cournz Cairn Review

Cairn is one of those special games that, while I enjoy the moment-to-moment gameplay, it doesn't generally align with my preferred gaming mechanics. I've never been big into physics-based gameplay. In my experience it's often frustrating to play games with such a thin margin of error (think: Bennett Foddy games). While it is reasonably grounded in real-world physics, Cairn is not so punishing that the mountain becomes insurmountable to the average player. I found the climbing in this game surprising and thrilling. There were several cliffs that I began to scale with what I thought was a clean line, only to find about halfway up that I picked potentially the worst line available. It's a game that benefits from prior knowledge of climbing, but also a game that teaches as you ascend. A ran into a small number of bugs during my 13hr ascent but, given how much complex math is going on in the background, the bugs didn't bother me all too much. The story and particularly the main character Aava were an unexpected highlight. Without spoiling aspects of the story (which is told through a variety of cutscenes, notes/journal entries, and voicemails), I think first-time players will be caught off guard by how The Game Breakers lean into the wordbuilding and characters of Cairn. Aava is a difficult main character, one who I didn't always like and more often didn't agree with, but she is compelling in her singular obsession. Great game, worth the price of admission and playtime. 4 / 5