I’m an awful rock climber. Being scared of heights probably doesn’t help. But when I’ve tried it, I’ve loved the slow, methodical work of moving from one ledge to the next. It reminds me a lot of why I love running; in both sports, you achieve goals that seem insurmountable by taking them one step at a time. Cairn, a new game from The Game Bakers, is one of the few games I’ve played that truly captures that feeling.
You play as Aava, a famous climber obsessed with summiting a mountain called Kami. You climb by moving all four of Aava’s limbs, one by one, to find safe cracks, bumps, and ledges to let you inch your way higher, all while manag …