Overview
Of Peaks and Tides treats the open world of Everland as something to be moved through with a wide toolkit, not a flat map with a stamina bar. Confirmed traversal systems span on-foot climbing, an earnable glide, physics-based bouncy fauna and bubbles, tamed creature mounts, and large winged beasts that can be flown across the realm.
Traversal Methods
Method | How To Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
On foot | Default movement plus climbing | Climbing is available everywhere; no separate climbing tool required to begin |
Gliding | Earned by completing a flying trial mini-game with hoops across three stages | Provides a permanent gliding ability after completion. Demonstrated in the Gamescom 2025 demo. |
Bouncy fauna | Step onto or interact with specific flora to launch upward | Acts as a natural trampoline; reaches otherwise inaccessible ledges |
Large bubbles | Step into floating bubbles scattered across the world | Vertical lift; works as a temporary elevator for cliff faces |
Tamed creatures | Tame a creature via Creature Taming, then mount it | Ground mounts and small flyers cover medium-range travel |
Winged beasts | Mount giant winged creatures to fly across the realm | Long-range travel; bonded via the taming system |
Crafted vehicles | Build vehicles through Crafting | Used both for transit and as part of the broader physics-driven kit |
Mobile fortress animals | Build a structure on the back of a ridable animal such as a horse or an elephant | Named first-party by the chief technology officer. The structure travels with the animal, so a fortress doubles as transport. |
Charging mount | Mount the heavy charging beast and run it at obstacles | Flattens ordinary enemies and wooden structures on contact. In the hands-on builds it did not require a bond first. Species unresolved, see below. |
Gliding Trial
The Gamescom 2025 demo showcased a side activity that rewards a permanent gliding ability. Players fly through a series of hoops across three stages to earn the glider. The activity is built around the same physics engine as the rest of the game, so wind currents and momentum matter as much as raw input timing.
Mounting Beasts
Mounts are tied directly to Creature Taming. Bonded creatures act as mobile platforms: small mounts cover ground travel, large winged creatures unlock flight, and certain large beasts can serve as moving bases for Base Building attached to their backs. The game's official materials specifically call out the option to build bases atop tamed creatures.
Physics And Traversal
Many traversal aids in Of Peaks and Tides are themselves physics objects, not animation cheats. Bubbles can be popped, bouncy fauna can be destroyed by Calamities, and falling rocks can block previously open paths. The same Physics System that governs Combat rewards reading the environment when choosing a route.
Flight and Riding in the Hands-On Build
Flight in the hands-on build did not behave like a conventional glider. The player was carried upward first and then committed to a full-speed dive, closer to a parachute drop than to a slow controlled descent, and the build included a short dedicated course that taught the sequence before letting the player use it freely.
Ground traversal had shortcuts of its own that sat outside the bond loop. A heavy charging beast could be mounted without any prior Creature Taming and used as a battering ram, flattening ordinary enemies and wooden structures on contact, and a smaller deer-like creature carried the player into a second jump.
Mobile Fortresses
Building on the back of a ridable animal is a stated design goal rather than a demo curiosity. The chief technology officer has described building on top of ridable animals such as horses and elephants and using them like moving fortresses. That puts mobile bases in the traversal toolkit as well as the Base Building one: a fortress that walks is also a way of carrying a camp across Everland without dismantling it. Horses and elephants are the two species he named; neither has a published creature profile as of 2026-09-12.
The Charging Mount
The heavy charging mount has been described as two different animals by two eyewitness accounts of the same build, a rhinoceros in one and a giant boar in the other, and a third account working from the announce trailer also calls it a rhinoceros. Both animals exist in the game's published material: the creature roster includes Si, the Ancient Rhino, and the chief technology officer names boars among the tameable creatures. As of 2026-09-12 the studio has not said which one the charging mount is, so it is left unresolved here. See Creature Taming for the full comparison.
The Glider Garment
One hands-on account describes the glide as coming from a bird-motif garment picked up at a mountain summit, which then functions as a wingsuit. The Gamescom 2025 demo granted a permanent glide for clearing the flying trial. Whether the garment is that trial's reward or a separate pickup has not been stated as of 2026-09-12, so both are recorded rather than merged.
Related Topics
Creature Taming
Physics System
Everland
Base Building
Land, Sea, and Air
Pre-release coverage of the announcement trailer summarises traversal in one phrase: travel by land, sea, and air. The three layers map directly to confirmed mount and traversal systems:
Layer | How | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Land | Foot, climbing, ridden creatures, and mobile bases on the backs of tamed beasts. | Climbing is available everywhere without a separate tool requirement. |
Sea | Confirmed in announcement trailer marketing as one of the three traversal layers. | Specific boating or swimming mechanics have not been detailed in press coverage as of February 2026. |
Air | Permanent gliding ability after the flying trial mini-game; mounted flight on tamed winged beasts. | The flying trial is gated by an in-world activity; once cleared, the glide is permanent. |
Pre-Release Traversal Observations
Pre-release commentary on the announcement trailer references additional traversal motifs that have appeared in marketing material but lack standalone gameplay confirmation. Treat the list below as illustrative of the design intent rather than confirmed mechanics:
Rune-covered doors are visible in announcement footage, hinting at gated sections of the world.
Sky-bubble travel is referenced as a marketing-image idea; the exact mechanic has not been demonstrated in playable form.
Mud-ball mechanics are referenced as part of the physics interplay, but specific gameplay applications have not been demonstrated.