I love games designed all around exploration, especially when they don’t have any combat like Outer Wilds. Sable is a strong effort in this genre, with no other goal than to freely explore a compelling desert world filled with ruined sci-fi ships and structures.

I think a well designed open world is one where it’s enjoyable to just go and see what’s out there, and Sable does this well with plenty of defined areas and landmarks worth exploring. Being able to climb and glide anywhere also made it easy to scale whatever towered over you.

It’s not a huge map and much of it’s empty space, but I enjoyed exploring it more than many others. It largely has to do with its atmosphere, crossing distances on the hoverbike felt meditative in a way, just you traveling on your lonesome in a barren but atmospheric world.

Another positive is the art style, the cel shaded environments look really cool and suit the world they were going for. Characters are also intentionally animated in a lower frame rate, which can be jarring but also makes it more distinct. The music’s also very good.

Sadly though, there’s some major flaws particularly with its performance. Riding on the hoverbike usually causes constant FPS drops which can be headache inducing at times combined with the visuals, and it tends to get worse in some areas than others. Others include the audio stuttering, the camera’s pretty buggy, and climbing can be a bit janky. Aside for performance the quests themselves are not very interesting, usually involving fetching items for NPCs and more served as an excuse to explore the world. This is the case for all platforms I believe, and as of now there's no indication these issues will be patched anymore. Given what Sable offers I could put up with it, but it's a shame nonetheless

Playing Hi-Fi Rush feels like reading the first volume of a comic about a brand new superhero, unburdened by expectations.

There's such an obvious, whole-hearted commitment to creating a world that runs on music that I found myself bobbing my head and tapping my foot to literally nothing an hour after I put this one down. Rhythm is so thoroughly baked into this game's DNA that, after a certain point, it becomes more difficult to do things off beat than on it. It's got charm and earnestness that quiets my impulse to nitpick. Everything is music in some way, and every element snaps into place on a beat - UI elements, footsteps, enemy attacks, YOUR attacks, item pickups. Cohesive and confident enough that I would almost believe it if you told me it was somehow an influence on every rhythm genre hybrid that came before it. Feels like a game from 3 hardware generations ago, and I mean that in the best way possible.