"We wanted to explore that longing for absolute freedom": Cairn is a survival climbing game about human will, endurance, and sacrifice

I don't think I've ever gripped a game controller tighter in my life than while playing the demo for Cairn. It's a climbing sim where you control each of your climbers' limbs as they scale the side of a mountain, while also managing your resources to survive the long, arduous ascent. You play as a climber named Aava, whose goal is to be the first human to reach the summit of the treacherous Mount Kami. Your goal is to get her there.

Cairn's grueling survival framework is novel territory for developer The Game Bakers, whose past works include blood-pumping bullet hell Furi and romance action RPG Haven. But when deciding their next game, studio co-founder and Cairn creative director Emeric Thoa says that the team wanted their next project to focus on a game experience that demanded more skill from the player.

"Climbing felt exciting because it's not only very rich in game design possibilities but also deeply meaningful," Thoa says. "We wanted to explore that longing for absolute freedom that we believe alpinists chase when they risk everything on the mountain."

Making a mountain

We've seen climbing systems in video games for years, from scaling crumbling relics in the Uncharted series to the more recent 'you can climb everything' system in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the indie space, I've spent hours meditatively climbing Don't Nod's mountain in Jusant, as well as punting my friends off the sides of ledges in multiplayer platformer Peak.

Cairn takes a different route from these other interpretations. Climbing is slower, your movements intentional, and your attention hyper-focused. The way you move one hand and foot at a time makes you totally and utterly aware of Aava's body. There's no visual indication to inform you of her status, no stamina bar, grip meter, or red warning symbols. It's all entirely in her body language, which you learn to read. The controller will shake when her muscles tense up, she'll begin to breathe heavily when she's running out of stamina, and she'll sigh in relief when you manage to grip a safe ledge.

This amount of detail is amazing. It's wonderful how much is communicated to the player through reading Aava's reactions alone. I wouldn't normally push for players to use a controller over keyboard and mouse, but with Cairn, I would say it's mandatory. The way you feel her muscles through the controller is something incredibly special. "Watching her climb, hearing her getting out of breath, seeing her limbs tremble – and then steady again the moment you reposition your foothold by an inch, it's a level of detail you rarely see in games, where you usually move all of the character at once," Thoa explains.

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This realism is what sets Cairn apart, and it's something that the team was intent on from the very beginning of development. A major component of creating this realism is the game's sound design. Engineered by Martin Stig Andersen, who's known for their work on Limbo, Inside, Control, and more, Cairn's audio design is a soundscape of wonderful details, but also a fascinating way of communicating information to the player.

"The breathing system he designed is magical: through Aava's breath alone, you can sense her stamina, her efforts, the danger, the frustration," Thoa says. "Another key aspect of the sound design is the mountain itself. We created a dynamic system we call 'mountain intimidation' which lets you 'feel' the mountain presence from the oppressive tension of a deadly rock face to the calm of walking through the grass."

I am so excited about this dynamic system. It sounds like an abstract element of climbing, something that is difficult to explain, like a climber's 'intuitive sense'. Cairn's detailed audio is a way to help the player with their ascent, but that's where The Game Baker's guidance stops. Progress relies on you scanning the rocks for ledges, cracks, footholds, and then carefully using them to ascend. You can climb on anything, so choosing a path could be the difference between success and failure.

To help Aava out, you can chalk up your hands for better grip, shake her arms out to release tension, and hammer pitons into the rock to give her a break. Put your foot on a dodgy foothold, though, and Aava might slip. Leave her hanging for too long, and she'll let go. A mistake or two will result in Aava falling off the wall and plummeting downwards, meeting the inevitable.

Weathering the storm

And it only gets more intense as you climb higher. Thoa says that to begin with, the challenge lies in navigating rough boulders, sheer cliffs, smooth rock faces with few holds, overhangs, and even "ancient stone structures carved into the mountain". But as you ascend, there'll be weather factors too, like snow-covered slopes, thunderstorms, and ice walls. The trailer shows all sorts of wonderful landscapes, which would almost look peaceful if you weren't scaling a mountain thousands of metres high.

"The day-night cycle can also affect your strategy: do you climb at night with limited visibility and freezing temperatures or camp to rest – knowing that thirst and hunger will grow over time?" Thoa says. "The dynamic weather system plays a role: climbing under a clear sky isn't at all the same thing as climbing during a storm, with slippy holds, or in a biting blizzard."

It makes you wonder why on Earth anyone would do this in real life. What drives people to go beyond their limits, like this? Understanding the motivations and headspaces of the climbers and mountaineers who take on these mammoth expeditions is one of the biggest fascinations for those of us left on the ground, and it's something The Game Bakers are keen to explore.

"We were fascinated by the idea that alpinists sacrifice so much to reach those summits," Thoa says. "In the game, you experience not only the efforts and joys Aava goes through as a climber, but also what she's willing to leave behind –- her family, her friends, and the life below. Along the way, you'll encounter other climbers or some of the rare people living on the mountain. You'll discover the lost history of the mountain, the previous expeditions and the troglodyte civilization, or what remains of it – incredible climbers and stonemasons who lived in seclusion high in the mountains."

Revealing the history of the mountain, discovering Aava's own personal journey, and making human connections in the loneliest of places, all while experiencing the thrill and endurance of the climb right at your fingertips… It sounds like Cairn is going to be a very special game when it releases on January 29, and the tension already has me feeling dizzy.