Sable

GWJ Conference Call 781

Age of Empires 4: Technical Test (PC) Sable (PS5), Moonlighter (Android, Xbox), Deathloop (PC), Interview with Doogiemac, and more!

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Amanda and Glendon and Rich talk games, while Shawn and Amanda chat with Jeff Beeman, aka Doogiemac about exciting life changes and the future.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about, or whatever else is on your mind.

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Comments

00:02:00 Age of Empires 4
00:10:13 Sable
00:29:34 Moonlighter
00:33:41 Deathloop
00:42:58 Interview with Doogiemac
01:04:55 Your Emails

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Ok. I’ve pulled my head out!

On Sable:
I know that I will enjoy this game once I get completely invested in it. But as a narrative it’s doing some things that don’t click with me.

In the past few months I’ve been thinking about my favorite fiction writers and why they mean so much to me. My holy trinity of fiction writers is John Steinbeck, Neil Gaiman, and Arthur Conan Doyle. One thing that their writing styles have in common is that they hook you with the first sentence. Then they further draw you in with the first paragraph. By the end of the first page they have you craving more. By the end of the first chapter, they have gotten you fully engrossed in the story so far as it’s been told. By the end of the second chapter, they have you begging to know what comes next. These writers will take that little snowball and roll it up into something big and mysterious. In other words, they’ve caught you in their web and the only way out is through.

Sable handles its story telling a bit differently. It’s like it keeps putting the brakes on in an attempt to deprive you of narrative in order to make you more anxious about what comes next. Personally, this tends to turn me off from the narrative and the game.

I do love the art style though. The influence of Mobius’ art was immediately apparent to me. I want to explore this world. Please Sable, cut me loose and let me dig in.

My experience with Sable is that the more I play it, the more I enjoy it.

I feel like it strikes a great middle ground between being an exploration sandbox and a game that tells you what to do next. You can always go out and try to find stuff or climb to a place you haven't been to before if you want the former, and you always have a quest with a waypoint if you want the latter. I also love that there is no UI and no skill trees, and stats are kept to a minimum: just your stamina and the glider stats (which aren't super relevant).

The game definitely has some technical issues with stuttering in the graphics and the sound and that's really a shame because it does affect the gameplay experience, but otherwise it's just amazing.

Still, the climbing is so satisfying because of how cool the world looks. You can get to some incredible views.