United KingdomIn future please make sure recording starts before the difficulty is selected
Verified. But in future please make sure your recording starts before the difficulty selection screen
Hello Everyone,
Thank you all for your patience and suggestions. Below is a list of run categories that I have compiled from all of your suggestions.
Three main categories.
Summit any% Reach the summit of Kami
Marco any% Descend the mountain with Marco
100% Collect all major Collectables Thermos Glowing Gloves Big Chalk Bag Survival Blanket Small Windmill Big Flask Pearly Edelweiss All Troglodyte Pitons (Please comment if I have missed any major collectables) Reach the summit
All three of the main categories will have sub categories for Explorer, Alpinist, and Free Solo difficulties. This will allow players to play on the difficulty they enjoy and feel most comfortable on, whilst allowing the choice of difficulty to still allow equal competition.
Three “Challenge” categories.
Frog Lick% (Free Solo Only) Lick the frog
Pitch% (Alpinist Only) Summit Kami in the least pitches (unbroken climbing sections) possible
Iron man (Free Solo Only) Reach the summit of Kami with severe restrictions No falls No deaths No rewinds No upgrades No buffs No ice gear No tape (I’m not sure Iron man is possible. But I’m sure someone will prove me wrong)
Recordings must start prior to selecting the difficulty
The entire run must be recorded
There can be no editing, splicing, or pausing of the recording
Runs will be verified based off of the in-game timer
Runs may be paused once per run, but the pause must be recorded and uploaded as part of the run
These categories have been selected to provide the most gameplay variation whilst keeping the rule sets concise and manageable with the limited resources of the moderation team. We will have some new faces joining the moderation team, and that should really help to keep run verification moving smoothly.
If I have missed anything you think is truly critical to the speedrunning scene, please feel free to comment. I will be reading this thread often as I start to solidify the rules.
Thank you all again for your suggestions, without all of you this community would not be so great
Scott Knight
Cairn (Demo) speedruns have been archived and is no longer accepting submissions.
Please use this thread to suggest and discuss categories, rules, objectives, and accessibility accommodations.
And remember to enjoy the climb
Hello all Speed runners,
Cairn is set to release January 29th, and I trust we are all very excited to play. With the speed running scene having been as active as it has been on the demo version of the game, it feels right to make sure everyone understands how the scene will evolve for the full release.
With the release of Cairn there will be a month long embargo on the speedrun.com leaderboards. You can still submit runs, but they will not be verified until March 1st 2026.
This embargo has three main aims:
- To allow players to enjoy the game at their own pace
- To allow the moderating team and the community to create a rule set for speed running
- To ensure all players start on an even playing field
I will also be opening a forum thread soon after release to allow the community to make suggestions for categories and rules.
Thank you for your time, feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Scott Knight, Moderator.
Would it please be possible to have the 4 categories set out in the steam announcement?
Any% - Reach the summit: just get to the top as fast as possible
All Piton% - Reach the summit with all 9 pitons: find all pitons, and manage to climb without breaking any
Box% - Open the box in the gym
Honey% - Grab the honey: find a way to get that sweet, sweet nectar
some people in the discord also suggested:
100% - Reach the summit with all 9 pitons, opened the gym box, and grabbed the honey
I think this gives a nice amount of variation and challenge in the runs. Though I can understand wanting to keep everything in one category
