Cairn

Ok let me start by saying this game is amazing! Got hooked up hard when the demo first came out, and I couldn't wait for the full release. Needless to say it didn't disappoint. Nevertheless, a great game such as this doesn't come without flaws in some areas. These need to be adressed before someone buys it, otherwise some may be a big dealer breaker to some. ✅ PROS • Unique visuals The art direction is bold and distinct. It doesn’t try to look realistic in a generic way. It creates its own atmosphere. The mountain feels lonely, hostile, and beautiful at the same time. • S-tier music When the soundtrack kicks in, it hits hard. Emotional, powerful, almost spiritual. It elevates key moments to something unforgettable. I think one of the main reasons this is a huge plus is cause of the vocals. • Chill vibe (with tension underneath) On the surface it’s quiet, almost meditative. Just you, the wind, and the mountain. But underneath that calm is constant tension. You’re always calculating your next move. • Survival mechanics done right Energy, grip, positioning, everything matters. It’s meaningful. If you don't prepare, you won't reach the next checkpoint. • Deep, meaningful gameplay This isn’t just about climbing. There’s subtext here. Isolation. Endurance. Fighting your own limits. I personally read it as a metaphor for battling depression, closing yourself off while others seem to move forward with their lives. Whether that was intentional or not, the emotional weight is real. • Real choices, real endings Huge respect for this. Your decisions matter. The ending I got was emotional and surprisingly deep. no spoilers. I genuinely sat there for a minute after it finished. I’ll try the other route eventually… but honestly, the climb is long, so replaying isn’t something I’m rushing into. ❌ CONS • The controls can be your worst enemy There are moments where the game simply refuses to let you climb the way you intend. Not difficulty! just clunkiness. • The slip mechanic is frustrating When you slip, the game auto-selects another limb for you. That sounds fine in theory. In practice? It often sabotages high-risk plays and turns skillful movement into punishment. It feels like the system working against you instead of testing you. • Ragdoll physics after falling Not a deal breaker, but definitely annoying. Falling from a small ledge can snowball into death because you’re stuck in ragdoll and completely locked out of recovery. Sometimes it feels like you’re punished harder than the mistake deserved. • “Free path climbing” isn’t always free The game suggests freedom, but there are sections where grip strength is so weak that you’re clearly forced into the developer’s intended route. If you’re going to sell freedom, commit to it. • The music is incredible… but too rare Like I said before the music is S tier. Why lock such an amazing soundtrack behind long stretches of pure wind noise? I understand the idea of musical payoff, but 30 minutes of silence before a track hits is too much. Some subtle ambient layer would’ve elevated the quiet moments without ruining the impact. This game is not perfect but is worth climbing!

Cairn caught me by surprise. In the beginning I didn't even like it. From the outside it looked pretentious to me. Like it claims to give you beautiful sights while climbing a mountain, but in reality you'd watch 98% of times the backpack of someone stretching their arms and legs. This was at least the impression I got when I watched a demo playthrough video. But there was this itch. A thought that there must be something else. Something that keeps the positivity about this game rising. The game kept returning to my mind over and over. I had to give in eventually, I had to try it. So I got the game and right from the get-go something happened that I can only describe as magic. The controls are fluid, every successful grab of the rock structures feels so rewarding. The movement is so gentle yet so powerful. And then you start to feel the struggle. It's getting tougher, stamina is getting used up. You start to make mistakes, you feel that danger creeping up to you. What will you do? You check the remaining distance. Will you waste the piton for safety? You have to decide quick, or else you'll fall. And falling is a high risk - you might die, in any case you'll have to rest, use more resources, climb it all again. And then you make it, you've reached another point of interest. Another plateau. An abandoned village. A new place to explore. A new place to climb. Maybe someone else. You are rewarded with an amazing sight and you look back at where you came from. The previous path is so tiny, and yet you've still got so much left. But you look forward. You refresh. You gather resources. You see a new goal. Through this whole journey, you'll feel more struggle. More hazards. Each climb will set a new limit. Increase the difficulty. But you're learning, and you'll continue to master every new challenge. You have to. You have to keep going. You have to reach the peak of the mountain. You have to finish this journey. I believe that this overwhelming positive feeling I got from playing this game, this magic, is coming from an amazingly well design. The artwork is stylized but detailled, and while looking insanely beautiful with its palettes and textures, it's also so easiely readable for the climbing task. The graphics show you the path, and it is a joy to navigate through these seemingly endless possibilities of travel paths. But then on top of that you have this incredibly detailled sound design that makes this world so diverse and alive. The winds. The grass rustling. The cracles of stepping and grabbingthe rock. The blows through the caves. The waterfalls. The animals. The storms. Martin Stig Andersen is a master at showing how important sound is in a game, and I believe this is the secret sauce for this game. Cairn is a once in a lifetime game for me. I never expected to love it so much. But I love everything about it. The story of Aawa is wonderful. And I am really happy to have experienced it. If you have that itch, the urge to explore nature, to get surprised by new sights after a long climb, then look no further, and dive straight in.

Cairn is a story about obsession, selfishness, frustration, and chasing seemingly impossible goals, wrapped neatly into a game about climbing. The climbing itself is really great, it feels natural and flowing, challenging yet achievable. The soundtrack to the game paints a beautiful backdrop for the trials of the ascent and the main characters emotional struggle up the mountain. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it, my first playthrough was around 15 hours of climbing, I have subsequently gone back to complete a second run and can definitely see myself doing so again.