SABLE Review for Steam

Sable, by developer Shedworks and publisher Raw Fury, is an amazing open world style game that heavily focuses on exploration and story. You play as Sable, who is a young child that is in a very remote part of the desert with their clan. As Sable, you must undergo a rite of passage by exploring the world to discover who you are. The world is full of sights to see and people to meet, all of which are wearing a mask of some sort. But there is still much to do before you are able to embark on that journey.

When you first start the game, you are in a ruined temple of some sort with a giant face on the wall. Sable then says they should go back to the Ibex camp to get ready for the ceremony. You then make your way to camp and talk to Jadi who is a really nice almost grandmotherly person who talks to you about your coming of age journey that you are about to embark on. From there you have to complete a few missions including building your hoverbike that you will use to travel the vast desert and obtaining your gliding mask from the temple.

This game, from the beginning, draws you into the story and the world you play in. It has a way of establishing meaningful connections to characters that you only see briefly with its dialogue and narrative. The art style, while simplistic, is very well done and beautiful. There are a lot of little details in the particles and lighting, from dust in caves to the blowing desert wind. Sable focuses on the idea of finding your own path in the world around you by seeing it all and discovering it for yourself, while telling a significant and meaningful story along the way. The world seems desolate at first but as you explore there are many things to find, from items to collect to ruined buildings and crashed ships. As well as many camps and other people to talk to along the way. Even though there is little guidance on what to do and where to go, that is a part of the experience of the game, putting you in the shoes of this child becoming an adult in a massive world trying to find your place.

I honestly have very little issues with this game. It’s very well made and you can tell a lot of care and effort went into the making of this game. That being said, there are some problems with the collision and the camera movements. The controls themselves are fine and the game has full controller support as well as the standard keyboard controls. The issue with the camera movement is that it’s really touchy and hard to control at times; sometimes the camera will just pull up for no reason and stare at the sky or you won’t be able to turn in it time to see where you are going and you’ll fall off. Another issue is with some of the collisions while climbing, you can climb up pretty much anything but some of the surfaces are a little broken. You can fall through some edges at times to climb on top of a ledge that isn’t  actually there and fall back down again, that only seems to be an issue when climbing irregular shaped objects though. 

Sable is a well made indie game centered around exploring the vast world around you. The story is well written with the characters and narrative drawing you into the world thus making the experience more meaningful. There are a few issues with climbing and camera movement that may need some polishing. I am giving this game a 9 out of 10 rating because it has some polishing to do but is still a really good game as is.

Check Out the Sable Steam Trailer – https://youtu.be/NaCyIi6oqIs

Sable is available for PC via Steam.

Brianna Keller

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I enjoy a wide variety of games from intricate survival/adventure games to simple platformers. I am also a sucker for a good story game.

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