Sable

This game is basically a cozy, Moebuis-themed, non-linear adventure game that plays a lot like if open world Zelda had no fighting. 5/5 game for me personally

I wish there were more visible ways of warning people about important things to know, rather than a Steam review that will surely get overlooked by thousands of buyers.

In any event: This is NOT an optimized game. It's important to ensure your device is well-tuned before playing. I simply forgor that I had my 3060 laptop on Windows' power-saver battery option settings, and it hobbled my performance in Sable to an immersion-killing 30fps, even on bottomed-out, 720 res settings.

Beyond that: Its reputation as peak chill game precedes it. I doubt it's ever been described as "BIONICLE villager simulator" before, but that's how I'd sum it up. A really great game to multitask with, I.E. play while listening to a podcast or watching TV.

Came for the Japanese Breakfast and stayed for the art direction - and the Japanese Breakfast.

Le nom Sable rend moins bien en français je trouve.

Fantastic, chill game. Great gameplay, great soundtrack. I love the artstyle. This is an easy recommend from me.

Set the game to windows 8 compatibility mode to fix the fps

sable is a great game for anyone looking for a good adventure/puzzle game that has a fantastic playlist and really cool art. almost any screenshot you take of this game can be used as a wallpaper and thats what several of my wallpapers are. the only downside for me is that the camera angle is a little weird in some places and sometimes when youre riding your bike it tells you "dont lose your bike! open your compass to find it!" or something like that. but overall, its definitely one of my favorite games and i think it should get more attention, i highly recommend!

This game healed me in a way I can't fully describe. It's so magical in its presentation, so gentle with its story, and so inspiring in so many ways.

If you need a break from life and want something calm to fall into for a while, look no further than Sable.

Really pretty to look at and kind chill and relaxing

Very nice chill game. The exploration and climbing reminds me of Zelda BOTW. A little buggy but nothing gamebreaking.

Takes a lot of the open world exploration I loved from BOTW and set it in an artistically brilliant setting. Missing out on getting a head start on some missions (primarily the collectathon) until later in the game did put a damper on the last leg of the game, but that can be negligible. Even through some bugs and a couple gripes the game keep me entertained for hours.

Japanese Breakfast scoring the entire game is just icing on the cake.

Loved this game absolutely and totally, have played it twice so far. Love everything about it. The exploration, the characters and the quests. :)

My entire interest in Sable was dependent on the fact that the art and style of the world reminded me of Moebius's comics (Arzach, etc). On this front, it more than delivers. It's beautiful and visually well-designed.

The story is very Kiki's Delivery Service-esque. A coming-of-age exploration of the self. Go out into the world, and find out who you are. Really this just kind of means, what career does your character want to pursue? And you can choose this for Sable, based on your own interests in the game's various gameplay mechanics. Did you enjoy the climbing, the fishing, etc? This is the goal. It's a cool idea!

Your journey is meandering and directionless, which is kind of nice. Drive wherever catches your eye, interact with the environment and NPCs however you like. There's no combat, no threats. You're just vibing with the land. This game is entirely chill. Maybe TOO chill.

You have your goal, but there's no real story. No MAIN story. This would be fine, but side stories are short, and NPCs are shallow. The environmental storytelling is cool, but again is rather surface-level. I wish there was more. Is it me? Is it the writing? The game is just very BORING, to me. I felt like I had nothing to sink my teeth into. I would have loved to have seen more deeply established and compelling relationships with NPCs -- I really feel this is all that was missing.

Also, the technical issues could be frustrating at times. Rarely does calling your bike actually work. Climbing had hiccups, at times, with occasionally not being able to grab onto climbeable surfaces. When you've just spent several minutes climbing an insanely tall structure only to plummet all the way back to the bottom... well.

I also expected better bike customization options, considering your bike is a character, with a name, even. Customization Mad Max or Days Gone style. You don't even get a boost. Or anything that offers additional functions, new ways to interact with the world, whatever. Just a bunch of aesthetic customizations that only slightly alter stats.

I'm not sure I recommend this game. I don't NOT recommend it, it's not bad, it just wasn't for me. Games don't need to have depth, but I prefer them to.

Some technical issues and non game breaking bugs aside, this is a wonderful "little" open world experience with a strong thematic core that managed to lighten up my day anytime I booted it up. It is clearly inspired by games like breath of the wild and it's artstyle is heavily influenced by some artist I saw on the internet but it all still manages to come together to create something unique and worth experiencing. Highly recommend. It also teached me to play these kinds of games with a different focus which felt very refreshing.

I enjoyed my time with "Sable" greatly. It's more of an art piece than anything else. If you want a full-tilt ~*video game*~, there's plenty to collect and find and a great many boxes to tick -- but, in my opinion, you shouldn't feel obligated to do any of that unless you want to, unless you feel like it, unless it brings you joy.

Lots of things in life bear the mantra of "you get out of it what you put it" and "Sable" represents that greatly. One part game, one party coming-of-age meditation, one part personality test. It's pretty, it's thoughtful, the Japanese Breakfast soundtrack rules, and when your Gliding is done you can safely return to the real world, knowing this other one will continue on without you.

It's a good feeling.

This game lived on my wishlist for years. I really wish i had just bought it as soon as I could have. It is worth the price. Its worth three times the price honestly.

Had high hopes but ended up feeling largely forgettable. We have Breath of the Wild at home.

A beautiful game about choosing a path and becoming adult

nice relaxing game

Awesome soundtrack, fun characters, interesting lore, an all around super fun game. Honestly one of my favorites at time of writing!

This is a very good exploration game, super soothing and with a gorgeous art design. You can climb most things.

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.

Sable is a very chill exploration game with a unique art style, great music, and a enjoyable story. I ended up 100%-ing the game after about 18 hours of wandering (my playtime on Steam is longer because I started the game and stopped a while ago and decided to restart recently). The game has no combat, instead offering an interesting world to explore, puzzles to solve, light platforming, and loads of customization options for your character and bike,. Highly recommended if you're looking for a very casual, cozy exploration game. Enjoyed every minute of it.

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.

i really, really wanted to like this game. its exactly my type of shit, cool graphics, open ended exploration in a well crafted environment. but theres just so much jank, and so many small annoying details, that it all adds up to a mostly irritating experience.
my biggest problem is the movement - its the main thing you interact with for 99% of the game, and its just... poorly made. its randomly stuttery, the game seems confused on what slopes are for walking, running, and sliding, it randomly places you in to mantle animations, and overall just feels bad. even worse, the hoverbike, which the game hypes up for the entirety of the first hour, is incredibly disappointing. its somehow both incredibly stiff and too slidy, it tries to be physics based but doesnt really commit enough for it to actually be physics based, and like the rest of the movement, just ends up feeling bad. not only that, but the game wants so badly to give it a "personality", that when you call it, the game very often refuses to teleport it to you. this would be really cool if the hoverbike consistently managed to find its way to you on its own - but it really, really doesnt. almost every time i got off of it to explore something, and left out of the other side, the hoverbike got stuck somewhere and couldnt manage to get to me. even when it does manage to follow you, it somehow always manages to do it in the most annoying way possible. the fuckin assassins creed horse had more personality and better ai. thats just sad.
the other main method of movement, the climbing, also has a whole host of annoying issues. most vertical surfaces in the world are climbable, but NOT all. and there is no way to tell if a surface is climbable or not other than trying to climb it. what surfaces are or are not climbable is seemingly entirely arbitrary. the game frequently shits itself whenever you climb a moving object, despite the fact that there are many, many places where the game expects you to do that. theres a whole climbing tower that the game has you climb the first 90% of, and if you want to climb the last 10% for shits / giggles / a cool view, surprise! 1 trillion unclimable walls. just why.

overall, profoundly disappointing experience. cannot recommend.

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