Furi and Haven developer The Game Bakers have always been elusive, and the revelation of the “survival climber” Stone pilea game where you have to climb a mountain with rationed supplies and realistic animations and physics just made that more difficult. It’s the third game in a loosely defined trilogy with a freedom theme and looks unlike any survival game I’ve played.
In an interview with GamesRadar+, executive producer and designer Audrey Leprince and creative content director and designer Emeric Thoa tell me about the origins of this seemingly unlikely game for the studio. Well, I say that, but thanks to Jusant, somehow this won’t be the first modern mountaineering game from a French developer. (Thoa says they were already years into development on Cairn when Jusant was announced.)
Furi had a clear rhythm to its frantic combat, and Haven almost feels like a real rhythm game at times, but Cairn “is something else.” It shares some similarities with meme-esque physics games like Octodad, only it’s taken it a step further, and then another, and then far enough that it’s finally based on a neat, polished control scheme. The idea is to convey the feeling of every carefully outstretched arm, wobbly leg, and desperate search for purchase as you climb. Physical effort is a core mechanic, and there’s a mental component too, in the form of climbing accessories—ropes and anchors, etc., which must be placed with care and forethought.
“You control your character and your limbs, and when you’re in the flow you can climb well without too much effort,” says Thoa. “You really feel the pace of the timing, which is slow but still different from other games, and because we decided that early on, you end up with a completely different game.”
“I think the hallmark of The Game Bakers’ games is that we try to make outstanding games that go in one direction,” adds Leprince. “It’s always been that way. Furi was all boss fights. This one is almost all climbing. The idea is that people notice them and hopefully remember them. We put a lot of emphasis on the story and the emotions that players will go through. And ideally, the gameplay is the same as the meaning of the game. It’s hard. You climb. It’s difficult. You push yourself, then you succeed and feel this joy. You push yourself beyond your limits.”
In some ways, the mountain in Cairn serves a similar role to the bosses in Furi, but you encounter it in a completely different way. In fact, the original idea for Furi was a long boss fight. “Now it’s a mountain,” says Thoa, “and I think it’s very similar. There’s no other game like Cairn, it’s just a climbing mechanic, which isn’t a climbing game with no combat or survival timers. We find it hard to compare it to other games, so it’s hard to find references.
“I initially tried to compare it to survival horror games like Resident Evil, but with climbing. A wall is a zombie, and you have to manage your resources the same way you manage bullets and health items in Resident Evil. Here you have pitons and other things for your health and climbing gear. But I think we go a little deeper into the survival elements, as we also have to manage our hunger, thirst, cold and rest. Those things are more climbing and hiking and alpinism.”
Leprince, Thoa and other members of the development team actually started mountaineering to gain hands-on experience, and also consulted mountaineer Élisabeth Revol, who has completed 8,000-meter ascents. Revol made headlines in 2018 after losing her partner in the Pakistani Himalayas.
Cairn is set to be released in 2025, and the future of The Game Bakers remains unpredictable. “To be honest, we don’t have a next game in mind yet, because right now we’re 100% focused on Cairn,” says Thoa. “We have a lot of things we want to do, because there’s nothing we like more than making games. Ideally, we’ll try smaller games, games with the same budget and the same mindset.”
“We like action adventures in general and I think we want to have a lot of gameplay. I don’t think we’ll ever do too much management or too much narrative,” Leprince adds. “We’ll always have some kind of gameplay that’s interesting, that balances the meaning of the game and what you’re actually doing in the game and then creates very strong experiences.” Music to my ears.
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