It is not July 9th yet, a time when I buy all of my Steam Summer Sale games, so I delved into my backlog a little more. Recreational climbing seems fun, but you will never catch me out there doing that stuff. I’ll just stick to hiking. A quick note, it is 102 degrees where I live, so bear with me.

This week is Cairn.

Cairn is a climbing/survival game from The Game Bakers. The game was released on the PC and PS5 in January and retails for $30.

Cairn is about much more than climbing. It is a story about determination, about what it means to exceed one’s own limits to achieve that personal high. Cairn is also about what that person has to give up and who they have to alienate to get to that point. Aava is that person, someone who has been climbing for as long as she has been alive. No barrier could stand in her way before, and this mountain, Kami, will not be in her way either.

Kami, and for that matter, Cairn, is visually stunning. The camera work highlights Kami at the correct angle to emphasize its size, the places to explore so the player organically ventures over to it, the night sky, and even the rain are all so beautiful, it’s amazing.

The narrative in Cairn is not subtle; it constantly tells the player throughout the game the life events Aava has given up to go on this ridiculous climb. The people feel real, and that makes it hit harder. Things like saying goodbye to animals, worrying about her partner, ignoring the suits about sponsorship, and wondering whether she is still alive. It is all up front, and with the inclusion of Marco, a younger version of Aava, to spell it out for her. It is uncomfortable to watch Aava push everyone away for a dream that may mean certain death, and it is nice to see another sensible character tell her she is stupid and that it is not worth it. I also really like the way that Cairn integrates the world into the story. The civilization that has lived on the mountains for generations has finally left and they left their story for climbers to find. Notes on the ground, drawings on walls, and cave structures suggest that the society that lived up here was quite advanced, and learning about them was really fun and felt organic.

The player choices are small, but they have the most critical impact on the story.

Climbing in Cairn is deceptively complex at first and remains so throughout the 12-hour experience. The onboarding is great at letting the player seemingly master the art of scanning a wall, finding ledges, and planning their route to the top of the three tutorial exercises. Aava has arms and legs mapped to the A button on a controller, and arm movement is tied to the analog stick. Pressing A will lock Aava’s legs and arms into a spot, whether on a ledge or against a wall, and prioritize the next arm/leg. There were enough scenarios where the next arm/leg wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, and then I ultimately just fell, died, and was forced to restart.

The climbing is methodical and fun; I really enjoyed the test of planning my route and attempting to fix things when they got a little dangerous. Aava can regain stamina, use chalk to strengthen her grip, and when things are looking worse, she can use a self-drilling piton to save herself from falling. Pitions are scarce, so it is important to explore with confidence. Climbing is grueling, and sometimes it can be incredibly difficult to go the full distance. That said, save points are placed perfectly. Exploration is a huge part of Cairn that offers powerful, helpful rewards. It is awesome how The Game Bakers developed some of the climbs. There were multiple times that I was on my last piton, hunger and frost setting in, and I still needed to climb just a bit farther, making sure that I was making the correct move every step until I reached the top, where I sighed the BIGGEST sigh of relief.

Weather also plays a major, sometimes annoying, role, as it impedes progress. The rain is beautiful, but it is also dangerous, as the player needs to move more slowly and watch out for slipping. I sometimes thought the game was bugged because it rained every few minutes, stopping me from climbing altogether. Those gale-force winds that crop up scared me every time they happened. I really got into a groove and was locked in and any moment Aava braced for wind I immeidately got scared and placed a piton, NO MATTER WHAT.

Cairn is tense and incredibly rewarding. Absolutely exquisite game design.

Aava has the survival health, water, hunger, and cold meters to monitor, and can be supplemented through eating, drinking, drugs, and stimulants. Aava can set up camp at save points, which allows the player to plan out the food they want to cook, check on pitons, check finger wraps, and play around with the backpack to make the next leg of the climb a little easier. It was fun planning and experimenting with foods to be able to maximize all of my meters, so there would never be a hiccup when I was climbing.

I laughed, I cried, I got by by the skin of my teeth, and I really love Cairn. The climbing is incredibly fun, though sometimes Aava’s movement can get a little goofy as her legs cross her arms, and it makes her look like a pretzel. I enjoyed the narrative a lot. I hated Ava’s blind determination, and I liked that she was being tortured by the consequences. Save points are perfectly placed, and the game is absolutely beautiful. Some frustrating moments, but overall I enjoyed the entire 12ish hour adventure.