Sable

The art, the music, the story. This game could be a very quick play through but I could not imagine doing anything but taking my time with this game. I explored everywhere I was able and ended up breaking some things here and there with my curiosity but even that was exploration as well. I was interested the whole time playing and I loved every bit of it. The calming nature and wisdom of this game will stick with me as I go through life.

The art, the music, the atmosphere—everything is simply beautiful.

My favorite game to date and i'm only 5 hours in. Incredibly beautiful, deeply moving. The writing, worldbuilding, art, characters, everything. The platforming can be clunky at times but it makes the views from the top even more rewarding. Highly recommend.

Good game. Exploration, platforming, atmosphere, music are great, striking art style. Ran well on Steam Deck and Linux, though it's way better on a huge ultra wide than on Deck. I think the game is mechanically too shallow and requires its visuals on a big screen to function. Which it then does pretty well. They should have done way, way more with the lore / background setting.

A simple, exploration-focused game with immaculate vibes. Hoverbiking your way across the deserts, meeting neat folks and finding all kinds of cool things is just a great time.

This was a review long-time coming, honestly.

I loved this experience, to explore the open world and simply take love in the act of low-stress adventure.
The music, the game's aesthetics, the homeliness...

What's more about this game is how personal it was to me. For context, I got this game when a friend of mine committed suicide and I felt lost, directionless. This is someone I knew well over a decade - a childhood friend. This game gave me something to focus on during a depressing time of my life; that holds considerable significance for me and, ironically, what I felt the message of the game was helped me think about and process that trauma.

What Would I Do in Life?

Honestly, I had no idea. I was like Sable, unsure of what I would be or become. Rather, I found myself stuck in the dichotomy of fearing both success and failure. Success, for my aspiration to be a game developer, in all likelihood, making it difficult to connect with and that sacrifice that such a path oft demands. And on the other side, failure for I feel like I would not be able to contribute meaningfully and show what I would like to see in things - I'd like to use my platform to inspire with hopeful messages, to show what might be 'ugly' or 'difficult' and to illustrate the complexity of humanity from its law to right and wrongs and moralities, etc...

Sable had that familiar anxiety, to go out and find out. In doing so, all these choices opened up to her, to be a Machinist, or become a Merchant, to be the protector as the Shade; countless options. It mimicked real life - the difficulty of choosing and that overwhelming capacity we have to be whatever we choose yet worry if we chose right for us.

Truth is, there's no right or wrong answer - there are only degrees of it and one thing might've suited us better or worse. That's the beauty of it, since we can take pride in the choice we made because of that subjectivity. We chose what we thought best for us at the time and, if it isn't now, we got to learn and we can always try something else, like how Sable got to try different things.

I'm able to do pixel-based sprite edits, I can animate using spine animation, video edit, program, create game design docs... Sable encouraged me because I realised what I chose first didn't matter; as long as I chose something, I could take pride that I made the first step in my journey and every little bit of experience towards my desired goal allowed me to work with others and connect with them.

Meanings of A Dream

As you get older, your fantasies wane - the world is difficult; reality seldom just and kind; we get shovelled with what feels like an insurmountable wall towards your initial, lofty goals and dreams. We cast our dream aside, call it childish, vacuous and assert that to be fully rational and practical is what is left. This cannot be further from the truth.

Sable, from what I felt, challenges what it means to be the best version of yourself and what the world has to offer. While Sable doesn't have dark themes or harsh realities, there's still nuance and sadness here and there, such as realising that the ship's inhabitants are the ancestors of the characters you see yet they continued to supply for another generation than their own. I hear of heroic, 'selfless' acts in real life and never thought much of it compared to the amount of darkness that plagues us still. With my best friend's suicide, things really did feel insurmountable - he fought for his ideas of right, his aspirations, things he wanted to do and he won't be able to anymore. Whatever darkness he had, it won once and he was gone. Plenty of people are in a constant battle where they fight continuously against such.

I thought about it. He had so much potential. He talked to me a couple days before he went. I question whether he contacted me because he wanted to say goodbye and provide what last joys he had left in him? I won't know that answer. Rather, I'm humbled he chose to spend his time with me, as much as I was available on a busy schedule. All that potentiality, I realised, reflected potentiality I had within myself. I really began to understand that, as much as I thought I knew him, I didn't really. His life was intricate and complex in a way I didn't understand or know. I wondered about people I've encountered, in brief and those I consider friends.

We all have loved ones whose lives are complex in ways we may not, by ourselves, hope to fathom. Every single one of our lives here, and in the world, greater than the sum of all books mankind has ever produced.

And thus, my eyes were opened; we write the world around us as we continue to exist, life an endless sea of scripture, to find out what the future may bring because of what we do. And inevitably each of us will perish and, in time, be forgotten one day. Yet what we ourselves have written in our now will echo through the rest of the upcoming pages, providing everything after it with meaning long after we have perished, even if it isn't inherently understood to anyone else and the author is lost to time.

What he left behind was a spark of potentiality. Perhaps that was his final gift? Regardless, I decided to take it and rise, knowing that nothing is ever truly lost. Thus, I am compelled with the dream that we, as people, can make things better as long as we keep at it.

The meaning of a dream is as such, even if it feels impossible, hollow, or childish. Perhaps we land ourselves in another cycle, yet what mattered is that we broke the cycle once and thus we can do it again.

I miss him dearly still. No one will be like him. They don't need to be. People are interesting enough in their own right and deserve an honest chance for life and I will persist with the hope of inspiring and bringing people along with me.

Ultimately, my dream is to make a kinder and more thoughtful world, in a place that feels cold and calculated - people have assured me that human nature and people as whole are less than savoury and will perhaps die not ignorant and unknowing but stupid and hateful. People may besmirch me, shoot me down, spur allegation and shun me...

To me, it feels slothful to not try all the same.

Conclusion

I understand it may seem strange or unusual that a game would have such an impact. Still, I give some credit to Sable's developers for making a game that ended up in my hands and, during a period where I had a tumultuous mind and turbulent heart, assisted in mediating myself and helping my self-reflection.

This game was made with heart and love, with nuance in its story and a rich sense of what it means to journey forth.
It'll always hold something special in my heart in this regard.

A fantastic open-world exploration game.

"The Gliding: Just Sand In Your Bits."

Sable is an absolutely gorgeous game with a touching story about self-discovery and wonderfully dry sense of humour (pun intended). Performance can be a bit rough in certain areas of the game, though.

This is a great game to begin with, but especially for us boomers that remember the Heavy Metal magazines of the 70s. Esoteric and ethereal visuals, good environmental sounds and music, laid-back (like I was high again :P ) pace, all in all, a fantastic game!

Sable is a modern spiritual journey that helps mimic the jumping off point from childhood to adulthood.
The echoes of Sable will follow you for weeks if you're going through something transformative.
The enchanting music of Japanese Breakfast sometimes just bubbles to the surface in my consciousness.

I hope someday Sable is fully recognized for what it can do for people.

This is a beautiful and great exploration indie game, however the immersion get's really hampered by constant stuttering and a lot of consistent bugs that kept occurring, I will say that it's worth it to try but be aware it's not a very polished experience.

Relatively decent game in the beginning, but the issues honestly make it hard to continue.
The hover-bike you get is very hard to control. Every time you glide over a sand dune, your bike sinks under and goes crazy for a second or two until you can get back on track. As I'm sure you can tell immediately, the entire game is set in a desert FULL of them.
Speaking of the bike, when you call it, it tends to glitch out when trying to path-find. It almost always gets caught or doesn't move at all.
The climbing system can be awfully unpredictable. Sometimes the stamina seems to drain way too fast or you'll randomly fall off a giant cliff for no reason.
The camera can glitch out pretty frequently as well, making it hard to see exactly what you're holding onto.
The game has some positives though. The art style is pretty neat; almost like a comic book with the black line borders. It can be a little bit inconsistent however; some animations are halved or doubled in frames (and also glitch from time to time), which it makes it a bit hard to focus. And for a world with so much open desert, I'd like to see a bit more than just tan and a few dots.
The game has no enemies, which on one hand, makes the game nice and relaxing, but on the other, really makes it hard to keep going. The climbing is interesting when it wants to cooperate but just climbing mechanics alone make it hard to stay interested and involved.
The ambiance and music do fit the environment pretty well though.

Overall, it would be a decent game if executed correctly. All they really need to do is polish up some of the bugs/glitches and mechanics and it would be much more intriguing. I wouldn't purchase this full price; but on sale for about 5 bucks, its worth a shot to test out.

Wonderful game. Beautiful, relaxing, sweet. Just enough puzzling to keep you engaged when you're not gazing at beautiful Moebius inspired vistas. A very pleasant escape.

Waited until I finished the game to write a proper review. What a game! Playing it was an experience I can recommend to anyone. This game is filled to the brim with emotion, all the while being very light on dialogue and description. The feeling you get exploring the world along with Sable and Simoon really is something else - I was quite reluctant to stop rumbling across the dunes and finish the game. The NPCs are realistic and varied and the art direction is incredibly appealing. The only con I had with the game was that controls felt a bit clunky at times, especially in situations where I was trying to do something with the last fumes of my stamina bar, but this has not withheld me from enjoying most of the game at all.
Tl;dr, gorgeous game, great experience, highly recommend!

Beautiful art style with great exploration with a story of leaving home to discover yourself.

An absolutely beautiful game about a girl's rite-of-passage to discover herself and purpose in life, alongside her trusted hoverbike. The game is an open-world, inviting you to explore at your own pace, meet people, discover ruins of past civilizations, and many other stories to stumble upon as you glide around with your hoverbike. The art direction of this game is fantastic, seemingly inspired by the late Moebius's works. Everywhere you go is just wonderful and I just can't ever help but stop to look and appreciate the view the world has to offer me constantly throughout my journey. The OST is the cherry on top, augmenting the visual aesthetic of the game and further contributing to the mesmerization the player would feel towards the game's world. They seem to be a match made in heaven. Props to Japanese Breakfast for their work on the OST, and I have since started listening to their music ever since I started playing this game.

This game does have some minor bugs, such as with the audio, lighting, and occasional stutters. The gliding of the hoverbike could also be a bit more elegant as the times they do get wonky kind of takes away from the immersion. Though overall, the issues barely made an impact on my enjoyment of the game This game is definitely one of the most beautiful games you'd ever play, and I highly recommend playing it, especially if you're looking forward to a relaxing journey with tons of freedom and some slight existential contemplation. I'm also looking forward for what Shedworks have to offer next!

Great game. Fun platforming and puzzles. Does exploration and discovery in a really unique and exciting way. Relatable story about finding your place in the world.

Beautiful peaceful game with a poignant ending. First couple hours are a bit slow but then there's plenty to do after that; plenty to keep your interest despite there being no combat, and the world building is really interesting with great characters. Also there are some very cute giant beetles :P

Game took me 20 hours to finish with having completed all the side quests except a couple completionist grindy ones. Recommended if you like games that are more about their meaning than fast-paced action :)

Too poorly unoptiized and clunky for me. Had fun zooming around the plains and doing some exploring, but in the end i get a headache from the microstuttering aaal the f'ing time you are not going in a straight line.

It's a cute game, the lore is pretty interesting, but a majority of the game is just exploring and fetch quests. If you're into quirky writing, pretty sick mechanical design, and slight jank? Pretty good game :3

He jugado esta juego en español. Lo me disfrutado, especialmente buscando para todos los lore huevos de pascua en el mundo de Midden. Haciendo los puzzles y tareas para activar los templos y construiendo todo del historia sobre Sarin fue divertido. Buen mechanicas de alpinas.

Chugs a bit on my shit pc when I start it, otherwise it's the most calming sandbox I've ever played. Will take me forever to get through because I keep getting sleepy playing it. Far from the worst thing I've bought during a manic episode.

I went to sable looking for a botw comparable world to just run around and look at. It sorta delivered, but my expectations were different. Still a very good game for a calm open world experience

Genuine passion in the writing and characters / their design, somehow managed to make me feel connected to a fake video game family, fun creative places to explore, interesting mechanics to figure out in some puzzles. It's a bit of a slow burn, a lot of find a bring back to b sorta quest, and some of the puzzles get a bit repetitive... it manages to shake up itself nicely about midway through.

I don't like to warp in these types of games. Near the end of the experience I guess I could describe the world just feeling a bit static? All that was left was to 100% it, but motivation for that was not there once I've seen everything the world had to offer.

At that point though, I just finished the game and moved on.
Here for it

the art style of Moebius (Jean Giraud) animated into an exploration narrative

This game is pure art. The best game I've ever played.
It's glitchy, has performance issues, and the gameplay is simplistic, but none of that matters due to how well this game conveys emotions and communicates its theme. It's a genuine experience to play through. If you have a powerful enough computer to beat the worst of the performance bugs and a controller (would not recommend on mouse) it's a must-play, simple as.

little buggy in some spots, but damn if this isn't a piece of art. i can't believe I slept on this for so many years just because I thought no combat = boring. Also discovering I could customize the bike was lit.

Enchanting. Never played a game with the same sense of genuine exploration and mystery

For the explorer at heart. It's like Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn, with a beautiful minimalist look and vast landscapes with a deep ambient soundtrack. Visions of the desert. It is a bit confusing if you don't religiously press Q as you navigate, it brings up your objectives and a compass. The map in the subscreens is hard to use by itself. Once you do that, it's easy to navigate and offers thrills and surprises, as well as great narrative.

A really enjoyable casual exploration game. The story is cute and non linear. A bunch of QoL things, like most quick travel waypoints being at the top of moutains/buildings so you don't need to climb everytime and only needing 100 of the 165 Chum eggs for the achievement.

Cute but very rough around the edges. Optimisation is very bleh, there are pacing problems, puzzle quality and difficulty spread is very questionable, in a few cases borderline unsolvable without a guide. More than anything this game lacks polish. It feels like devs lost control of the scope and had very little time to playtest/fine-tune anything.

And yet, I can't in good conscience say that I didn't like it. It was pretty and fun, it has that indie feel to it that makes you forgive and forget all of its flaws.

Breath of the Wild without combat and a gorgeous art style, few games can come close to the ‘vibe’ of gliding through the dunes passing derelict space shapes.

Takes a bit to set up, but once you get started the bulk of this 10-16 hour game are great. Near the end though it can run a bit thin if you are trying to complete everything, and that it’s an indie game is very clear. Some wonky physics and rendering at times, but nothing too distracting.

Do you know how nice this game is? i have officially played 69 hours of it. this is hands down one of my favorite games in existence and i want to recreate some of the outfits. i got to explore every nook and cranny and climb everything, the character dialogues made me cry, sometimes i would just watch the lighting of the landscapes change... it's as much of an adventure as hollownight without any combat whatsoever and in some ways that is the best part.

I had a great time playing this one and I totally recommend it for anyone looking for a chill indie game that ends whenever you decide you are satisfied.

With the style of gameplay of Breath of the Wild but without combat or risks when exploring, I think they managed a great open world experience with an indie team, mainly by having clear landmarks for where to explore, leaving the empty-of-content areas of the map there to be traversed with a hoverbike.

I liked the setting and the mission, the narration and writing were extremely good. It was so fun to get immersed into the introspective parts for the character, specially at the end when I made the last choice after a lot of thought.

The style is really unique and fits well with the mystery of the world. And I loved the moments of discovering the lore, making it a little more clear of what this universe was about, but still leaving lots of things to the imagination.

I went for 100% and I think that for this kind of collectables, it was pretty clever where they hid them, I kept finding things in each session up until I had a couple left and those took more work. There are guides on the internet but I appreciate more knowing how many things to find I have in each part of the map, so I don't go searching in already done places. The game doesn't have that but I found it on reddit so that was nice.

As for the negative, upgrading the hoverbike came to a halt after I was two thirds in, so some of the better missions at the end gave me a part of the bike as a reward that wasn't useful at all. I think maybe if the best parts weren't so accessible (or if there wasn't a bike that was THE best, and that was more subjective after trying different combinations), it would have been a better experience. Also there are some hiccups when travelling with the hoverbike, but it wasn't so bad for me and the fast travel for the discovered places is super practical to make it less dependent on riding all the time.

So to end with a good note, this game leaves me some unique memories that I will cherish and it makes me super glad to have played it. Thanks devs!

I don't think this game should be this compelling, but I just want to keep playing. It's wholesome and interesting and very adventurous feeling, similar to how I felt when first starting BOTW. I like it, there's enough to do but not so much that it feels needlessly repetitive. Some simple puzzles, just enough collectibles. Would recommend.

The only negative: it's a little un-optimized. A lot of little visual bugs, a couple collision bugs, the shop menus occasionally get glitchy but are fixed if you just save+quit and reload. Nothing game breaking and no deal breakers.

This is probably one of the best game I have played in the past few years and I truely hope we will be getting another game like this one from the dev team one day. In the meantime if you like exploration, adventure games with a very unique graphic style I can only recommend.

Buggy and needs updates to refine, but a rough gem that's worth it it more than is. Vast vistas, enough quests to fill your week, with a guide it's finished even faster, say weekend. Worth a replay weeks/months later, needs more stories/quests to make it even more worthwhile. It's a nice ride folks, get on.

While overall pretty buggy, I found Sable to be a really fun and beautiful game. I loved the coming of age plot and felt a lot of responsibility deciding my mask at the end of the game.

I played this game for 3 hours but probably won't play it anymore. The game has an awesome style and the open world design is really cool. Exploration is rewarded and fun. But the puzzles are boring, the storyline felt forced and was a drag to read (no voice acting). I watched a playthrough on YouTube to see all the cool level design that I will be missing out on exploring first-hand. I just can't be bothered 😅

Has its bugs, but I am having a good time. Chill game, lots of puzzle diversity.

gorgeous game with a powerful message about finding purpose and knowing yourself

the game will slow down over time performance-wise even on a powerful computer, so I would recommend playing on the lowest graphics settings just to mitigate that somewhat. it's still very pretty at the lowest settings. when the performance does get unbearable (such as when you try to fish but it's just not willing to cooperate), simply save, exit to title, and re-enter the game

7 hrs played on Steam Deck, completed main story

TLDR:
Visually stunning exploration game with unique art style and great soundtrack, but held back by technical issues and shallow gameplay. Combat-free, but frustrating hoverbike controls and performance issues make it hard to recommend at full price. Wait for deep discount if interested.

GAMEPLAY:
You play as Sable during "The Gliding" - a rite of passage where you explore vast landscapes collecting masks that determine your future role in society. Core activities include:

• Hoverbike exploration
  
• Climbing ancient ruins
  
• Completing quests for NPCs
  
• Collecting masks and other cosmetic items
  

CONTENT NOTE:
Combat-free exploration game with no violence - perfect for players seeking peaceful adventures or parents looking for family-friendly experiences.

PROS:

• Stunning cel-shaded art style
  
• Beautiful soundtrack that enhances exploration
  
• Genuinely unique coming-of-age narrative concept
  
• Vast open world with freedom of choice
  

CONS:

• Hoverbike controls feel floaty and unresponsive
  
• Significant performance issues (frame drops/stuttering) regardless of settings
  
• Many fetch quests feel repetitive
  
• Large portions of the map remain unused by main story
  
• Core gameplay loop lacks depth despite visual ambition
  

TECHNICAL:
Tested on Steam Deck (docked/undocked) with various graphics settings. Frame drops persist across configurations, particularly while using the hoverbike. Reports suggest similar issues on high-end PCs.

VALUE:

• Full price ($25): Not recommended
  
• Current sale ($10): Still difficult to recommend
  
[*] Sweet spot: $5-7

SIMILAR GAMES:
Fans of Journey, GRIS, or Jusant should note that while Sable aims for similar artistic heights, it doesn't quite reach them in terms of gameplay satisfaction.

⊖ Not Recommended
Best for: Art style enthusiasts willing to overlook technical issues and shallow gameplay for unique visuals and atmosphere.

This game is an excellent example of what happens when you give someone the creative freedom to run wild with ideas, expand upon them, and execute them in a full release. There are plenty of quests to do, places to explore, mysteries to discover. The soundtrack is fantastic as well. This game captures the vibe of several Legend Of Zelda games, and somehow mixes it with Jack and Daxter. It has cell shaded graphics that remind me of Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker with a retro feeling like it came out 20 years ago. This game feels very familiar yet quite strange at the same time. This game grabs the mixed bag of gameplay elements that the best PS2 and Gamecube titles had, and blends them together into a very relaxing and palatable experience that you are free to explore at your own pace.

Pretty game. That's about it for it really. Typical girl plot of finding oneself and having every option available to you to do so so no sense of compromise or danger or anything really. You drive your moebius bike around to random towns, then read the 4 sentence paragraph from whatever random npc you need to talk to about finding yourself and how there's no repercussions. Then you go to platform puzzle area to get your fetch quest items. Your magical floating move has no downsides and is infinite so as long as you can time it right and platform well you can float your butt through all the puzzles with little difficulty. I'll get around to finishing it sooner or later.
I liked the ending of the tutorial area though. They did a good job on that.
Also intentionally low FPS walking felt jaring.

I just bought this game a few hours ago, loaded it up for the first time and played for about 30 minutes. It's beautiful. The storytelling and the writing made me tear up. I normally turn all game music off when I play games as I prefer my own but this soundtrack and sound design is gorgeous too. I have a feeling this'll become my favourite game.

Amazing art, cool concept, nice music very nice dialogues
but so many small glitches from visual glitches to every menu having issues and the audio is lagging. None of it is game breaking but it lessens the experience.

Still I'm glad I found my mask

Beautiful landscape! Some bugs but it's so worth exploring the world.

A solid cozy exploration platforming game that has a unique art style and solid mechanics.

I had my eye on this one for a while. The art style really piqued my interest and hearing it was a cozy, no combat, exploration, and platforming game really sold me. I owned and have sampled some of the devs/publishers other games but this one was the first I saw from them and really enjoyed my time with it. I did kind of rush through the game did not complete everything this time around, but it is one I plan to revisit eventually.

The story in this game is pretty simple. You are part of a tribe and your about to embark on your “gliding” which is when you leave the tribe to go explore the world on a hover bike. There is a ceremony that is performed leading up to it and then you’re off. Your tribe travels elsewhere while you are “gliding” so you won’t encounter them again until you are done. From there you are free to explore this chill desolate world with small villages scattered throughout. Your main goal is collecting masks which represent different jobs in the world. You will have to select one of them you collect at the end of the game. There is a lot to explore with different biomes, villages, and ship wrecks.

Gameplay wise it is simple. You explore and meet different people throughout the world. You collect badges by completing sidequests and tasks which can then be turned into a mask castor to create the mask for that role. There is a lot of platforming and puzzles to solve throughout the world, but it doesn’t feel super forced or out of place. The platforming is pretty satisfying overall. You can customize your characters look and hover bike with items you purchase from different merchants as well.

The game feels very chill. You are out on your own in a mostly desolate world, exploring, and meeting a few people along the way. It is a very cozy with a lot to offer, and will not stress you out. Some of the puzzles and platforming can be a little frustrating, but overall, a very enjoyable experience. The art style also really adds the cozy feel. I believe it’s a form of cell shading, but nothing like I’ve seen before.

I played the game entirely on Steam deck and ran pretty well at medium settings and locked to 40 hz/fps. The framerate would dip semi-regularly into the high 20s and 30s but not enough that it was a problem. Aside from that it ran great. Controls felt really good as well.

If you are into cozy “walking simulator” type games, exploration games, or puzzle/platforming games then this one is for you. With a highly unique art style, solid gameplay, mechanics, and controls, and chill atmosphere; it is a great palette cleanser from heavier games and one I highly recommend.

It's a relaxing, open-world exploration game, but I got simultaneously overwhelmed and bored. Overwhelmed because I felt like there was so much to explore, and I constantly felt like I was missing things. Bored because the writing and story weren't really grabbing me. I did enjoy the world-building, but every time I talked to someone about it, I felt like the dialogue was just uninteresting (and many of the dialogue trees felt buggy).

It was just one of those games that I don't hate but I realized I wasn't enjoying anymore.

When I first started this game, I was having fun with it, I loved the idea of just having the freedom to explore the world as part of a coming of age rite the protagonist embarks upon. However, I found myself getting bored quickly with what there was to do.

I liked some quests here and there, and don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful game, I love the visuals, environment and music but there are a significant number of bugs that make it less pleasing to the eye like the frame rate for instance.

I try to tolerate these things but I eventually run out of patience. It also is disappointing that there isn't much story. I love games where I can explore, but I just feel like this was lacking more as I kept playing to a point where I wasn't enjoying myself anymore.

I am enjoying this game. Fun open world. Good puzzles. Neat graphics - Moebius feel to it. I could be cruising around the Airtight Garage...