A wonderful game that just barely functions at times.
I really wanted to love this game. So much so that I made myself get the platinum trophy even though it was a real pain. Sable theoretically has a lot of the elements I enjoy these days in games: a sad soundtrack and story, a chill gameplay experience, interesting graphics choices, a bunch of quests, fishing, and a hoverbike. When the game works right, it's beautiful, well written, heartfelt, and relaxing. My only complaint (other than the paragraph below) was that I was hoping for a bit more of an in-depth exploration of the story. However, the story definitely wasn't what made this game a bit of a disappointment...
Something is wrong with this port, that's for sure. After about an hour of play, the game struggles to render the lovely backgrounds and the framerate is noticeably impacted. Occasionally, while cruising through the desert, the gap between textures will cause your hoverbike to get deflected like it hit a tree. Textures and shading do weird things quite often. A few times, I'd be on a mountain looking around and the sun would magically decide to cast a harsh shadow and the wind would start raging out of nowhere. The hoverbike sounds frequently were garbled enough for me to wonder if it was intentional. Sable's cape often sliced her in half when it flapped in the wind. One of the interiors of the mask maker tents was rendered entirely one pale blue color. Many times, the game would refuse to acknowledge my inputs, usually when sand fishing but sometimes in menus, and I resorted to restarting my console like it was a Microsoft product or something. I managed to crash the game a couple times... basically I'm pretty sure this is the buggiest game I've ever played on any console. I thought my hard drive was dying, so I switched to other games only to find them working as intended. This game strongly needs someone to take a look at it, but it has been on PS5 for a year and I don't see that happening.
Personally, I'm glad it didn't set me back more than what I pay Sony every month anyways. However, if you don't mind restarting your console many times during gameplay, and you like a sad-ish exploration game with a mild sci-fi RPG feel and a story about discovery, then this game might be for you.
Review from thedonproject.com
I really wanted to love this game. So much so that I made myself get the platinum trophy even though it was a real pain. Sable theoretically has a lot of the elements I enjoy these days in games: a sad soundtrack and story, a chill gameplay experience, interesting graphics choices, a bunch of quests, fishing, and a hoverbike. When the game works right, it's beautiful, well written, heartfelt, and relaxing. My only complaint (other than the paragraph below) was that I was hoping for a bit more of an in-depth exploration of the story. However, the story definitely wasn't what made this game a bit of a disappointment...
Something is wrong with this port, that's for sure. After about an hour of play, the game struggles to render the lovely backgrounds and the framerate is noticeably impacted. Occasionally, while cruising through the desert, the gap between textures will cause your hoverbike to get deflected like it hit a tree. Textures and shading do weird things quite often. A few times, I'd be on a mountain looking around and the sun would magically decide to cast a harsh shadow and the wind would start raging out of nowhere. The hoverbike sounds frequently were garbled enough for me to wonder if it was intentional. Sable's cape often sliced her in half when it flapped in the wind. One of the interiors of the mask maker tents was rendered entirely one pale blue color. Many times, the game would refuse to acknowledge my inputs, usually when sand fishing but sometimes in menus, and I resorted to restarting my console like it was a Microsoft product or something. I managed to crash the game a couple times... basically I'm pretty sure this is the buggiest game I've ever played on any console. I thought my hard drive was dying, so I switched to other games only to find them working as intended. This game strongly needs someone to take a look at it, but it has been on PS5 for a year and I don't see that happening.
Personally, I'm glad it didn't set me back more than what I pay Sony every month anyways. However, if you don't mind restarting your console many times during gameplay, and you like a sad-ish exploration game with a mild sci-fi RPG feel and a story about discovery, then this game might be for you.
Review from thedonproject.com