PEAK: What is Pandora’s Lunchbox and what are its uses?

In PEAK, survival is already tough, but things get even weirder once you stumble across an item called Pandora’s Lunchbox. True to its name, it’s unpredictable and strange, and once you open it, there's no going back. It’s not the kind of item you can plan around — it's more like a gamble with effects that could either save your run or completely mess it up.

Still, there are good reasons to use it, especially when things start looking grim. Let's look more into it.

Note: The effects of Pandora’s Lunchbox appear to be random, based on both in-game testing and early player reports on the Steam forums, so take this information with a pinch of salt. We’re still exploring the game in real-time and will update this article as we uncover more.

What does Pandora’s Lunchbox in PEAK do?

Gameplay still from the PEAK game (Image via Aggro Crab, Landfall)

The core idea behind Pandora’s Lunchbox is randomness. You open it, and it instantly clears all negative status effects on your character. After the cleanse, the item rolls a value behind the scenes — a kind of “effect budget.” This budget determines how many new status effects will be applied to your character and how powerful they’ll be.

These effects can be positive (like restoring energy or giving a boost) or negative (like applying debuffs or weird conditions). The number of effects you’ll get varies, but most of the time, expect around two; it can, however, sometimes be none, or sometimes even go up to five.

About 41% of your status bar will be filled on average by these new effects. Each effect usually takes up about 21%, so two is the typical result unless you get extremely lucky or unlucky.

Also read — PEAK: How to revive knocked teammates

Why you might want to use it

One of the biggest reasons you can hang onto Pandora’s Lunchbox is that it’s the only known way to remove the Curse debuff. That’s the one you get slapped with after being revived, and it sticks with you until you deal with it or die again. If you’re Cursed and don’t want to waste resources or risk another death, opening the Lunchbox can be a good bet....maybe!

Another solid use case is when you’re on the verge of collapse — low health, poisoned, everything going wrong. In those moments, using Pandora’s Lunchbox can be the reset button you didn’t know you needed. In one run, opening it instantly provided full healing and energy recovery, which was an absolute lifesaver.

So... should you open it?

It depends. If you're already spiraling (Cursed, low health, surrounded by problems), then opening Pandora’s Lunchbox is pretty much a free roll. You’re clearing out the bad stuff no matter what, and there’s at least a shot you’ll come out better than before. But if things are going well? Maybe think twice. You could end up worse off than you started.

In short, Pandora’s Lunchbox in PEAK is both a cure and a curse. It wipes out whatever’s dragging you down, but you have no control over what comes next. We recommend using it when you’re desperate, Cursed, or have nothing left to lose.

Check out: 5 best beginner tips for Peak

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Edited by Niladri Roy