The Game Bakers, the indie game developer behind 2016’s Furi and 2020’s Haven, is celebrating the success of its latest title, the mountain climbing simulator Cairn, which has sold over 200,000 copies within the first weekend of its release on 29 January.
Announced via a post on the studio’s social media pages, Cairn’s performance is even more impressive considering its niche genre, alongside minimal marketing prior to its release. The game also sits in the number 22 spot on Steam’s “Top Sellers” list at the time of writing, with an all-time peak of 14,996 concurrent players, a notable feat for a game with such a specific gameplay style. Additionally, the game’s critical reception has been excellent as well, with 94 percent of its 3,268 reviews being positive.
Offering a middle ground between relaxing climbing simulators like Don’t Nod’s Jusant (2023) and more realistic titles like ByteRockers’ Games’ Insurmountable (2021). Cairn is a single-player survival simulator that features realistic climbing with simple controls. The main draw here is that players are free to climb the game’s mountains in any way they please, requiring them to read the rock face and plan their routes accordingly.
Additionally, apart from the climbing itself, players will also need to manage their resources to survive the ascent, ensuring that they not only have a healthy supply of pitons, chalk and finger tape, but also food, water and medicine as well, which they can find by exploring the mountain. While the game is meant to challenge players, it also provides adjustable difficulty levels to suit each player’s experience, which is always nice to see.
In today’s oversaturated gaming world filled with live-service titles, overly complex AAA releases and endless roguelikes, it’s heartening to see that some developers are still prioritising offering unique, single-player experiences over following industry trends, and hopefully, Cairn’s success can inspire other developers, indie or otherwise, to follow suit. Cairn is now available on the PS5 and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
