‘Cairn’ evaluate: It’s ‘Peak’ for the actual climbing freaks

Consider it impeccable timing: simply days after Alex Honnold pulled off one other utterly unhinged free-solo climbing feat, a online game arrives for anybody who watched that and thought, “I want to do that too, but preferably without the risk of death.” That recreation is Cairn, and as an alternative of a skyscraper, it offers you a mountain.

Cairn is the newest launch from French developer The Game Bakers, and it could be the primary survival climbing recreation of its type. Rather than treating climbing as a enjoyable co-op recreation or a fast gimmick, Cairn commits absolutely to the act itself, presenting a simulation-style ascent of the fictional Mount Kami, a peak no climber has ever efficiently summited. That distinction doesn’t deter the sport’s protagonist Aava, an skilled and well-known climber who takes on the mountain whereas additionally working from unresolved issues in her life.

If you’ve performed Peak, the current co-op climbing recreation constructed round chaotic teamwork and shared problem-solving, Cairn appears like its solitary reverse. Where Peak turns climbing right into a social train outlined by coordination, communication, and the occasional disastrous misstep, Cairn strips all of that away, leaving you alone with the rock, your stamina, and the implications of each determination. It’s a quieter, extra deliberate tackle climbing.

For now, the narrative framing is secondary. What issues is the climb, and Cairn delivers probably the most compelling gameplay experiences I’ve had this 12 months. Yes, it’s nonetheless January, however the highs I hit whereas taking part in Cairn on PlayStation 5 shall be tough to high within the months forward.

To the highest

Credit: The Game Bakers

As talked about at first, Cairn is a survival climbing recreation the place gamers management Aava one limb at a time as she ascends varied cliff faces and rock partitions on her approach to the summit of Mount Kami. The mountain carries a grim repute, plagued by the stays of lifeless climbers and haunted by a mysterious inhabitants of mountain people who have been compelled to desert their houses and pursue life on the bottom, or as they name it, the “horizontal world.”

Beyond the meticulous climbing mechanics, Cairn additionally asks gamers to handle Aava’s primary survival wants, together with thirst, starvation, and heat. This means cooking and consuming meals cobbled collectively from supplies discovered on the mountain, generally scavenged from the gear left behind by much less lucky climbers, and ingesting water sourced from springs, caves, and different pockets scattered throughout a centuries-old peak. This is the survival aspect of Cairn’s survival climbing, and it weaves straight into the climb itself.

While climbing is the clear focus, Cairn does have a narrative, albeit a sparse one. Aava spends many of the recreation alone, accompanied solely by a climbing robotic she’s had since childhood and stubbornly refuses to call. Along the best way, she encounters a handful of different characters, essentially the most notable being Marco, a youthful and infrequently mouthy climber who clearly idolizes Aava, a widely known determine within the climbing world.

Climbing Mount Kami is not any small feat, and the sport permits gamers to method it in two major methods. The first is free solo climbing, whereas the second is a extra assisted methodology that makes use of ropes, pitons, and bolts. For essentially the most half, you’ll find yourself utilizing a mixture of each approaches, largely as a result of you will have a restricted variety of pitons accessible so that you can jam into cracks to create a safe handhold as you climb every face.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Players can climb nearly something, however the recreation subtly guides you thru the cracks, crevices, and slim ledges etched into the rock. You can place Aava’s palms and toes nearly anyplace alongside a wall, however these cracks and small outcroppings supply essentially the most dependable grip. A stamina system governs how lengthy she will maintain a place, as proven by the seen shaking of her legs and arms when she’s positioned in a poor grip or a clumsy physique place. At the press of a button, Aava can take a quick relaxation to recuperate stamina, however you’re restricted to doing this solely twice per climb. Let any of her limbs tremble for too lengthy and she or he’ll lose her grip and fall.

Depending on the way you routed the ascent, that fall may cease at a piton with Aava dangling from a rope, or ship her all the best way again right down to the place you began, which may simply imply demise. If you do not need to belay, safely securing Avaa to a piton with rope, stamina may be regained by situating her in chill, optimum positions after which ready for her to calm again down. This is the place I need to credit score the sound design of the sport, as you may inform when Avaa is healthier rested by the shortage of deep breathes she takes earlier than taking a deep sigh to suggest she’s able to go once more.

I fell 18 occasions on this one spot.
Credit: The Game Bakers

When planning a route, you may press L1 on PlayStation 5 or Tab on PC to convey up a climb overview, supplying you with a way of the potential paths upward. Pitons may be positioned straight into the rock by a quick-time occasion that feels just like hitting an ideal reload in Gears of War. Time it completely and the piton locks in securely. Miss the mark and it might break outright. Land someplace in between and it turns into twisted within the rock. I didn’t see the complete penalties of a poorly positioned piton too usually, however given how often you’ll fall, it’s clear you need these anchors as strong as attainable.

This system creates a simple risk-reward equation: how a lot of the route are you able to realistically free solo earlier than burning a piton. Early on, taking part in it secure appears like the plain selection, however the greater you climb, the extra obvious it turns into that the pitons you introduced with you’re all you’re getting. After finishing climbs, Aava’s robotic companion can recuperate pitons for reuse, however provided that you’ve managed your route effectively sufficient to outlive the ascent within the first place. Broken pitons recovered by the climbing bot can be utilized to create a brand new one — it is two damaged pitons for one new piton, so it is not a lose one, get one again scenario. You begin the sport with six; after my eight hours within the recreation, I had 4 to make use of.

There are additionally some rock faces which can be too dense to insert a piton, and for that, you have to use Troglodyte pitons, that are indestructible and may be planted on any rock. After putting a piton you may belay off them, which you are able to do to recuperate stamina, rope right down to sure factors, and even entry your backpack when you want a fast chunk or drink.

Resting up

Dinner time.
Credit: The Game Bakers

Cairn additionally includes a day-and-night cycle, together with harsh climate circumstances that may dramatically have an effect on a climb. Heavy winds can knock Aava off stability mid-ascent, whereas rain reduces grip and makes even acquainted routes extra harmful. These results may be mitigated by foods and drinks that briefly fortify Aava, stopping her meters from depleting, or through the use of chalk to enhance hand grip. Chalk is fortunately considerable, as it may be replenished by recycling trash generated from consumed gadgets or discovered scattered throughout the mountain. You hand that trash to Aava’s climbing robotic, and after a brief quantity of in-game time, the chalk is able to use.

After an extended climb, resting turns into important. Players can pitch a tent at designated save factors scattered all through the mountain. These camps allow you to prepare dinner meals, craft new pitons, arrange your backpack, and, most significantly, heal Aava’s fingers. Finger situation performs an important function in sustaining grip, and as you progress, her fingers will develop cracks and cuts that have to be bandaged individually.

Healing is a surprisingly mundane course of, requiring you to slowly wrap every finger one by one by rotating the precise stick in your PlayStation controller. It’s tedious, generally frustratingly so, nevertheless it aligns with the sport’s broader themes of sacrifice and endurance. Healing gadgets are scarce, forcing onerous decisions. You can absolutely bandage each finger, or focus solely on the worst accidents and push ahead. It’s a neat system, even when it often feels pointless.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Cooking, against this, is straightforward and intuitive. Aava makes use of a small pot, which first must be full of water and heated earlier than substances may be added. Flowers may be brewed into teas that present varied fortifications, whereas fish and different substances may be cooked into full meals. Each choice restores thirst or starvation respectively, apart from soups which do each. Any water not saved in your flask may be carried in bottles in your backpack, which may be discovered all through the map. Both bottles and flasks may be refilled at springs, ponds, and fountains scattered throughout the mountain as you’re employed your method towards the summit.

When all the things is ready, you may proceed to climb or take a break, which is able to fast-forward time to everytime you really feel comfy going once more. I attempt my very best to not climb at evening except obligatory, because it’s onerous to see, even with Avaa’s employees mild, and sleeping helps Avaa recuperate. If none of this appeals to you, although, there is a informal mode that makes the survival parts an afterthought. This mode turns off Cairn‘s survival parts equivalent to starvation, offers Aava infinite climbing gear, and allows you to rewind and check out once more after falling.

The climbing in Cairn is genuinely enjoyable, a sense that’s solely amplified by how placing the sport seems to be. Cairn’s artwork fashion sits someplace between a graphic novel and a minimalist animated movie. Characters and environments are rendered with clear strains, flattened shapes, and painterly textures, giving the world a hand-drawn, nearly storybook high quality. The colour palette leans muted and earthy, with mushy gradients and atmospheric lighting that emphasize altitude, chilly, and isolation quite than uncooked spectacle.

The UI follows that very same philosophy. Menus and overlays are intentionally stylized to really feel tactile and diegetic, with rough-edged frames and sketched iconography that mix naturally into the world. Overall, the sport’s visible identification reinforces its themes of solitude and endurance. The artwork by no means distracts from the climb; as an alternative, it lends each second a quiet, contemplative weight that builds because the journey continues.

Credit: The Game Bakers

That stated, Cairn isn’t with out technical tough edges, and a few of its efficiency points can pull you out of the expertise, particularly throughout climbs. There are moments the place you fall into a real rhythm, fastidiously putting every limb and steadily working your method upward. The recreation mechanically selects which of Aava’s 4 limbs to maneuver, although you may override it manually. That system often breaks immersion, with limbs awkwardly morphing by each other and creating unusual, nearly rubbery animations. As you get nearer to the summit, issues can get even messier, with environmental objects briefly glitching or wobbling in ways in which really feel unintentional. The recreation by no means crashed throughout my playthrough, however there have been occasions it felt perilously shut.

Beyond the principle ascent, Cairn gives a number of aspect targets found by letters and maps Aava finds alongside the best way. These often ship you off to climb completely different sections of the mountain seeking toys, trinkets, or uncommon gadgets, together with specialised pitons. According to the builders, a typical run ought to take round 15 hours, nearer to 18 when you’re aiming to see all the things, and upwards of 30 hours when you deal with the hardcore free solo mode. I powered by the sport in simply over eight hours, which left me questioning what corners I’ll have reduce to complete a lot quicker than supposed.

There’s a refined Metroidvania-like construction to how development works. Instead of conventional upgrades or leveling programs, you unlock higher gear organically as you climb, together with indestructible pitons, expanded chalk capability, and instruments like a pinwheel that warns you of incoming wind. It’s a wise method that makes development really feel earned by exploration quite than menu administration, and it matches neatly into Cairn’s broader philosophy of studying the mountain as you ascend it.

Is Cairn price it?

Credit: The Game Bakers

The recreation’s title is a becoming reflection of its themes. A cairn, in the actual world, is a stack of stones positioned to mark a path, commemorate the lifeless, or sign that somebody has handed by earlier than. In Cairn, the mountain is plagued by related reminders of those that tried the climb and by no means returned, from deserted gear to the tales left behind in notes and letters. Like an actual cairn, these traces don’t supply consolation a lot as context. They are quiet acknowledgments of effort, failure, and persistence, reinforcing the concept that each ascent is constructed on the makes an attempt of those that got here earlier than, even when the summit stays unconquered.

Despite some tough edges, Cairn is completely price taking part in when you’re drawn to video games that worth programs, ambiance, and mechanical rigidity over fixed spectacle. Its climbing mechanics are in contrast to anything out proper now, demanding persistence, planning, and a willingness to just accept failure as a part of the expertise. When all the things clicks, Cairn delivers a few of the most meditative and rewarding moments I’ve had in a recreation in years.

That stated, this isn’t a recreation for everybody. The deliberate pacing, occasional technical hiccups, and hands-on survival mechanics will doubtless frustrate gamers searching for quick suggestions loops or fixed narrative momentum. The finger-bandaging, restricted assets, and frequent falls can really feel punishing, particularly early on.

But for gamers keen to fulfill it by itself phrases, Cairn gives a recreation that trusts you to study by repetition and consequence, and one which finds magnificence in exhaustion, solitude, and persistence. It’s imperfect, generally awkward, and sometimes janky, nevertheless it’s additionally considerate, formidable, and deeply memorable.

Cairn is out there at this time on PlayStation 5 and PC.