Game intel
Cairn
Go on a ritual hike with your mother in Cairn, a ruminant poem-game.
The Game Bakers just showed off Free Solo for Cairn, and it immediately pinged my Furi-bruised brain. This studio made its name on precision (Furi) and tactile feel (Haven), and now it’s applying that philosophy to a climbing sim where you ditch safety gear entirely. No pitons, no second chances-if you slip, you die. Ahead of Gamescom 2025, this is the kind of mode that separates a “climbing game” from a true climbing experience.
Free Solo is exactly what it says on the tin: you climb with zero protection. Cairn already asked you to think like a climber-managing posture, stamina, and four-limb placement—but this mode removes the training wheels. No pitons to catch a mistake. No mid-route checkpoints. That choice pushes Cairn from “challenging” into “commitment.” Every reach, every shift of weight, every greedy grab becomes a bet with your entire run.
The Game Bakers say the mode arrives with the full launch on November 5 for PC and PS5, and you can try the demo now to get a feel for the limb-by-limb control. If you bounced off climbing systems that felt too automated, this one is refreshingly hands-on. Think less cinematic parkour, more “white-knuckling a crimp while your forearm screams.”
What grabbed me is how Free Solo reframes time. In most action games, failure is a slap on the wrist—reload, try again. In Free Solo, a fall after a 20-30 minute ascent is a gut punch. It’s the same psychological hit that made masocore platformers and no-hit challenge runs explode on Twitch. I can already see creators labbing routes, arguing about “safe” sequences, and posting clips where a single fingertip save becomes legend.
That said, this will not be for everyone. The risk/reward loop here is brutal. If you’re the type who needs a steady diet of micro-checkpoints, Free Solo might feel hostile. But as an optional mode, it’s a strong identity play. It says Cairn believes its physics, stamina, and balance systems are good enough to carry the entire experience without safety nets. Coming from the studio that tuned Furi’s boss fights until they sang, that confidence matters.
We’ve seen lots of games flirt with climbing—open-world magnets that let you spider up anything, stylish ascents like Jusant, comedic punishment like Getting Over It, and arcade-y romps like Surmount. Cairn’s pitch is closer to the rock gym: deliberate movement, body positioning, and knowing when to rest. Free Solo amplifies that philosophy. It trades accessibility for authenticity, which is a risky but interesting bet when the market is flooded with comfort-first design.
The Game Bakers’ track record also matters. Furi’s high execution ceiling made it a cult classic because it respected players’ time and skill. Haven went the other way—gentler, more intimate—but still felt great in the hands. If Cairn can marry Furi’s precision with Haven’s tactile feedback, Free Solo could be the mode that gives it legs beyond launch: speedruns, community route guides, and “did you see that save?” clips for months.
Free Solo lives or dies on readability. Players need to read stamina and posture at a glance, not puzzle out UI mid-hold. The demo already leans on physical cues—trembling limbs, labored breathing—which is a smart move. Controllers are the way to go here; fine control over individual limbs and weight transfer is hard to achieve on keys alone. The risk is frustration if inputs feel sticky or if camera angles fight you at critical moments. That’s the kind of polish The Game Bakers typically deliver, but it’s the first thing I’ll look for in the demo.
One lingering question: practice tooling. If Free Solo is truly one-and-done per climb, players will want ways to rehearsal-route safely elsewhere—trainer walls, ghost runs, or separate modes that let you experiment without throwing away a run. The studio has historically listened to feedback (Furi eventually added options without dulling its edge), so I’m curious what they ship post-demo.
With Free Solo in the mix, Cairn’s November 5 launch isn’t just another indie climbing release—it’s a statement about stakes. On PS5 and PC, the conversation won’t be “how big is the map?” but “how clean is your route?” If the community latches onto this, expect leaderboards, unofficial challenges, and a lot of “no-piton” bragging rights. If it misses, it’ll be because the friction (inputs, camera, readability) got in the way of the fantasy. Either way, the demo makes it easy to find out which camp you’re in before release.
Cairn’s Free Solo mode strips the climb to its terrifying essentials: one slip equals death. It’s a bold, skill-first move from The Game Bakers that could fuel a thriving challenge community—if the controls and readability hold up. The demo is live now, with the full game landing on PC and PS5 November 5.
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