Our impressions on Cairn

Driftwood
Thursday, January 29, 2026 | 3:00 PM
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GSY Video PS5 Xbox Series X PC

For French developers, the year begins with titles that require a pretty high level of skills to master. Following Haven, which was in stark contrast to Furi as it was not meant to be a challenging experience, French studio The Game Bakers is back with Cairn, a game that focuses on climbing in a way that is, to say the least, quite different from what we've been used to in the past 30 years. Far from the accessibility of a game like Jusant, this is more of a simulator wrapped up in a good dose of storytelling. Check out our impressions and gameplay video on PS5 Pro, just after the click.

Gameplay video on PS5 Pro

Verdict after a few hours of climbing

The start of 2026 seems to be marked by games that make us want to pick up the controller, but also put our nerves to the test. The Game Bakers' new title is really a game we're enjoying, but its demanding and unforgiving approach to climbing can make it quite frustrating and discouraging at times. By default, you'll have to manage the hunger, thirst, and body temperature of Aava, the climber you play as in the game. Of course, you'll also have to pace her efforts and choose your holds (and therefore your climbing routes) carefully, or she'll let go when she runs out of stamina. You can use pitons along the way, but they are limited in number and can be damaged (and subsequently rendered unusable) if you miss the QTE that triggers when you plant them. Rain and cold will also hamper your climb, so you'll need to make good use of the few save points you'll encounter along the way, and don't hesitate to set up camp there to tend to your wounds, repair your pitons, or prepare food (to enjoy a few bonuses in stamina, resistance, etc., depending on the recipes). Of course, if the “survival” aspect scares you, and you don't want to have to save your climbing tools, various accessibility options allow you to disable the most punishing features for a less stressful experience. This is a way of leaving the door open to less experienced players, which we think is a good idea, but to enjoy the experience as it was originally intended by the studio, it's best to steer clear of these options.

After playing Cairn for a few hours and climbing a number of steep cliffs, while finding exploration areas (sometimes well hidden) along the way offering snippets of environmental storytelling (or handwritten notes and letters), we must admit that we particularly enjoyed our small victories over the game's very hostile environment. At the same time, Cairn wasn't always kind to us, and we regularly let out a few expletives and other verbal delights. Some routes marked as fairly easy sometimes seemed a little misleading, due to a lack of handholds and surfaces that were too smooth to progress easily, but since the game offers a certain amount of freedom to choose your path, you can progress by choosing whether or not to challenge yourself. However, it's not always easy, and we advise you not to hesitate to use your pitons regularly (and not to miss the QTE in the process), but from what we've seen, the journey seems to be worth it. The climbing mechanics are pretty good, even if the main character does get into some strange contortions, but navigating on foot can be a little awkward at times due to the uneven terrain. Ultimately, this isn't really a problem, especially since most of the movement takes place on the cliff-side. However, it should be noted that Aava walks very slowly, and although it is possible to make her move a little faster by holding down a button on the controller, we strongly advise against doing so as this action reduces her health bar (an odd choice to say the least).

On the artistic side, the game features a comic book style with graphics that deliver some truly dazzling panoramas, and the music, although not omnipresent, contributes greatly to the game's unique (and highly successful) atmosphere. As in MIO, the visual style won't necessarily appeal to everyone, but the fact is that it gives the game real personality. Special mention goes to the splendid skies, whatever the time of day, which the Photo mode allows you to capture regularly. It's a shame, however, that the PlayStation 5 Pro version we tested couldn't guarantee flawless fluidity at 60 frames per second. Although the performance seems a little better than on the trial version released some time ago, it's not optimal at certain points in the game, which is inevitably regrettable in a game like this. On PC, the results are much more favorable in this regard, although it all depends on your configuration, the options you choose (there are just a few of them though - rock quality, environment, and lighting only), and the resolution at which you play. Note that even if DLSS, FSR, or XeSS do not appear in the game menu, it is still possible to choose the game's 3D resolution rendering, which can be different from the one in which you run the game natively. With our 2080 Ti, this allowed us to play in 4K while reducing the load on our machine, without having to sacrifice image quality too much.