New PS5 Console Exclusive Is the Highest-Rated Game of 2026…

New PlayStation 5 console exclusive Cairn has debuted to outstanding reviews, with its immense level of critical acclaim making it the currently highest-rated 2026 game on any platform. While it's also available on PC, its early commercial momentum appears to be largely driven by PS5 owners, based on some circumstantial evidence.

The eighth title from French indie studio The Game Bakers—known for Furi, Haven, and Squids Odyssey—Cairn is a survival climbing game featuring stunning vistas and unforgiving challenges. Set on the fictional Mount Kami, it tasks players with planning routes and managing resources while navigating increasingly perilous terrain. Cairn was released via the PlayStation Store and Steam this Thursday, January 29, shortly following the 18-month anniversary of its original announcement at Day of the Devs 2024.

Cairn Debuts To Outstanding Reviews

The Cairn review embargo was lifted just ahead of the game's global release, which took place at noon ET / 6pm CET. Within four hours of The Game Bakers lifting its review restrictions, the game accumulated 40 professional reviews tracked by OpenCritic, with an average score of 87 and a 90% recommendation rate. Apart from earning it the elusive "Mighty" rating on the platform, these impressive metrics officially make Cairn the highest-scoring 2026 title to date. While the year is still in its early days, this overwhelmingly positive reception reinforces Cairn’s previously established reputation as one of January’s most exciting new titles.

Cairn Review Roundup

OpenCritic: 87 avg. Score, 90% recommendation rate
PS Store: 4.64-star player rating
Steam: no user rating yet

Looking beyond arbitrary out-of-context numbers, early Cairn reviews are near-unanimous in their praise for the game's art style, which blends minimalism with strong naturalistic influences, but heavily stylizes both while being guided by colorimetry and several other principles. This approach aligns with the portfolio of Mathieu Bablet, a longtime French comic artist who served as both art director and writer for Cairn. Bablet is known for richly colored illustrations and imposing compositions, often framing landscapes in highly dramatic ways—all techniques evident throughout the game.

Top 10 Highest-Rated Games of (January) 2026, According to OpenCritic

#	Game	Platform(s)	Avg. Score	% Recommend
1	Cairn	PC, PS5	87	90%
2	Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven	PC, PS4/5, XSXS, Switch 1/2	86	100%
3	Escape from Ever After	PC, Switch, XB1, XBXS, PS5	84	91%
4	Temirana: The Lucky Princess and the Tragic Knights	Switch	83	100%
5	The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon	PC, PS4/5, Switch 1/2	83	91%
6	TR-49	PC	83	100%
7	MIO: Memories in Orbit	PC, PS5, XSXS, Switch 1/2	83	82%
8	Pathologic 3	PC, PS5, XBXS	81	82%
9	Arknights: Endfield	PC, PS5	80	83%
10	Earth Must Die	PC	79	67%

While it's too early for official sales figures, Cairn already accumulating thousands of user reviews on the PlayStation Store is an encouraging sign. Review-to-purchase ratios vary widely by genre, developer, region, and other factors, but they typically skew low—often requiring hundreds or even thousands of purchases per a single user-submitted rating. As such, an indie title generating roughly 3,500 PS Store player reviews within hours of release is a circumstantial but meaningful indicator that Cairn could emerge as one of the strongest commercial performers of January 2026, despite launching at the tail end of the month.

Cairn is currently available at a small launch discount of 10%, bringing its price down to $26.99 until February 12 on both Steam and the PS Store.

Going by the same metric, Cairn appears to have had a more modest start on Steam, with just over 100 user reviews three hours after launch. These early impressions align with its critical reception, as Valve’s system currently labels them “Very Positive.” According to more specific data sourced from the Steam API, more than 82.6% of current Cairn reviews on the platform—few as they may be—are positive. Its encouraging debut adds to the mini-boom of traversal-centric games, ranging from Death Stranding to Baby Steps.

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