Mountain-climbing simulators have become a surprisingly frequent sight in the gaming landscape in recent years, but how does Cairn stack up against cooperative hits like Peak or the critically acclaimed Jusant? This new release delves deep into the solitary and often perilous world of high-altitude ascents, arriving at a time when global attention is captivated by the dangers and controversies of real-life climbing feats.
A Narrative Rooted in Reality and Emotion
Just last weekend, the world watched as Alex Honnold completed a televised climb of Taipei 101, one of the globe's tallest skyscrapers. While his ascent took merely ninety minutes, for those with a fear of heights, it was an intensely stressful spectacle, highlighting the immense physical and psychological effort involved. The stress was not confined to the climber alone, as evidenced by his wife's anxious interviews during the event. This real-world drama serves as an ideal primer for Cairn, a game that immerses players in the stark realities of solo mountaineering.
Originally slated for a 2025 release, Cairn now launches amidst a cultural fascination with the thrills and perils of climbing. Players assume the role of Aava, an experienced and, as the story unfolds, renowned climber. She embarks on a daring attempt to conquer Kami, a formidable fictional mountain that has already claimed the lives of 159 mountaineers before her arrival at its base.
The Human Element: Worry from Afar
Aava's journey is framed by the concerns of those she leaves behind. Her agent pressures her to document the climb for sponsors and the press, a demand she ignores after accidentally destroying her camera. Meanwhile, her partner provides updates from home, oscillating between forced cheerfulness and thinly veiled anxiety about her safe return. This emotional backdrop enriches the narrative, making the ascent as much about the characters' mental states as it is about scaling sheer rock faces.
Gameplay Mechanics: A Four-Limb Climbing System
At its core, Cairn is about the act of climbing itself, executed one limb at a time. While this might evoke memories of the chaotic fun of games like QWOP or Biped 2, Cairn adopts a more deliberate and thoughtful approach. Players must hover each of Aava's hands and feet over cracks, crevices, or ledges, securing a grip before moving the next limb. However, the system is not without its flaws.
Parallax error can disrupt precision, causing the game to misalign Aava's limbs with the intended holds, especially when viewed from certain angles. This imprecision can lead to falls, particularly when stamina is low, rain is falling, or daylight is fading. While moves can be cancelled and repositioned, this is not always feasible under duress.
Immersive Visuals and Survival Elements
Cairn eschews a traditional heads-up display (HUD) by default, an inspired choice that allows players to fully appreciate the game's beautiful hand-drawn visuals. Instead, diminishing stamina is conveyed through Aava's cries, shaking limbs, or a dimming screen, signaling imminent loss of grip. This creates a tense, immersive experience where players must rely on instinct and quick reflexes.
Pitons offer a lifeline, allowing players to anchor themselves to the rock face to prevent fatal falls. Deploying them involves a golf-style swinging cursor mechanic: a perfect hit secures the piton fully, while hitting a wider grey zone results in a twisted piton that may not arrest longer drops. Missing entirely breaks the piton, repairable only during rest stops in Aava's bivouac tent.
The tent serves as a save point and a hub for survival activities, such as cooking, preparing tea, taping injured fingers, and sleeping. Cairn integrates survival gameplay, requiring careful management of Aava's body temperature, hunger, and health throughout the climb. On the rock wall, accessing supplies from a backpack requires suspension from a piton, adding another layer of strategy.
Exploration and Environmental Storytelling
As players ascend Kami, they discover remnants of a former mountain-dwelling population, including abandoned villages, classrooms, and dwellings. These sites offer written notes, paintings, and maps that reveal hidden relics and enrich the region's lore. Noticeboards and encounters with wildlife further flesh out the environment, creating a sense of history and mystery.
Scavenging is essential for survival, with mountain springs, wrecked bothies, climbers' corpses, and even old illegal rave sites providing resources. Bear-proof boxes and broken vending machines yield morsels of food, but the availability of these hoards depends on the chosen route. This variability can lead to challenging scenarios, such as starvation, which some players may find frustrating due to checkpoint limitations.
Flaws and Highs in Game Design
While Cairn excels in creating tension through its climbing and survival systems, it occasionally stumbles. The survival aspects, particularly food scarcity, can feel punitive, and imprecise controls or graphical glitches, like limb flickering, may detract from the experience. However, when the systems align, they foster emergent storytelling, with each decision about supplies, weather, and route-finding sparking mini-dramas.
The emotional weight of the journey is amplified by messages from home, and reaching a summit to behold breathtaking alpine vistas, framed by clouds and sunsets, offers a profound reward. This captures the essence of what drives climbers to face dangers and hardships, surpassing even the excellence of games like Jusant in its portrayal of mountaineering's emotional and physical toll.
Verdict: A Bold and Flawed Ascent
Cairn is a brilliant yet imperfect mountaineering game that masterfully blends survival gameplay with a unique climbing mechanic. It explores the emotional fallout on loved ones while delivering immersive physicality and evocative art. Despite some design missteps, it stands as a compelling tribute to the spirit of solo climbing.
Pros: Immersive climbing representation, down-to-earth voice acting, evocative art style, and minimal HUD use enhance realism.
Cons: Survival elements can be frustrating, controls sometimes feel imprecise, and graphical glitches occur occasionally.
Score: 7/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 and PC
Price: $29.99
Release Date: 29th January 2026
