Cairn Review: One Step Up a Time

I did not fall in love with Cairn at first sight. Keeping a keen watch on the development of the game ever since its announcement, I jumped into the public demo during a Steam Next Fest (bless Gaben) and came out disappointed. There were two reasons for it. One— I played the demo on the Steam Deck, and it ran horribly for a game that looks like the perfect fit for the handheld. Two— the controls felt very janky, even for a lover of all things jank like me. Things change. Fast forward to 2026, and I can’t get enough of The Game Makers’ mountain-climbing simulator. It’s so delightful to live through the second month of the new year and already discover a strong Game of the Year contender. Just keep in mind that it won’t win any “Best on Steam Deck” awards.

Cairn just hit 300,000 players just a few days after its launch. While you might think of the game as an indie sleeper hit, things have been in motion for a while. Cairn is made by The Game Makers, the developers behind beloved indie darlings Furi and Haven. One look at any of its screenshots will tell you that Cairn is a mountain-climbing game, a “survival-climber” as the developers put it. They couldn’t have found a more apt title for the genre.

No Light at the Top of the Summit

Cairn is all about one angry pro climber and Mount Kami, a towering force of nature that’s as dangerous as it is beautiful. Cairn keeps its storytelling light and, aside from a handful of cutscenes, leaves the player to discover the lore as well as the motivations of Ava by themselves. Ava is not an easy character to like at first. Seemingly angry at nothing and everything, Ava is a scorned veteran climber who’d rather be with nature than with people. For her, Mount Kami is more of an escape than a challenge to her. It’s not easy to fall in love with flawed and broken characters in a game where the storytelling is minimal. You either like Ava or not. But you can’t deny that she is relatable. We all know Avas, people who have all they could ask for and are surrounded by loved ones, but always manage to find ways to drive their lives to the ground. Just don’t expect a happy ending.

A Steep Ascent

There are very few games like Cairn out there. Jusant and New Heights come to mind. The former is a relaxing adventure relying heavily on its atmosphere and art style, while the latter is a hardcore systems-driven game made by actual climbers. Cairn sits somewhere in between. Here, the gameplay is as important as the vibe. The biggest attraction of Cairn is its controls. Unlike games with automated climbing systems, the player has direct control of Ava’s four limbs. The climbing mechanic is fully manual. The player decides which and where Ava’s hands and legs should go. Cairn trusts the players with its physics-based climbing systems. Yes, there are accessibility options and QoL features, but Cairn believes in the player’s patience, skill, and observation skills. The “auto limb selection” option is enabled by default, but if you ask me, manual limb selection makes the game feel more intuitive.

Mount Kami is ginormous, and it will take multiple days for Ava to reach the summit. Like Death Stranding and Baby Steps before it, Cairn’s traversal is designed like puzzles. Each section of the mountain is a challenging puzzle, and there’s no hand-holding or easy way out. Players will have to meticulously plan and traverse treacherous heights to get to Bivouac camps that serve the function of save points and the Bonfire. The lack of auto-saves proves that planning and patience are of the utmost importance to a climber. One wrong move could spell the difference between serene joy and hair-pulling frustration as you’re sent back to a save point further away.

While this all sounds very complex, the gameplay of Cairn is very easy to get the hang of. The developers have done a fantastic job of streamlining such an involved gameplay loop without any padding. The surface of Mount Kami is filled with tiny protrusions and crevices that work as “grab points” for Ava. Locating these points and making a mind map to the top is crucial. You can use your robot friend to place pitons along the way that act as temporary stops along a difficult climb, but even then, they can only carry you so far.

One Day at a Time

Aside from steep ascents, Cairn also has several survival mechanics to keep track of. Ava’s limbs should be bandaged regularly, her health and stamina levels managed, and hunger, thirst, and body heat are all conditions to keep a keen eye on. Resting at a Bivouac allows Ava to craft food, medicines, and stat boosters using various items and recipes found in the environment, as well as repair pitons broken from the climbs.

The mountain is filled with environmental storytelling, remnants of a native mountain civilization, items to find, and places to stop and take in the sheer beauty of nature. Cairn is a gorgeous game, and each frame is a screenshot moment. The addition of a highly customizable photo mode is such a cool addition, and I’ve lost track of how much time I spent just stopping and admiring the visuals. The same can be said for the amazing soundtrack by Martin Stig Andersen, Gildaa, and The Toxic Avenger. It’s the stuff that makes life worth living.

Almost Perfect

I am so enamored by Cairn that it made finding flaws difficult. Sure, there is the occasional movement where the controls get very janky, and you fail to make a sure climb. Sometimes, it’s hard to spot climbing spots, and sometimes, they don’t work as expected. The performance is not great either. It’s a gorgeous game, sure. But that’s on the stellar art style. It shouldn’t be this demanding of a game to run, especially on the Steam Deck. If you were ever planning to play it there, make sure to buy Lossless Scaling and the Decky Plugin for it. Even with frame generation, the game hiccups and stutters its way to the summit. Such a shame, because Cairn would be a great fit for the Deck 🙁

Real Talk

Cairn is a deeply rewarding survival-climbing experience built around manual, physics-driven traversal and thoughtful resource management. Its minimalist storytelling, puzzle-like design, combined with gorgeous visuals and a mesmerizing soundtrack, result in an unforgettable and deeply cathartic climbing experience.

FINAL SCORE: 92/100