Cairn

What a breath of fresh air. It is almost too difficult to put into words how much there is in this game that I want to comment on. There is the general tone of a climber that's too obsessed with the goal of conquering the summit. This reminded me very much of Alex Honnold and the 'Free Solo' documentary of him climbing El Capitan. Having watched it I could understand his obsession, but didn't "feel" it. It is such a stupid thing to do all things considered, it's so dangerous, doesn't he have so much to live for? This game made me understand exactly how he must have felt being on the wall and eventually conquering it. One of the highlights of gaming this year for me was trying to get the 'Don't stop me now' achievement, having to climb 30m without using a piton. I chose the Needle for that. It has been a while since a game provoked such a strong and visceral reaction in me. I could feel my hands getting sweaty on the controller. My grip tightening. Fully focused and immersed into the climb. All I saw WAS the wall, the climb. And the gaping void below. I think at one point I'd love to free solo the whole game. Funnily enough, the section most people point to as the game's real gauntlet [spoiler] — The Peril — [/spoiler] didn't put up much of a fight for me. Having done some actual climbing myself, I noticed I had an almost intuitive feeling for where a limb should go. Which made me wonder how much of "difficulty" in this game is really about hand-eye coordination versus something closer to real climbing instinct. Also, quick question, [spoiler] who would actually go back right before the final climb? I identified with Aava so much in this last part of the game. I, too, got the summit fever (though I was sure I'd just belay down again after reaching the top). What an amazing final sequence. "And you - what is your summit," such simple words felt so profound in the moment. [/spoiler] If that's all the game would have been, I'd have been happy all around. But there is one part bugging me that's chips off a little bit from the perfect 10/10 for me. I don't necessarily need the survival aspect in this game. Getting upgrades and collecting trash to recycle for climbing chalk. I get that this resource should not be infinite, I also like the thought of collecting the trash left by others from the mountain. It just makes the game feel tedious where it doesn't really have to be. Then again, [spoiler] the way of story telling through finding failed climbers before you, suspended in the last moment of their climb, rummaging through their backpacks like a hungry bear I found interesting and genuinely unique. [/spoiler] I usually don't mind managing my status bars. It just felt a little out of place or rather in the way in a game that was able to mimic the intense feeling of climbing so well. That's the parts that made me feel, 'Oh! I'm playing a video game, right. Gotta look for some water to make me a tea.' The same illusion-breaking happened when Aava would slip and fall like one foot down a rock and screech in anger. Like girl, you weren't even climbing yet, chill! Very minor gripes in a game that generally felt very unique and effective in what it was trying to convey. I absolutely loved Cairn. 9.5/10 (One practical note, unrelated to the above: if you're playing on Steam Deck, be aware it's unfortunately still very poorly optimized — expect real frame drops. Doesn't affect my score, just a heads-up.)

Walking down often gets stuck, and there’s a bug with jumping where you can get hit in midair. It's hilarious how your joints get all twisted when rock climbing. A typical marketing trap game, actually really boring. BTW, it just crashed on me when I logged in normally a moment ago.

Игра прикольная, но сюжет странный и не понятно что хотели сказать авторы. Пройти рекомендую для новых ощущений.

I loved this game, its different from anything else ive played. Short game but perfect for what it is, wish the survival aspects were more fleshed out. Overall though i enjoyed my time with this game.

CAIRN — 23 heures et une très bonne surprise Je cherchais juste un jeu tranquille à faire en solo pour passer le temps. Au final ? TRÈS. BONNE. SURPRISE. CAIRN est simple à prendre en main, agréable à jouer et surtout, il apporte un vrai petit vent de fraîcheur. Le gameplay fonctionne très bien, l’histoire est intéressante et j’ai vraiment apprécié la liberté qu’on te laisse dans ta façon d’avancer. Visuellement, ce n’est pas du photoréalisme… et tant mieux. La direction artistique est belle, différente, agréable à regarder et ça change franchement de tous les jeux qui cherchent absolument à te montrer chaque pore de peau en 4K. Les défauts ? Franchement…moi. Quand je bloque sur un passage, le problème se situe généralement entre la chaise et l’écran. En difficulté normale, j’arrive au bout de l’histoire après environ 23 heures, donc niveau durée de vie, je trouve ça largement correct. Le jeu tourne nickel, il est beau, relaxant, original et surtout… j’ai pris plaisir à quasiment chaque moment. Si vous cherchez un jeu solo tranquille, avec une vraie ambiance, une histoire sympa et un gameplay différent : foncez. Jusqu’à environ 25 €, je trouve que ça vaut clairement le coup. 9/10 — le point manquant est probablement resté accroché quelque part sur la montagne avec moi.

I usually don't leave any reviews, but I must leave one at this game. Where do I begin... The visuals, the story, the game mechanics just everything is perfect, My first climb took over 14 hours, but it didn't feel like that at all, it felt more like 2 hours. If there is one game I would recommend to anyone, it would be this, huge kudos to the developers for developing this masterpiece.

What a beautiful game all around. I was mesmerised by how well the climbing system works, not without legs twisting unnaturally sometimes, but that's to be expected. Being able to control all limbs separately gave me so much control and it really felt like climbing in real life. I love the physics and space management of the backpack, the cooking and all the little aspects of this game that make it so amazing. Apart from all the gameplay, while I was initially indifferent to the story, it later got through to me and really got philosophical at the end. The music and the ending had me so immersed and on the edge of my seat the whole time. Wow, what a game.