Cairn

The Game Bakers have never made the same game twice — Furi was a neon boss rush, Haven a gentle sci-fi romance — and Cairn is their strangest, most confident swing yet. You play Aava, a climber attempting the unclimbed Mount Kami, and you control her limb by limb: each hand and foot placed deliberately, each move costing stamina you can feel draining.

The mountain as antagonist

There are no glowing handholds. You read the rock yourself, plan a route, place pitons to protect your progress, and manage food, rest and gear as you ascend. The studio described Kami as one long boss fight and that’s exactly how it plays — an adversary that never attacks you, just patiently waits for you to make a mistake. When you finally pull over a lip you’ve been fighting for ten minutes, the relief is physical.

Very few games make a single upward metre feel like an achievement. This one makes it feel like a triumph.

Bablet’s art direction is stunning throughout, and the score (Martin Stig Andersen, The Toxic Avenger) knows exactly when to disappear.

Who it isn’t for

It’s slow. It’s fiddly by design. A misjudged grab can drop you back to a piton you placed twenty minutes ago, and the story around Aava never quite matches the mountain’s presence. If you want momentum and spectacle, look elsewhere.

Verdict

Steam sits at Very Positive (94% of 9,400+ reviews) with PC Gamer at 91 and IGN at 9. Cairn is a patient, gorgeous, genuinely novel piece of design — the rare simulation that turns physical effort into real emotion. If you have the temperament for it, don’t miss it.