Cairn

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 94%Very Positive · 94%2026

−30%~~$29.99~~$20.99

US Steam price, checked 1 h ago

The verdict

A tense, beautiful climbing game with a superb soundtrack and a moving story. Skip it if janky auto limb selection or a prickly protagonist would sour you.

Great for

Patient players who like tense, meditative challenges, climbing fans, and story- and music-driven indies

Main risk

Janky auto limb selection and inconsistent grip/stamina cause unfair falls and lost progress

What players love

Immersive, tense climbing

Mentioned in ~1 in 2 positive reviews

“As a climber of 10 years this is the closest thing youll ever get in a video game to a true climbing experience.”
Steam review · 17.6 h played ↗

“Climbing mechanic is addictive and so immersive; I've never had a video game literally make me sweat like this.”
Steam review · 15.5 h played ↗

“You plan your route to the summit, how to place your feet and where to grab, as if you're inside the game yourself.”
Steam review · translated · 19.2 h played ↗

Moving, thought-provoking story

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews

“What I've got additionally was an emotional and philosophical journey about life & death, love & hate, struggle & overcoming and existence itself”
Steam review · 17.7 h played ↗

“But by the ending and all the way through the credits I was emotionally drained.”
Steam review · translated · 13.7 h played ↗

Beautiful art direction and vistas

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“The art direction is bold and distinct.”
Steam review · 13.8 h played ↗

“Incredibly beautiful game. Mesmerizing landscapes and music.”
Steam review · translated · 20.1 h played ↗

Excellent soundtrack and sound design

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“The sound design in general deserves a lot of praise, both in effects and in music.”
Steam review · 16.9 h played ↗

“This game is a perfect mix of fun gameplay, beautiful visuals, and a really gorgeous soundtrack.”
Steam review · 2 h played ↗

Rewarding exploration and survival

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews

“the exploration was really well done. I never lost that sense of wonder throughout my whole climb”
Steam review · 16.5 h played ↗

“The cooking and survival aspects are also wonderful, they're so fun!”
Steam review · 63.9 h played ↗

Challenging but rewarding, replayable

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews

“Chill vibe but the climb can be frustrating, which makes summitting way more rewarding.”
Steam review · 23.2 h played ↗

“There is so many routes you can take with various difficulties to chalange yourself.”
Steam review · 29.4 h played ↗

What players complain about

Inconsistent grip, stamina and physics

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews

“The number of times my character was standing on perfectly flat ground, started shaking for no reason, and then fell is ridiculous.”
Steam review · 14.7 h played ↗

“the overwhelming majority of the time I fall it does not feel like something I can control or that I made a mistake”
Steam review · 19.7 h played ↗

“Sometimes you stand firmly without holding anything, and other times you grip tightly with hands and feet and still run out of strength and fall.”
Steam review · translated · 11.6 h played ↗

Auto limb selection works against you

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“The automatic limb selection is so poorly designed that 50% of the time it will just select the worst body part it can to kill me.”
Steam review · 7.3 h played ↗

“I've only played about 11 hours and I can not count how many times the game switches me back and forth between the feet when I need to move a hand to keep my climber on the wall.”
Steam review · 11.5 h played ↗

“Every fall is not because you failed at something, but because of this awful control scheme.”
Steam review · translated · 3.1 h played ↗

Unlikable, abrasive protagonist

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“The main character is insufferable. the game itself is fun, great climbing mechanics”
Steam review · 6.1 h played ↗

“Main character is super annoying and throws tantrums when you fall - had to turn voice volume way down.”
Steam review · 6.2 h played ↗

“The game's biggest flaw is the story and the constantly screaming protagonist.”
Steam review · translated · 12.9 h played ↗

Poor performance and optimization

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“The performance issues are horrible on the deck. Micro stuttering, various visual glitches, input lag, and sound issues.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

“i played the demo when it came out and it ran so smoothly. how tf am i getting 20 fps in game wtf.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗

Bugs and lost progress from long unsaved stretches

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“This game has absolutely no respect for the player's time. Losing 40–60 minutes of progress because of bugs or unfair events is unacceptable.”
Steam review · 6.9 h played ↗

“if your game is intentionally going to have 40+ min intervals where you cannot save, then the game CANNOT EVER CRASH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.”
Steam review · 9.8 h played ↗

Weak ending and hard final stretch

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews

“Mostly good game but the ending ruins it”
Steam review · 23.9 h played ↗

“But man what a dissapointment when it ends almost immediately without any chance whatsoever to enjoy your feat.”
Steam review · 20.6 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i7-6700 (4 * 3400), AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (4 * 3500) or equivalent

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsGeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4096 MB), Radeon RX 570 (8192 MB)

Storage10 GB available space

Recommended

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i7-10700 (8 * 2900), AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8 * 3600) or equivalent

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsGeforce RTX 2060 Super (6144 MB), Radeon RX 5700 (8192 MB)

Storage10 GB available space

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i7-6700 (4 * 3400), AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (4 * 3500) or equivalent

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsGeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4096 MB), Radeon RX 570 (8192 MB)

Storage10 GB available space

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