20 Upcoming Video Games That Could Be Surprise Hits
7. Cairn
Climbing games have been soaring in popularity as of late, and the latest is Cairn - a survival climber from Furi and Haven developers The Game Bakers.
As pro climber Aava, you're tasked with summiting the treacherous, never-before-climbed Mount Kami, and while the game features nothing in the way of traditional combat, the mountain itself has been liked to a colossal, game-long boss fight.
Players will be given the option to figure out how to climb Mount Kami however they like, and far from a casual experience, you'll need to dig deep into the minutiae of hand and foot placement, posture, and balance, while managing resources like pitons and chalk.
As infuriating as that might sound to some, the developers have also made it clear that Cairn will feature adjustable difficulty settings - this isn't some one-size-fits-all exercise in chastising the player, but rather an attempt to create an authentic and richly atmospheric representation of climbing.
The demo released this past summer received an impressive 500,000 downloads, so perhaps it won't be quite so shocking if the final game actually shifts a ton of units.
Cairn releases Q1 2026.