Cairn Executive Producer and Narrative Director Talks Slowing Down and Focusing on the Climb Ahead

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The survival game Cairn, which centers around climbing and tells a compelling story, has already attracted over 300,000 players. Since its release on January 29th, Cairn has quickly become one of the most popular indie games of the year.

In this game, you play as Aava, a professional climber attempting to make history by being the first to reach the top of Mount Kami. While Mount Kami is a made-up mountain, the game establishes that it’s similar in size and difficulty to Mount Everest, which is 29,032 feet (8,848.9 meters) tall.

Audrey Leprince, CEO of The Game Bakers, explained to TopMob that they prioritize clear goals in their games. She said they enjoy when a game’s objective directly matches what the player is doing – for example, if you see a mountain, you know you’re supposed to climb it. They appreciate that straightforwardness.

While It May Be a Simple Ethos, Crafting the Gameplay Was Anything But

I was really excited about Cairn, and it turns out a lot of gamers and climbers felt the same way – the team was a little worried about how it would be received at first. But going to the Game Developers Conference in California and seeing the reaction firsthand totally put those fears to rest. It was amazing to see so many people connect with the game!

Leprince explained that the climbing community who tried the game were very positive, saying it felt like real climbing. They were pleased with how realistic it felt, which was a surprise to the developers, as they knew the game wasn’t a perfect simulation.

The game’s creators clearly embraced the same values as the climbers they aimed to realistically portray. They prioritized a straightforward, uncluttered experience, emphasizing the difficulty of the climb and the stunning scenery.

To accurately capture the experience of climbing for players, the development team went to great lengths, even traveling to Mount Blanc – the tallest peak in France. There, they climbed with a guide to a height of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet), as explained by Leprince. Throughout the five years of development, they also consulted with various climbers, including French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol.

Élise Revol is a highly accomplished climber with a long history of successful ascents in the French Alps. She even reached the summit of Nanga Parbat, a famously dangerous mountain in Pakistan. Tragically, her climbing partner, Tomasz Mackiewicz, died during the expedition.

We spent a lot of time learning about climbing,” Leprince explained. “Surprisingly, about half the team actually started climbing, and even now, four or five of our fifteen team members are still passionate about it and do it regularly. It’s mostly people from our level design team – it’s been a really positive experience.”

Leprince grew up around climbing, as her father was an experienced alpinist who even tried to scale the challenging K2 mountain in the Himalayas.

From the beginning, the development team aimed to make players feel fully immersed in the experience of climbing – almost every element of it, in fact. According to Leprince, they wanted players to truly feel like the main character, Aava, and minimized anything that would distance them from the climb itself, the mountain, and Aava’s physical experience. Their goal was to create a realistic, human, and physically engaging climb.

This design approach resulted in the game’s survival elements, where players must monitor their character’s hunger, temperature, and skin condition. According to Leprince, the team focused on creating a strong sense of immersion, making players truly feel like they are the character.

We aimed to show just how challenging and demanding climbing is, both physically and mentally. It requires incredible resilience, motivation, and determination, especially when tackling massive peaks like the 8000-meter mountains Aava climbs.

In Cairn, we really wanted players to understand what drives people to climb mountains – why they risk so much and sacrifice so much to be there. That’s the central question the game explores, and we wanted players to feel that journey for themselves.

Building The Game One Hold at a Time

The team spent years developing a completely new gameplay system, focusing on both the controls and level design, according to Leprince. They also faced the challenge of guiding players without using the common video game mechanic of brightly colored climbable surfaces. This deliberate lack of a clear path actually helped them establish the unique rhythm and flow of Cairn.

According to Leprince, the most effective way to pace a game and prevent players from rushing is to present them with frequent and meaningful choices and tactical decisions.

We gave players a lot of freedom and didn’t direct them with specific instructions. Instead, we presented the game’s systems and let them figure things out on their own—experimenting with different approaches and adapting as they played. Because of this, we didn’t need to focus on making the game move quickly; the natural exploration and problem-solving became the driving force.

Climbing requires a lot of patience and deliberate movements. It’s important to move slowly, carefully planning each step and taking the time to check your gear. Rushing is never a good idea. The game developers, The Game Bakers, successfully captured this feeling in their game through its thoughtful design and the character Aava, making players feel like they truly need to be methodical.

Aava is quick in short bursts, but can’t maintain speed for very long. While she can speed walk, it takes a toll on her. The developers deliberately made Aava slower to emphasize her personal story and the immersive environment. As Leprince put it, “Climbers don’t usually run between climbs—it’s a time to rest, breathe, and appreciate the scenery.”

Crafting the World of Cairn

While climbing is central to the gameplay of Cairn, the game also emphasizes its unique world and the mountain itself. The developers collaborated with French comic artist Mathieu Bablet to create the game’s distinctive, cel-shaded art style. Leprince notes that Bablet is a rising star in the French comics scene, and Cairn marked his first foray into video game design.

Leprince praised the outcome, saying it was fantastic. He explained that the design drew heavily from established, sophisticated work, but also from the natural beauty of the mountains themselves. He believes there’s nothing more appealing than the countryside.

As a huge fan of immersive experiences, I was really struck by how much the visual style of Cairn contributed to its overall atmosphere. But it wasn’t just about how it looked; the developers really wanted you to feel like you were there – to practically feel the textures of the rocks under Aava’s hands, hear the wind and rain, and even feel the crunch of grass. To achieve this incredible level of detail, they brought in Martin Stig Andersen, a sound designer I really admire – he’s the talent behind the soundscapes of games like Limbo, Inside, and Control, so they were in great hands!

According to Leprince, Andersen was incredibly meticulous, even going to extreme lengths like breaking bones to create sounds for the game Limbo and recording audio inside a skull. Leprince then collaborated with one of Aava’s voice actors, Sophia Eleni, to record between 6,000 and 8,000 breaths and sounds of exertion.

Eleni was intensely physically active – doing push-ups, handstands, running, and even acting out being injured, all while making a lot of noise. Leprince has videos of Martin working with her, and she often records hours of footage capturing her exertion, including grunts, heavy breathing, and sounds of pain. Meanwhile, Martin created a beautiful, immersive soundscape that feels so realistic, people can understand what’s happening just by listening to it, even with their eyes closed, Leprince explained.

Camille Constantin Da Silva provided the voice for Aava and performed most of her singing. Eleni recorded the majority of Aava’s spoken lines.

Leprince praised Eleni’s performance as Aava, highlighting her ability to portray the character’s vulnerability and underlying humor. Despite Aava often being perceived as harsh, Eleni brought a sense of warmth and humanity to the role, revealing the delicate side beneath her strong and determined exterior as a climber.

The game’s sound isn’t just about creating a believable world; it also gives players important hints during gameplay. The developers carefully considered how to represent stamina. When Aava is exhausted, you can hear it in her breathing and groans. She’ll also start to visibly shake, and if the player hasn’t recently reinforced the walls with protective gear, she’s likely to fall.

We used to show players how much energy they had with on-screen meters that changed color – red, orange, and green – but we took those out,” explained Leprince. “That’s why we focused so much on making the sound, camera work, animation, and character performances really strong. We want players to understand what’s going on just by experiencing it, not by looking at numbers.

During the early stages of developing Cairn, the team initially used a clear visual cue to show players when Aava had a good grip. However, they decided to remove it because it didn’t align with their goal of keeping the gameplay simple and streamlined.

You can tell if a climbing hold is good just by the sound it makes. That’s why we stripped everything back – we wanted a minimalist design that focuses on creating new sensations and a fully immersive experience,” Leprince explained.

What’s next for Cairn?

The Game Bakers

We’re already creating new content for Cairn and will share details in the next few months. We’re aiming to release it much sooner than two years, and we definitely have more plans in the works.

Leprince explained that Cairn currently offers a full and satisfying experience, suggesting that new content won’t necessarily center around Aava’s story. The team will share details when they’re prepared, and it seems many players are eager to play again once the update is released.

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2026-02-21 14:07