouts — at the cost of turning them into cursed skeletons.Roots is the second new biome added to Peak after Mesa. | Aggro Crab, LandfallCooking has also been changed, with new effects added to certain items that previously didn’t benefit from being cooked. You can also cook poisonous berries to remove the poison from them, though the same won’t be true of mushrooms.This update marks the second post-launch biome added to Peak, following the addition of the sun-scorched Mesa earlier this year. You’re fighting wildlife more than the elements here, which makes the Roots feel distinct from everything already in the game. It might not be much of a reprieve from the Tropics after all, but anything that gives me a new reason to get back into Peak is welcome.Peak is available on PC.