Cairn

At the moment there are fewer than 25 reviews for this on Steam so I'd happily call this out as one of my hidden gems from while I was away.

There were a few moments while playing Cairn where I found myself arching my back forwards towards the TV, sitting right on the edge of the sofa and holding my breath in the same way as I found myself when taking on bosses in such games as Elden Ring and Bloodborne.

This mountaineering survival game superbly sets up the perilous conditions climbers face out there in the wild, not that I really know much about that although I've seen enough climbing documentaries over the years to get this sense of empathy.

Cairn also did a fine job of getting me to care about why you are doing this and in places I think the games difficulty forces you to be as bold and as courageous as you would need to be out there in the real world.

I also just love the art style here and as for the ending, well it's just not worth spoiling here.

Cairn came out in January of this year on PC and the PlayStation 5.

At number 4 is this seat taken offers an incredibly simple idea and one perhaps many of you would have done in the past where you're simply asked to put people in the right seats or we can't put John next to Claire as she's best friends with John's ex-wife's personal trainer, that kind of thing.

Using that little analogy, I found it really easy to try and understand the characters at play here in more detail.

should have paid better attention.

Oh, I didn't hear them say it.

But Cairns, because Cairns, that's all I'm basing it on.

There's a city called Cairns up north in Queensland.

Because it's spelled

like, was it C-A-I-R-N? Yeah.

All right, so we had a full Nintendo Direct the very next day.

They showed that Cairn, one of the earliest Game of the Year contenders of 2026, is coming to Switch 2.

Check it out.

Cairn.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely an early goatee contender.

... we have a couple more to get to before we jump over to, to that announcement.

And we got Cairn, which-

Yeah

... is coming in early 2027, demo available today.

Resident Evil 2: Deluxe Edition, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4: Gold Edition will launch October 16th, 2026, with pre-orders now available.

Cairn launches on Switch 2 early next year with a free demo now live.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight launches on Switch 2 on September 18th.

StageFright is coming to Switch and Switch 2 next year.

[laughs]

Next up we see Cairn.

Wait, I just wanna-

Yeah

Um, a- and then of course there are some series that I will get every single one regardless.

Splatoon is that, Metroid is that, as we'll talk about in just a little bit.

Um, Cairn-

Yes