T w e n t y S i d e d

Sable has been on my Steam Wishlist for quite a while. Long enough that I had actually *removed* it for several months to a year, because it was never on sale for enough of a discount to make it a “must get” option. Well, this weekend I was notified that Sable was 65% off, which put it under $10. I figured that was worth it. Sable is arguably my favorite type of game: platforming/exploration/puzzle-solving with minimum (or no) combat. There are games that include combat that I still really enjoy, like Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy and the first remake of Prince of Persia. Or the first and second generation of Tomb Raider games. Likewise, the exploration component can be more expansive or even effectively non-existent. In Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider for example, the exploration content extended to places you could go to that you didn’t actually have to explore and “secret” items. This feature is occasionally called “open-world,” although this is a nebulous concept that only really works with a proper level of interaction, and depending on the primary gameplay. In Sable, for instance; exploration and secret-finding seems to be the entirety of the open world. I’ve read there are several optional side-quests, but in the introduction/tutorial the gameplay was *mostly* linear. Today I’ll go through that first area.

You play the game as Sable, as in Sable is your name. Sable, child of the Ibixii, about to start your “gliding” which is the ritual by which you pass from childhood to adulthood. Literally a coming-of-age story. You start out the game staring at a human-looking white face covered with circuitry or symbols, it’s not clear which. You are in a temple and you will see later the face splits down the middle to form the entrance into the inner temple. While you start the game seeing this face, you discover quickly not only is your own face a mask, but everyone else’s is, too.

You can see a closed door across from you, and an opening above. This serves as a tutorial for basic movement controls. On exiting the temple and returning to your “home” camp you will see someone with what appears to be a robotic leg. With the head-wrappings and masks, the leg helps imply that the protagonist and her people may not be completely human. Your “mother” or guardian, Jadi uses a couple of phrases that imply we might be some kind of bird or insect, which also intersects with the game mechanic of climbing, which you can do along fairly flat and featureless vertical surfaces. But we otherwise *look* human, and the story is, of course, very human-like. And again, there’s the face we started out looking at (and one later we’ll get to.) You can’t see it very well in this pic; you’ll have to take my word that’s it’s either a face or a mask itself (there’s some story there) that is clearly human.

Back at camp, we are tasked with initiating the steps required to begin our “Gliding.” One member of camp, Hilal, gives you a “Gliding Stone” and tasks you with charging it at another temple across the canyon. Another person will let you use an old hoverbike. They were supposed to obtain a “new” bike for you, but they forgot. The entrance to this new temple recalls the insect idea again:

On the other hand, this could simply be an analogy for “the gliding” itself. A person in the form we’re accustomed to (wearing a mask) with wings because they are doing “the gliding.” Beyond that the wings appear to be butterfly wings, and a butterfly of course starts out as a caterpillar (without wings.) An analogy for the whole experience. Inside the temple a purely-gameplay-related plot device happens where the ledge you enter on to collapses, trapping you inside; and necessitating you use the “gliding” ability you are here to obtain, to get back out. The center of the temple has a spot for the gliding stone, although the process seems to imbue *you* with power, not the stone itself. The stone appears to be more of a key. The process knocks you out and the platform you’re on is raised to the top of the temple. Which, again, facilitates you using the “gliding” ability to descend platforms back to the entrance to get out.

Back at camp we are sent to the Machinist, Sizo. Machinists are one of the established “jobs” of this world, and unlike every other job (that we know of, which is only one) Machinists are “assigned” rather than filled by whomever volunteers in a community. Sizo appears to be the closest thing to a “leader” the camp has, although we do learn that the Ibixii people are considered a bit judgemental and stand-offish because they are nomadic, or possibly just more nomadic than other tribes. Sizo confirms that the person who lent you the hoverbike *was* supposed to procure a new one for you, but forgot. This will give you, Sable, the opportunity to collect the needed parts from the desert around you. Hoverbikes are semi-spiritual, and making your own (to the extent you are) is something not everyone gets to do, at least for their first bike.

Sizo gives you three locations to check for the three needed parts. The most interesting part of the story, of course; is that there are multiple crashed spaceships, or at least parts of multiple spaceships (since the first is called a spaceship in and of itself) around the camp. When you reach that first named spaceship, it seems to be only one part:

There is some kind piloting station inside. Again, this seems to be human-designed. Interacting with the station won’t give you the part you need (the game will cut to an intermediary quest that leads to the part in question when you exit) but you do get a voice log of two people who clearly don’t know how to operate the ship at all attempting to, as far you can tell, launch the ship and fly it. Although they immediately break it and crash, allegedly where it is. And maybe it was fairly recent; there is something that looks like smoke coming from a part of the ship. The second hoverbike/ship part is located behind an “old” power-generating dam across the canyon, which draws attention to the various wooden boat bits laying around the desert.

The time-scale involved here is indeterminate. The dam, parts of which still operate, must have been abandoned for decades if not millennia. The crashed spaceships seem to have arrived AFTER the water disappeared. The culture we live in may or may not be related to the spaceships; Sizo’s words imply familiarity with the ships while the voice recording we found indicates a ship being flown by people who knew nothing about it.

The third part we need is in a third location that is wrecked across multiple rock features. The primary point beyond the story is letting you test your jumping and gliding. You can also crouch under things, and the fact that I never found a way to test that beyond when the feature was first introduced makes me think I missed something. I know there were a couple of people in the home camp I never interacted with.

Sizo has us “build” our hoverbike while explaining the semi-spiritual nature of our relationship with the device. This culminates in us naming the bike; something built into the story. We don’t choose the name. Ostensibly we will find out what the name “means” as part of our journey. Our guardian gives us some new clothes to wear as we start our “gliding,” and sends us back to the temple we started at to finish the tutorial.

On returning we find the door to the outside open now, and the “face” door we started the game looking at opened, as well. Inside the inner temple is a giant statue:

Sable has three platforms to “activate,” which involves platforming to reach each one. Activating each platform drops a new part over the statue’s face. It becomes apparent that we are “creating a mask” on the statue’s face, which is not only the last step in preparing to “leave” our camp, but also symbolic of the entire journey. Our three items of clothing are our top/cape; our pants/bottom, and our mask. Our guardian gave us the first two; this ceremony will provide our mask. The purpose of our journey, other than the broad exploration of the world itself, will allow us to try the various jobs of the world and choose our new “mask.” Every mask is the identity we put on ourselves. A bit obvious, but the story-telling is consistent, so far. Our mask is created in front of the statue at the bottom of the room and we claim it.

Sable returns to the Ibixii home camp and finds it deserted. A mailbox is still available, and we open it automatically to read a message from our guardian: as is customary, the camp has left while we initiated our journey so that we may leave alone. Jadi will contact us again when they reach their destination. She tells us we should look for the Machinist in the nearest settlement. We are then tasked to call our hoverbike to us (a pretty neat game mechanic; you can press “Y” at any time to call your hoverbike to you) and then leave the canyon; the exit is obvious. Upon leaving we are presented with the title screen and we can then save and move on with our journey.

So far I’m impressed by the game. The story seems interesting, but I can also see that it might fall short of my current expectations. The story also comes off as a bit direct, but just as I can see the negative side of the promising lore and history, I can see how the coming-of-age aspects could be well-done. The simple, cell-shaded graphics are interesting; but I do have a problem with interior and high-shade areas getting heavily washed out. It seems to be a natural consequence to the art style of the game, but it doesn’t work in these areas. Mainly because a lot of the things you associate by shape and color completely disappear when reduced to effectively a 2D line drawing. I’ll provide updates if the games presents something worthwhile.

Paige Francis He/him