Cairn, the survival climbing game from French studio The Game Bakers, gets its first piece of extra content on Thursday 29 October. Called On the Trail: Deep Water, the DLC is free for everyone who already owns the game. It adds three new climbing spots, two of them sea cliffs, and finally lets you climb as Marco. It was first due on 13 August and arrives two and a half months late, after the studio added an energy system that changes how you approach every route. If you’ve already reached the summit of Mount Kami, it’s a good excuse to chalk up again.
At a glance
On the Trail: Deep Water, Cairn’s first free DLC, launches on 29 October with three new climbing spots.
On the cliffs of Haken and Ruka you climb above the sea, and a fall ends with a splash instead of a failed ascent.
Marco becomes playable, and a free update released alongside the DLC adds a Free Roam mode on Mount Kami.
Two sea cliffs to climb above the water
Three locations make up Deep Water, according to the DLC’s Steam page. The cliffs of Haken and Ruka are all about overhangs, where the wall leans out above you and the sea waits below. The headline feature is water soloing: you climb without a rope, and if you let go, you drop into the sea with no lasting consequence. The third spot, the Lamu climbing gym, brings a fresh set of problems to solve in a more enclosed setting.
Since these spots are much smaller than the Mount Kami of the base game, The Game Bakers has added a constraint to keep the pressure on, as explained in the release date announcement posted on Cairn’s Steam page on 20 September. You now have a limited amount of energy to finish each climb, and every effort and every mistake tires you out. Picking your gear and your route matters more here than on the big mountain, where you could set up a bivouac and start again.
As for the story, you follow the trail of a legendary climber, and each location hides part of their history along with a few secrets to uncover. On the Trail is also meant as a series: Deep Water is the first instalment, and more free DLCs are planned, according to the Steam page.
Marco brings his own way of climbing
In the base game, Marco follows Aava’s progress from a distance. With Deep Water he finally gets on the wall, and The Game Bakers warns that he handles differently. He’s shorter and less flexible than Aava, but he makes up for it with his reach, his strong arms and a newer climbing robot. According to the studio, his style may throw you even if you already know the game inside out.
Alongside the DLC, a free update adds a Free Roam mode. It lets you return to Mount Kami as Aava or Marco and explore every path the mountain has to offer. Anyone who finished Cairn without seeing everything now has a good reason to go back, this time with a second climber.
Deep Water took longer than planned. Announced on 6 June for 13 August, it was pushed back on 21 July so the team could add more features, and the studio settled on 29 October in September. Sal Romano’s report on the new date for Gematsu also confirms that the Switch 2 version of Cairn is due in early 2027.
Nine months on, Cairn is in the awards race
Cairn came out on 29 January 2026 on PC and PS5. You play Aava, a professional climber attempting Mount Kami, a summit nobody has ever reached. You can climb anywhere, and you have to manage your supplies on the way up: pitons, chalk and finger tape, but also food, water and medicine. It comes from the makers of Furi and Haven, with music and sound design by the team behind Limbo and Inside, and art and story by comic book artist Mathieu Bablet.
Awards season has caught up with the game too, with two Golden Joystick nominations. The Game Bakers announced nominations for Best Indie Game (Self Published) and Best Trailer, and the public vote is open. Cairn costs £24.99 on Steam, and the DLC is free for existing owners. You’ll find the Deep Water date, along with the rest of the year’s launches, in our video game release calendar.