Chalk up another victory for The Game Bakers
By Paul Hunter
Cairn on PS5 turns a single mountain ascent into a thrilling survival-climbing action-adventure packed with risk, revelations, and split-second decisions. The Game Bakers, known for Furi and Haven, delivers a focused experience where ascending Mount Kami is the challenge and the reason you keep going.
You play as Aava, a pro climber chasing a summit even the best have been unable to reach. The structure is simple on paper: you choose the climbing route and start making your way up. Tension comes from how much freedom you get, there are usually multiple paths, some more dangerous than others, and each route leads to new discoveries. Mount Kami carries a trail of history and secrets that adds extra incentive to exploring off the main route.
Survival management is also crucial to the climb, so food and medical supplies matter as much as your path. Fortunately, there are several accessibility options available, letting you can tune the climb difficulty to focus more on story or on a steep challenge.
Is Cairn the summit worth chasing? Let’s find out!
Instead of giving you plot in long cutscenes, Cairn feeds you story in small discoveries. You come across signs of past expeditions, like bits of gear and short notes, and those fragments build a clear picture of what Kami has done to people before Aava ever arrived. When you reach abandoned camps or pass graves, the mountain’s history feels present, and you start thinking about how thin the line is between ambition and ruin.
The other major thread is the pull from home. You receive messages from Chris, her agent, and from Naomi, her partner, and they frame Aava in two very different ways. Chris is focused on the milestone, while Naomi is focused on the person. Aava hears them and chooses not to reply, which says plenty on its own. The climb also brings you to meet Marco, another climber who just so happens to idolize Aava. Cairn closes with two endings built around a choice, and both of them are very emotional and executed well.
Pitons are your core safety tool, but they're limited in use (there is an option for unlimited though, if you want). These anchors you place in the rock give you a safety net in case you slip, and you hang on the pitons to recover stamina. Dropping a piton will trigger a short timing minigame, and a bad attempt can leave you with broken gear (you can turn off the minigame in the options). Those broken pitons take up backpack space, which is limited, until you repair them or combine broken ones into a working piece, so every mistake has a practical cost.
The climb also governed by several survival systems that affect your climbing performance. Stamina is shown at the top, and hunger, thirst, and body temperature come next, with each system forcing you to think about pacing and rationing your limited supplies. Tent save points are where you cook, sleep, repair pitons, and re-tape Aava’s hands to support grip strength. Considering how strainuous and stressful some of the climbs are, it was such a reprieve to find camping spots where I could quietly cook a meal or do some stretching routines before bed.
Up close, the detailed artwork also helps your climbing, as the mountain has visible grooves that help guide you along a safe path. It's a bit funny, too, that you can consume drugs during the climb that puts a neon light on holds, and shows the contrast between stone and ice, making it easier to judge where you want to go next. When you zoom out and look back over the route you’ve taken, the scale of the climb hits hard, and it’s a real “I really did that” moment.
Turning our attention to audio, wind and shifting rock sit at the front of Cairn’s soundscape, and the metallic bite of a piton against stone makes every anchor placement feel significant. Aava’s breathing also stands out during long pushes, especially when you’re hanging in place and your limbs begin to wobble. A vocal soundtrack also kicks in for key moments, giving the climb a serene, cathartic vibe all without smothering the mountain’s natural noise. One downside is I noticed the odd frame rate drop and a bit of clipping, mostly during major section transitions or major weather changes, but thankfully the hiccups were brief.
Final Score: 9/10 - Amazing
Developer: The Game Bakers
Publisher: The Game Bakers
Genre: Adventure, Survival, Climbing
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
Cairn on PS5 turns a single mountain ascent into a thrilling survival-climbing action-adventure packed with risk, revelations, and split-second decisions. The Game Bakers, known for Furi and Haven, delivers a focused experience where ascending Mount Kami is the challenge and the reason you keep going.
You play as Aava, a pro climber chasing a summit even the best have been unable to reach. The structure is simple on paper: you choose the climbing route and start making your way up. Tension comes from how much freedom you get, there are usually multiple paths, some more dangerous than others, and each route leads to new discoveries. Mount Kami carries a trail of history and secrets that adds extra incentive to exploring off the main route.
Survival management is also crucial to the climb, so food and medical supplies matter as much as your path. Fortunately, there are several accessibility options available, letting you can tune the climb difficulty to focus more on story or on a steep challenge.
Is Cairn the summit worth chasing? Let’s find out!
Story and Narrative
In Cairn, Aava is willing to risk everything for Mount Kami, and you get to watch what that choice does to her over a long ascent. She’s a pro climber with a public reputation to uphold, yet the game makes her personal drive the focus, not the headlines around it. I ended up caring about her because she isn’t written as a traditional hero. She’s stubborn, and she keeps chasing the summit even when it puts real distance between her and the life waiting below.Instead of giving you plot in long cutscenes, Cairn feeds you story in small discoveries. You come across signs of past expeditions, like bits of gear and short notes, and those fragments build a clear picture of what Kami has done to people before Aava ever arrived. When you reach abandoned camps or pass graves, the mountain’s history feels present, and you start thinking about how thin the line is between ambition and ruin.
The other major thread is the pull from home. You receive messages from Chris, her agent, and from Naomi, her partner, and they frame Aava in two very different ways. Chris is focused on the milestone, while Naomi is focused on the person. Aava hears them and chooses not to reply, which says plenty on its own. The climb also brings you to meet Marco, another climber who just so happens to idolize Aava. Cairn closes with two endings built around a choice, and both of them are very emotional and executed well.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Cairn’s gameplay, which is built around manual climbing that you control step by step, is easy to understand yet challenging to master. First you hit the climb button, then you place Aava’s hands and feet individually using thumb stick movement, and your goal is to keep her posture stable as you move. Grip is absolutely crucial to climbing because the wrong body position can drain stamina fast while you hang there despeately deciding the next reach. To succeed, you need to locate firm grooves in the rock formations or flat surfaces to keep stable, but that's easier said than done considering there's not always logical holds to grab, or they might be just out of reach and risky to grab.Pitons are your core safety tool, but they're limited in use (there is an option for unlimited though, if you want). These anchors you place in the rock give you a safety net in case you slip, and you hang on the pitons to recover stamina. Dropping a piton will trigger a short timing minigame, and a bad attempt can leave you with broken gear (you can turn off the minigame in the options). Those broken pitons take up backpack space, which is limited, until you repair them or combine broken ones into a working piece, so every mistake has a practical cost.
The climb also governed by several survival systems that affect your climbing performance. Stamina is shown at the top, and hunger, thirst, and body temperature come next, with each system forcing you to think about pacing and rationing your limited supplies. Tent save points are where you cook, sleep, repair pitons, and re-tape Aava’s hands to support grip strength. Considering how strainuous and stressful some of the climbs are, it was such a reprieve to find camping spots where I could quietly cook a meal or do some stretching routines before bed.
Presentation and Audio
Cairn looks great on PS5 thanks to its beautiful cel-shaded graphics, and Mount Kami looks sharp from the base all the way up to its peak. The day/night cycle is a big part this, because gorgeous lighting changes the mood from warm dusk glow to cold early-morning blue all as you naturally climb. I also loved how often the game rewards you with stunning vistas, since you’ll climb into spots where the clouds drop below you and the whole mountain range suddenly feels really, really massive. You can also see the lights from the village you start fromd all the way up the climb, with the lights getting small and more faint the higher you go, a nice reference point for how far you've come.Up close, the detailed artwork also helps your climbing, as the mountain has visible grooves that help guide you along a safe path. It's a bit funny, too, that you can consume drugs during the climb that puts a neon light on holds, and shows the contrast between stone and ice, making it easier to judge where you want to go next. When you zoom out and look back over the route you’ve taken, the scale of the climb hits hard, and it’s a real “I really did that” moment.
Turning our attention to audio, wind and shifting rock sit at the front of Cairn’s soundscape, and the metallic bite of a piton against stone makes every anchor placement feel significant. Aava’s breathing also stands out during long pushes, especially when you’re hanging in place and your limbs begin to wobble. A vocal soundtrack also kicks in for key moments, giving the climb a serene, cathartic vibe all without smothering the mountain’s natural noise. One downside is I noticed the odd frame rate drop and a bit of clipping, mostly during major section transitions or major weather changes, but thankfully the hiccups were brief.
The Verdict
Cairn is a rare mix of thrilling climbing and strong storytelling that stays laser-focused on the ascent. The manual climbing controls turn each wall into a real puzzle to solve, and pitons plus rope let you manage risk without losing the game's edge. Aava’s narrative keeps the stakes personal, and it cleverly pushes the journey forward through short discoveries instead of long cutscenes. The cel-shaded visuals, dramatic lighting across the day/night cycle, and constant vista payoffs make the mountain a trip I will never forget. A few minor performance issues can momentarily take you out of the experience, but thankfully dips are brief. We're not even one full month into the year and we already have our first major standout title.Final Score: 9/10 - Amazing
Cairn details
Platform: PS5, PCDeveloper: The Game Bakers
Publisher: The Game Bakers
Genre: Adventure, Survival, Climbing
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.