Cairn is so niche, but it is already staking claims to be one of 2026’s games of the year

I love finding niche games and introducing them to people who wouldn’t ordinarily play them, and I feel that with Cairn, I have my first one of 2026.

Montpellier-based The Game Bakers have done this to us before, most recently back in 2020 with the excellent Haven, but Cairn, from the off, is something special too.

For starters we don’t get many games based around mountaineering, although co-op hit Peak bucked that trend last year, but Cairn is a much more serious climbing game.

Back when I got my first Oculus Rift, Crytek’s The Climb was one of the first games I played on it, and I loved it. It’s also probably worth saying I have never tried climbing for real in my life, and if I had, well, I wouldn’t be here writing this today, I’d be a squashed heap among the rocks at the bottom. True story, I fell down the stairs in my house last week and knocked myself senseless. Mountaineering is not my next hobby of choice.

The premise is simple enough: “Reach a summit never climbed before in this survival-climber from the creators of Furi and Haven. Climb anywhere and plan your route carefully, managing pitons and resources to survive unforgiving Mount Kami. Discover what Aava is willing to sacrifice to achieve the ascent of a lifetime.”

You are Aava, and when you set out, you will be joining the 100,000 climbers who have started the adventure so far in just a day or so since launch.

Everything begins in a climbing center where you learn, pardon the pun, the ropes. But is it the mechanics of climbing that The Game Bakers have nailed here. As you ascend anything, be it a training tower or a monstrous rock face, you need to plot your moves so you can reach the holds with your fingers and toes, or else, well, it’s a long way down.

I’m really not doing it justice here. You control each limb independently, and the game selects the appropriate next limb to move, although this can be overridden. The joystick pushes your arm or leg out in the direction you want, and by holding your press down a little longer you can force Aava to stretch for those extra vital inches.

Where Cairn wins for me, though, is two things: first, the cel-shaded art style is spectacular, especially on an ultrawide monitor; the vistas are beyond incredible, but more importantly, it is the feeling of absolute freedom once you climb out into the real world beyond the training centre.

There is no guidance, no hints, no pushing you towards a certain rock face to begin your ascent. You need to assess what’s in front of you, choose and go for it. If you get it wrong, maybe try and find a better route, although on Cairn’s toughest difficulty, permadeath hinders that grand plan somewhat.

I also like the fact that it’s not set on a real mountain but has enough sci-fi surrounding its story to make it truly intriguing. You even have a little robotic Climbbot pal keeping you company on your trek. Cairn is serious mountaineering, but it’s not real mountaineering, if that makes sense?

I’m not reviewing Cairn here, even though I have been playing it all weekend; I am just urging you to check it out on either Steam or PlayStation, where it is gaining hugely popular reviews on both.

I’m not joking about game of the year – that will be pointless if GTA VI comes out, as that’s where the sheep will go, but there are enough people in the Steam reviews saying, whoa, this is one of the best games they have ever played. The labor of love that the devs have created here is a rarity, and Cairn deserves as many people to play it as possible, even if, like me, you don’t know your crampons from your sleeping bag