• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sable: 13 Minutes of Exclusive Gameplay

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


IGN is delighted to reveal the first extended gameplay of Sable, the gorgeous, Moebius-inspired adventure with shades of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

In 13 minutes of alpha gameplay, released as part of our Summer of Gaming, we see the earliest moments of the debut game from London-based indie developer Shedworks. That gameplay reveals a game that mixes elements of 3D platforming, open world exploration, and choice-driven dialogue, set in a beautiful desert world of nomads, ancient, inscrutable architecture, and hoverbikes.

 
Last edited:
I think visually and aesthetically the game piqued my interest.

But with a lot of games like this, it's really hard to gauge how much of this game I would actually like beyond the initial impressions.

Too many indie "art" games with really high reviews on steam that just didnt do it for me when I caved in and gave it a try.
 

SenkiDala

Member
I was all in for this game since the begining but this aliasing is horrible, won't play it if there's no way to remove that.
 

Miles708

Member
I was extremely interested in this, but now I'm not so sure. That's not quite like what i was expecting. Also, as others have said, the animations go for a clear style that really doesn't work here.
 

GrayFoxPL

Member
I was expecting a ninja to jump in anytime.

Fail Kung Fu GIF


Alas no....
 
  • UI style doesn't match game style
  • Music is irritating
  • Way too many aliased lines
  • Colors look ok
  • Animations get the job done
  • Lots of pop in for such simple visuals
  • Feels a little boring gameplay-wise.
  • Not using textures makes it look too simple. Moebius art is clean, but it's not just simple shadeless colors such as in this game.
Some nice points but I can't agree with the points about irritating music (subjective, I know) and textureless look.

The aliasing on the black outlines and the anisotropic filtering kicking in so close with the pop-ins hurt the presentation for sure, but they do say it's Pre-alpha, so I'd save some cynicism for later.

And to your final point, they did make sure to say Moebius-inspired, so they've already covered that base, lol.
 
Like every other indie game ever that looks the same on release


Still offensive.
If it has the same issues when released you can tag me and say "I told you so!", though I certainly hope they'll at least fix the pop-in.

Maybe you're more emotionally invested in Moebius. I liked (not loved) what I saw in the trailer, not offensive.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Join Reeves, Blake, and Stadnik on this episode of New Gameplay Today as we dive into Sable, a coming-of-age tale that features a stunning visual style and a fascinating desert world!
 

Kuranghi

Member
A form of high AA is mandatory for this game.

Problem is its made in Unity Engine, which I've never seen have good AA really. The temporal AA solution that I've seen in other Unity games, which is what is needed here, is kinda rubbish it has too often visible trails and removes too much detail. I wanted to run it at 8K just to see what it looked like but it wouldn't let me render above my displays native resolution.

The demo put me off technically since it had forced borderless fullscreen, no v-sync (you could only get it by forcing in the driver or in RTSS, etc) and even after I fixed those things via command line arguments* and external tools it ran like shit for no reason, just stuttering when moving the camera even with plenty of GPU headroom. I even capped it to 30hz and still the stutters remained.

I never even got around to playing the demo because all these issues were so draining, if its got technical issues at launch like that I'm not even going to bother trying to fix it.

*Actually even after I got exclusive fullscreen working it would go back borderless every time I opened the pause menu, I had to alt-enter twice to get fullscreen back, wth.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Sable reviewed by Travis Northup on PC, also available on Xbox.

With a stamina-based climbing system like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and a desert setting like Dune, Sable is a beautiful, minimalist voyage that's hindered somewhat by bugs and bland puzzles.
 

mortal

Gold Member
Moebius art is clean, but it's not just simple shadeless colors such as in this game.
The art direction is drawing inspiration from Moebius. I don't think their goal was to make a 1:1 recreation of his work.

Also, Moebius has experimented with multiple styles and mediums. Producing work that was also closer to that "shadeless colors" look.
I think that was what Shedworks were going for.

MoebiusGondola.jpg
C9jsVPdV0AAxgYv.jpg
The-Art-of-Moebius7-626x351.jpg

0aafb50d669b414c4b655d7fd31bf660.jpg
4811228533_b6bbbc19fa_b.jpg
1179183-2500x1787-quality-moebius-wallpaper.jpg
 

mortal

Gold Member
Thanks for the references. The first image is probably their main source of inspiration.

Still, the shading and AA could use some more work. It looks good in some parts in particular.
I agree. I'm guessing they went this route because it was more practically feasible for their team and their resources.
 

T-Cake

Member
It's terrible on PC Game Pass - the game doesn't seem to fully support Xinput so even when using a controller you get keyboard prompts. Trying to change the resolution and you get a white screen with white text making that impossible. Luckily, I have an XBox Series S to try it on next.
 
It's terrible on PC Game Pass - the game doesn't seem to fully support Xinput so even when using a controller you get keyboard prompts. Trying to change the resolution and you get a white screen with white text making that impossible. Luckily, I have an XBox Series S to try it on next.

Apparently it runs poorly everywhere. This needed more time in the oven.
 

Vangellis

Member
Super rough. For a game that is trying to hit Mobius's style they needed to get aliased line work perfect. Its a jagged mess.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
First impression matters. My first impression with the demo right after taking control was clipping right through the "face" you wake up in front of and then checking climbing mechanics to realize it fails at some of its core traversal features.

However I just played a bit on XsX and it's a nice surprise - collision seems to be working as it should in the starting area and it seems like there is a bit less pop-in outside.

I understand the reason they're animating in-game characters at lower fps (what feels like 12-24 fps while the game runs much higher) might be deliberate going for that vintage anime feel but I think it doesn't help the presentation at all.

But I'll play some more as this is definitely a newer build than the SGF demo.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass and PC!

Music by Japanese Breakfast

Embark on a unique and unforgettable journey and guide Sable through her Gliding; a rite of passage that will take her across vast deserts and mesmerizing landscapes, capped by the remains of spaceships and ancient wonders.
 
Top Bottom