by Kyla Sanchez ’22

Even amidst a sea of escapism-based adventure video games that have been released since quarantine, Sable stands out from the rest. In Sable, you play as a masked youth named Sable who is undergoing a coming-of-age ceremony in a nomadic sci-fi desert land where she must search the land for a suitable rite-of-passage mask to forge her path in the world. The direction of the game is kept open, and there are endless mini quests and dungeon puzzles with charming character interaction throughout the entire game. Though at first Sable may seem like just another puzzle open world game with aesthetics similar to Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild, it offers a more unique experience that feels all the more warmly magical. 

Its unique characteristics can be seen even in its production. Sable began creation in 2017 by the two-man (Daniel Fineberg and Gregorios Kythreotis) game development company Shedworks, whose main office started in the actual garden shed of one of their parents. Fineberg and Kytherotis shared a love for the vast sand environments of the Star Wars franchise and the complex identities explored in Jean Giraud science fiction films, inspiring them to create a game that explored these two elements. They also wanted a story that involved no combat, which is especially untraditional for the genre. The lack of violence emphasizes that the game is a journey of self-discovery, Sable isn’t saving the world, she is finding herself and her place in it. This emphasis brings a distinct difference to Sable. Although it’s doubtful people playing are literally embarking on a desert journey to find an enchanted mask of destiny, every player can still connect Sable’s path to self discovery to their own. Anyone can relate to the feelings of isolation, freedom, and self-discovery in youth that Sable evokes. Through this element of relatability, one can get more into the game and this aspect made the game play even more fun and often even insightful. 

When it comes to the actual functional game play of Sable, there are triumphs and some unfortunate failures. Firstly, the art style and environment design is truly something to behold, using fine line work and nature-inspired designs to achieve a zen-like and intriguing environment and interesting character models. The desert terrain is stunning, with bright, terra-cotta like colors for the desert in the day and cool tones for the desert at night. These sandy landscapes’ beauty are further highlighted through the hoverbike feature that Sable must use as her main mode of transportation on her gliding journey. On the hoverbike, the player can soar smoothly over the beautiful terrain and appreciate it even more. In addition to quality desert landscapes, Sable also has interestingly designed towns along Sable’s path, with distinct characteristics and delightful characters at every turn. The only type of environment where Sable falls short are the puzzle dungeons. The puzzles are often one note and a bit tedious, with the same sort battery and button pushing functions in most of them, though they are never unnecessarily difficult or rage-worthy to their credit. Another major weakness is the amount of glitches and bugs still not worked out in this version of the game; some of the hoverbike-landscape interactions especially hindered the game play as well as the sometimes slow frame rate. Most of the bug problems are fixed with a simple reset, but it did reduce the serenity of the journey at times. 

One of the other biggest victories Sable achieves is its astounding soundtrack created by established indie artist Japanese Breakfast. It is a treat for a commercial musician to soundtrack a smaller label video game when often the most they provide is a new song or two, but Michelle Zauner (the sole member of Japanese Breakfast) wrote all pieces of music including the instrumentals. Her layered, mesmerizing producing style pairs perfectly with the mysticalness of Sable, and this extra audible touch pushes the experience to even higher levels.

Sable is by no means a completely new type of game conceptually, with it taking inspiration from other games of its genre and other fictional sources, but with its unique and often astonishing features it makes for a worthwhile journey. 

Grade: B+